Interlude – A Plague On Both Your Houses, part 3
by Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers & Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal
Post Details
ON:
Each team headed to the entrance of their respective crawl ways, squeezed in, and sealed the bulk head behind them. The blast doors and forcefields that secured the evacuated Promenade came down, and poisonous neurozine gas was pumped in. All of the smaller tunnels that lead from the main crawl ways now had thousands of volts carrying over 50 amps running through their floors and ceilings. Anything that put a foot inside was toast. All that was left to do was shoot any vole left in the safety of the main tunnels, each team working their way around the promenade to meet in the middle.
With the Promenade evacuated, the tunnels were eerily quiet, only the faintest hum of the power conduits buried in the crawl way walls, punctuated here and there by a weak and wheezing squeal of a dying vole, or the skittering claws of live vermin.
The close quarters didn't bother Yolanthe much. It was the fact that she was in a tight space with a lot of people with ranged weapons that bothered her. The markings and symbols meant nothing. The only Cardassian she could read was 'kanar'. She examined the weapon she held. "I hope this thing has a stun setting?"
"It has three simple settings. Stun, kill, disintegrate." The closest Cardassian said. He was built like he was made out of hull plating, and his stance and footsteps only furthered the image.
"Simple and to the point." She held it out to him. "Which one's stun?" She let the enormous man adjust it for her; it felt strange and somewhat wrong to have a male show her how to use a weapon, but what was it the humans said? When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Then she squeezed along the tunnel until she was level with the ambassador. "Its probably best if you stay behind me. That way I can't shoot you by mistake."
"You'll be behind Vi'kar Gul Getal, that way you can't shoot any of us." He said, hadning back the weapon with a small laugh. He ordered the men aside, and let Yolanthe squeeze past toward Tharek.
Still doubtful, she kept quiet as they inched through the tunnel. it didn't take long before they heard the sound of tiny paws heading towards them. A moment later, a small spoon-crested head put a twitching nose around the corner of junction.
Not convinced it was going to work, she held the phaser out and pressed the trigger. The yellow beam scorched the darkness, but not the vole. Instead the beam splashed against the bulkhead above its head. The vole scuttled back down the darkened tunnel.
She shrugged and blew out a frustrated puff of air. “Come back here you little bugger.” She started to crawl after it, leaving the Cardassians behind.
"Yolanthe!" Tharek called out. "Men, you saerch for some more of these rodents, I'm with Yolanthe." He said as he jogged off, weapon in hand, after his lover. The men just looked at each other with a glance that said "why are we doing this for Voles?"
"Not exactly your typical evening out is it?" She asked him when he caught up with her. The rodent appeared again, and once again she shot and missed.
Tharek quickly raised his weapon, fired a single yellow beam, which hit the Vole dead-on. The rodent squealed but soon silenced as the life drained from it. "Not exactly, no." He chuckled.
They worked their way through the crawlspaces, Tharek shooting voles, and Yolanthe missing them. After her tenth successive miss, she shook her head. "I did try to tell you I wasn't any good. I'd be more likely to hit a vole with this thing if I threw it."
"Here." He said, as he manouvered behind Yolanthe. Putting his head by hers, he lifted the disruptor in her hands up with his own. "Look down the sight, then shoot. These disruptors aren't exactly the most up to date ones, and have a slight draw to the left. Try and compensate."
"So aim to the right." Yolanthe let him guide her movements, enjoying his closeness, and then felt a tiny flicker of guilt. She was supposed to clearing up a mess, not taking illicit pleasures. It was an unexpected moment of intimacy, completely out of place for a dusty service tunnel, and she wished she had more time to enjoy it.
"Business before pleasure," she muttered to herself and they pushed onwards Within a few meteres, they encountered a vole, a large hairy specimen that limped along, its rear legs deadened by a close brush with the electrified infrastructure. Is she couldn't hit a crippled rat...
She aimed, compensated for the pull to the left, and the beam took it square in the broadside. She gave a grim smile of satisfaction as the vole collapsed on its legs. She scooped it up and wrung its neck with professional neatness. "Got you, you little bugger." she stuffed it into a bag. "I think I'm going to get the hang of this. Lets get rid of the rest."
They headed on, following the slow curve of the central promenade bulkheads. The number of survivors seemed to be diminishing as they got further from The Box Of Delights. The tunnel was getting stuffier and the smell was becoming more rank, as electrocuted bodies began to cook.
From out of the gloom ahead came more shuffling sounds...
"That must be the nest. They set up shop fast the bastards." Tharek said, showing a very dominant distaste for Voles. "Men, arms up, it sounds bigger than Raxus... "
----
If Karen ever found out who had introduced these vermin to Deep Space Five she was going to feed him one raw. Half of her would not be surprised if some idiot had thought they would make good pets and let them loose the third or fourth time they found their quarters shredded, the other half suspected that they had stowed away and arrived with the Cardassian. Karen was not yet suspecting foul play.
At the rate they were going they would soon meet up with Getal's team, Karen thought as she scooped up another dead vole and shoved it in the bag. Karen thought a thought that her position of Executive Officer prevented her from articulating out loud at that thought.
"D'you hear that?" one of the officers asked.
Karen did. There was something around the corner, scrabbling and moving, "This must be where they come from," she said as they readied their weapons. It was not going to be pretty.
-----
Surrounded by Cardassians with weapons readied, Yolanthe was having an extremely bad feeling. She leant close in to Tharek, "How do we deal with a nest?" She whispered. "Smoke them out? Go in all guns blazing?"
"We do this. You." He said, pointing at a soldier nearby. "Hand me a special brew grenade." He said, and the guard complied immediately, handing him a perfectly spherical object. "This is my own creation. After the Raxus incident, I made these specifically to kill Voles... They won't kill anything else... Just hurt a lot."
"Won't that include us? Aren't we going to be too close?" she asked.
"No, of course not, it has a few meter radius, and we're going to be here when it's thrown." Tharek said, and within instants, he launched it around the corner. "It's thrown." He said sarcastically as he backed the group away from the corner.
----
"HOLD YOUR WEOPONS!" Karen cried to her people as she ripped her comm badge from her uniform and hurled it at the sphere. "Ops lock on my comm and contain."
"This is Starfleet! Who the fuck are you?" Make yourselves known!" she demanded in an epic loss of calm while the device, its impact contained by the hastily erected field, exploded.
Tharek laughed to himself quickly, followed by a few sniggers from a few of his men. Killing Voles was fun, but getting some Starfleet too? That made his day. He gathered himself quickly enough to walk out and face an angry looking bunch of Starfleeters. Led by an even angrier Karen.
"Matthews, have Ops transport the device and containment field to lab ten for analysis," Karen said with a glint to her onyx gaze as she turned it on the Cardassians. The device vanished in a hiss and a fizzle as the transporter beam took it. "Not capable of looking round a corner?" Karen asked in a quizzical tone a lot lighter than what she was feeling right now, there were a number of very undiplmatic, un-JAGish and un-XOish four letter words nipping at the tip of her tongue but she kept them in.
"Congratulations, Ambassador," Karen said, "You have earned yourself the express attention of station Security and Intelligence, "Home-made bombs ... you've crossed a line," she told him. If it did nothing else it would wipe the smirk off his face.
The smirk stayed. "Please, feel free. You'll find the analysis shows the device to be non-lethal to Humanoids, only Voles. So, technically, unless Starfleet wants to make an issue out of a pest control device, I suggest you drop the matter."
Karen folded her arms and looked evenly at the Cardassian, "Suggest whatever you want, Ambassador. I'll wait to see what my lab have to say about it ... I'm sure their scenarios of the blast radius and its impact will be fascinating," she said.
"I'm sure they will. What will be even more fascinating will be the look on your face when you find out I'm right." He said, replacing the smirk with an all too serious face.
There was more than likely more to it than that and if configured correctly the models would show it up."Ambassadors generally make unreliable witnesses," Karen replied, her gaze unwavering, "and as to my expression. I can assure you it will be just as impressed as the one that I'm wearing now." Which was not in the slightest.
"Ladies, Gentlemen," Yolnthe stepped between them. "Shouldn't we be clearing the tunnels before we're gassed to death by the smell of crispy fried vole." The acrid stench was building fast, and a haze of smoke was filling the tunnels whilst they argued.
Karen's gaze swivelled to the Bokkai, the last thing she needed was a bartender thinking she could mediate in a dispute of this nature. "No, there'll be a new crew moving in to do that. This game is over," she said, "and if I ..."
"Commander Villers, please report to Ops," the comm interrupted.
"What is it?" Karen asked in an exasperated tone.
"Incoming priority one signal from Sol," the voice said.
"On my way," she replied then turned back to everyone. "As I was saying, go home, all of you. You've assissted quite enough for one day. Phillips, see that they leave and liaise with the clear-up team."
Yolanthe watched the XO head away then turned to Tharek. "Lets get out of here, everyings dead and I-"
There was a sudden snap of electricity, a shower of sparks, and a section of crawlway over their heads dropped out. Out of it tumbled voles, both dead and alive, and the beginnings of a nest, covering the bokkai in gnawed cable ends, knots of hair and fur, and drying guano. A huge cloud of choking smoke billowed into the junction where they and the security personnel Karen had left with them were crowded, blocking the lights and obscuring everything.
This was his chance to be unleashed. Getal needed to shoot something, and even if they were pitiful Voles, they would suffice until Rh'vaurek returned. He quickly kissed Yolanthe and whispered words of sugar into her ear. I'll come to you later.
"Men! Take my lead and move out fast!" He bellowed, and within seconds, smoke cleared, and Getal and his ruthless band of Cardassians had vanished.
OFF:
A JP Between
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner of The Box of Delights
Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal
Cardassian Dictator
Commander Karen Villiers
Executive Officer
Non-too pleased with these shennannigans
by Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers & Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal
Post Details
| Title | A Plague On Both Your Houses, part 3 | |
| Mission | Interlude | |
| Author(s) | Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers & Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal | |
| Posted | Thu Aug 26, 2010 @ 4:31pm | |
| Location | Crawlways around the Promenade | |
| Timeline | After Little Box Of Horrors |
Each team headed to the entrance of their respective crawl ways, squeezed in, and sealed the bulk head behind them. The blast doors and forcefields that secured the evacuated Promenade came down, and poisonous neurozine gas was pumped in. All of the smaller tunnels that lead from the main crawl ways now had thousands of volts carrying over 50 amps running through their floors and ceilings. Anything that put a foot inside was toast. All that was left to do was shoot any vole left in the safety of the main tunnels, each team working their way around the promenade to meet in the middle.
With the Promenade evacuated, the tunnels were eerily quiet, only the faintest hum of the power conduits buried in the crawl way walls, punctuated here and there by a weak and wheezing squeal of a dying vole, or the skittering claws of live vermin.
The close quarters didn't bother Yolanthe much. It was the fact that she was in a tight space with a lot of people with ranged weapons that bothered her. The markings and symbols meant nothing. The only Cardassian she could read was 'kanar'. She examined the weapon she held. "I hope this thing has a stun setting?"
"It has three simple settings. Stun, kill, disintegrate." The closest Cardassian said. He was built like he was made out of hull plating, and his stance and footsteps only furthered the image.
"Simple and to the point." She held it out to him. "Which one's stun?" She let the enormous man adjust it for her; it felt strange and somewhat wrong to have a male show her how to use a weapon, but what was it the humans said? When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Then she squeezed along the tunnel until she was level with the ambassador. "Its probably best if you stay behind me. That way I can't shoot you by mistake."
"You'll be behind Vi'kar Gul Getal, that way you can't shoot any of us." He said, hadning back the weapon with a small laugh. He ordered the men aside, and let Yolanthe squeeze past toward Tharek.
Still doubtful, she kept quiet as they inched through the tunnel. it didn't take long before they heard the sound of tiny paws heading towards them. A moment later, a small spoon-crested head put a twitching nose around the corner of junction.
Not convinced it was going to work, she held the phaser out and pressed the trigger. The yellow beam scorched the darkness, but not the vole. Instead the beam splashed against the bulkhead above its head. The vole scuttled back down the darkened tunnel.
She shrugged and blew out a frustrated puff of air. “Come back here you little bugger.” She started to crawl after it, leaving the Cardassians behind.
"Yolanthe!" Tharek called out. "Men, you saerch for some more of these rodents, I'm with Yolanthe." He said as he jogged off, weapon in hand, after his lover. The men just looked at each other with a glance that said "why are we doing this for Voles?"
"Not exactly your typical evening out is it?" She asked him when he caught up with her. The rodent appeared again, and once again she shot and missed.
Tharek quickly raised his weapon, fired a single yellow beam, which hit the Vole dead-on. The rodent squealed but soon silenced as the life drained from it. "Not exactly, no." He chuckled.
They worked their way through the crawlspaces, Tharek shooting voles, and Yolanthe missing them. After her tenth successive miss, she shook her head. "I did try to tell you I wasn't any good. I'd be more likely to hit a vole with this thing if I threw it."
"Here." He said, as he manouvered behind Yolanthe. Putting his head by hers, he lifted the disruptor in her hands up with his own. "Look down the sight, then shoot. These disruptors aren't exactly the most up to date ones, and have a slight draw to the left. Try and compensate."
"So aim to the right." Yolanthe let him guide her movements, enjoying his closeness, and then felt a tiny flicker of guilt. She was supposed to clearing up a mess, not taking illicit pleasures. It was an unexpected moment of intimacy, completely out of place for a dusty service tunnel, and she wished she had more time to enjoy it.
"Business before pleasure," she muttered to herself and they pushed onwards Within a few meteres, they encountered a vole, a large hairy specimen that limped along, its rear legs deadened by a close brush with the electrified infrastructure. Is she couldn't hit a crippled rat...
She aimed, compensated for the pull to the left, and the beam took it square in the broadside. She gave a grim smile of satisfaction as the vole collapsed on its legs. She scooped it up and wrung its neck with professional neatness. "Got you, you little bugger." she stuffed it into a bag. "I think I'm going to get the hang of this. Lets get rid of the rest."
They headed on, following the slow curve of the central promenade bulkheads. The number of survivors seemed to be diminishing as they got further from The Box Of Delights. The tunnel was getting stuffier and the smell was becoming more rank, as electrocuted bodies began to cook.
From out of the gloom ahead came more shuffling sounds...
"That must be the nest. They set up shop fast the bastards." Tharek said, showing a very dominant distaste for Voles. "Men, arms up, it sounds bigger than Raxus... "
----
If Karen ever found out who had introduced these vermin to Deep Space Five she was going to feed him one raw. Half of her would not be surprised if some idiot had thought they would make good pets and let them loose the third or fourth time they found their quarters shredded, the other half suspected that they had stowed away and arrived with the Cardassian. Karen was not yet suspecting foul play.
At the rate they were going they would soon meet up with Getal's team, Karen thought as she scooped up another dead vole and shoved it in the bag. Karen thought a thought that her position of Executive Officer prevented her from articulating out loud at that thought.
"D'you hear that?" one of the officers asked.
Karen did. There was something around the corner, scrabbling and moving, "This must be where they come from," she said as they readied their weapons. It was not going to be pretty.
-----
Surrounded by Cardassians with weapons readied, Yolanthe was having an extremely bad feeling. She leant close in to Tharek, "How do we deal with a nest?" She whispered. "Smoke them out? Go in all guns blazing?"
"We do this. You." He said, pointing at a soldier nearby. "Hand me a special brew grenade." He said, and the guard complied immediately, handing him a perfectly spherical object. "This is my own creation. After the Raxus incident, I made these specifically to kill Voles... They won't kill anything else... Just hurt a lot."
"Won't that include us? Aren't we going to be too close?" she asked.
"No, of course not, it has a few meter radius, and we're going to be here when it's thrown." Tharek said, and within instants, he launched it around the corner. "It's thrown." He said sarcastically as he backed the group away from the corner.
----
"HOLD YOUR WEOPONS!" Karen cried to her people as she ripped her comm badge from her uniform and hurled it at the sphere. "Ops lock on my comm and contain."
"This is Starfleet! Who the fuck are you?" Make yourselves known!" she demanded in an epic loss of calm while the device, its impact contained by the hastily erected field, exploded.
Tharek laughed to himself quickly, followed by a few sniggers from a few of his men. Killing Voles was fun, but getting some Starfleet too? That made his day. He gathered himself quickly enough to walk out and face an angry looking bunch of Starfleeters. Led by an even angrier Karen.
"Matthews, have Ops transport the device and containment field to lab ten for analysis," Karen said with a glint to her onyx gaze as she turned it on the Cardassians. The device vanished in a hiss and a fizzle as the transporter beam took it. "Not capable of looking round a corner?" Karen asked in a quizzical tone a lot lighter than what she was feeling right now, there were a number of very undiplmatic, un-JAGish and un-XOish four letter words nipping at the tip of her tongue but she kept them in.
"Congratulations, Ambassador," Karen said, "You have earned yourself the express attention of station Security and Intelligence, "Home-made bombs ... you've crossed a line," she told him. If it did nothing else it would wipe the smirk off his face.
The smirk stayed. "Please, feel free. You'll find the analysis shows the device to be non-lethal to Humanoids, only Voles. So, technically, unless Starfleet wants to make an issue out of a pest control device, I suggest you drop the matter."
Karen folded her arms and looked evenly at the Cardassian, "Suggest whatever you want, Ambassador. I'll wait to see what my lab have to say about it ... I'm sure their scenarios of the blast radius and its impact will be fascinating," she said.
"I'm sure they will. What will be even more fascinating will be the look on your face when you find out I'm right." He said, replacing the smirk with an all too serious face.
There was more than likely more to it than that and if configured correctly the models would show it up."Ambassadors generally make unreliable witnesses," Karen replied, her gaze unwavering, "and as to my expression. I can assure you it will be just as impressed as the one that I'm wearing now." Which was not in the slightest.
"Ladies, Gentlemen," Yolnthe stepped between them. "Shouldn't we be clearing the tunnels before we're gassed to death by the smell of crispy fried vole." The acrid stench was building fast, and a haze of smoke was filling the tunnels whilst they argued.
Karen's gaze swivelled to the Bokkai, the last thing she needed was a bartender thinking she could mediate in a dispute of this nature. "No, there'll be a new crew moving in to do that. This game is over," she said, "and if I ..."
"Commander Villers, please report to Ops," the comm interrupted.
"What is it?" Karen asked in an exasperated tone.
"Incoming priority one signal from Sol," the voice said.
"On my way," she replied then turned back to everyone. "As I was saying, go home, all of you. You've assissted quite enough for one day. Phillips, see that they leave and liaise with the clear-up team."
Yolanthe watched the XO head away then turned to Tharek. "Lets get out of here, everyings dead and I-"
There was a sudden snap of electricity, a shower of sparks, and a section of crawlway over their heads dropped out. Out of it tumbled voles, both dead and alive, and the beginnings of a nest, covering the bokkai in gnawed cable ends, knots of hair and fur, and drying guano. A huge cloud of choking smoke billowed into the junction where they and the security personnel Karen had left with them were crowded, blocking the lights and obscuring everything.
This was his chance to be unleashed. Getal needed to shoot something, and even if they were pitiful Voles, they would suffice until Rh'vaurek returned. He quickly kissed Yolanthe and whispered words of sugar into her ear. I'll come to you later.
"Men! Take my lead and move out fast!" He bellowed, and within seconds, smoke cleared, and Getal and his ruthless band of Cardassians had vanished.
OFF:
A JP Between
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner of The Box of Delights
Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal
Cardassian Dictator
Commander Karen Villiers
Executive Officer
Non-too pleased with these shennannigans