Unity – Amateur Investigations (Part 3)
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
ON:
Mercy looked incredulously at Yolanthe. ~What about Alexia?~ she wondered but answered the question she had just been asked without voicing that thought.
"Er... Lt. Cmdr. Tovan would be in the Lab... if he's not back in Sickbay by now?" she said thoughtfully.
"Okay, well, he was wandering about not long ago, so lets try the lab first." She headed off towards the turbolift, expecting Mercy to follow behind. "On the way, call your friend and tell her that one of her men chased us out, and we'll be back with the actual trouble makers just as soon as can be."
"Will do" said Mercy and she complied.
The approach to science lab 1 was alive with engineering teams, trying to clear the debris and begin repairs. "What on earth happened here?" Yolanthe asked Mercy. "One of the other bombs?"
"Yes, exactly that." Mercy confirmed, picking her way through carefully.
Yolanthe frowned. "No wonder that Cardassian looked such a mess, the whole place must have come down on top of him. Poor thing." Grey tinged her violet skin for a moment. She looked around withh hands on hips. "I'm guessing he isn't here." She looked around the chaotic scene, searching for inspiration on where to look next. A small unlit sign pointed down a darkened corridor to Science Lab 2. It seemed the logical choice.
The corridor only managed emergency lighting every 10 or so meters, the feint orange lights giving out small glimmers of light, just enough that they didn't trip over their own feet as they made their way past small offices and empty junctions. Yolanthe was beginning to think that the second lab was a lost cause and it would be quicker to go back and get a turbo lift when she noticed the light levels starting to lift. With renewed determination she started forward again, this time paying more attention to the quiet surroundings, certain she would trip over the human she was hunting soon enough.
Her wish was soon granted. Yolanthe grabbed Mercy suddenly. In the darkened glass of a deadened computer access panel, she had seen the reflection of the two they were hunting. She put her fingers to her lips, and then flattened herself against the wall hoping their prey couldn't see them the same way. She silently inched closer to the side corridor they were lurking in, untill she could hear what they were saying, and beckoned for Mercy to join her.
Mercy silently did as she was asked, flattening herself too and keeping so still and quiet that even her breathing became shallow and less noisy.
"We shouldn't be here." The Bajoran was hopping nervously from one foot to another. "The job is done - The ambassadors have sealed themselves in their consulates and the civvies wouldn't piss on the fleeters to put them out if they were on fire. We've done the dividing, its for others to do the conquering."
The human shook his head. "Did you see the size of that security team? I'll bet good money that core is in that lab. And whoever the boss sends for it, if they walk in to this unprepared, they're dead, Or worse. Then it won't matter about the other attacks. It will render everything pointless, and I'm not about to see this thing go belly-up if I can do anything about it."
"It could be anything in there, you're jumping to conclusions."
"Maybe. But I doubt you need that many armed guards for a bunch of rock samples." The human replied
The Bajoran checked his chronometer. "Look, everything will kick off in a minute anyway, and that security team will go running off to protect ops or engineering, and then the doors will be wide open. We should get clear and make it to the rendezvous. Don't worry about it. As long as the boss hasn't sent Gord the Waffle King, if the core is in there, it’s as good as ours anyway." He took a grip of the humans arm. "Come on. Let’s go."
The human started to argue in hushed tones. In the course of eavesdropping Yolanthe had turned from a pale blue to a mint green. She been half enjoying the hunt across the station, but it was now a lot more sinister. This was suddenly a lot bigger than one tiny little booze ban. They had to report this to security, and hope they paid slightly more attention than they had before. She leant down to Mercy's ear, "Let’s get out of here fast! Before they spot us."
Mercy couldn't have agreed more with that sentiment. She shuffled back along the way they had come, still flat against the wall and moving sideways. Her heart was beating so fast she thought she was about to have a heart attack. She wished Bryan were here, he'd know what to do.
Panel by panel they got back to the beginning of the corridor and backed out into the walkway beyond. Once clear of the sightline, they began to run as if the devil himself was coming along behind them.
Reaching the entrance the two women were breathless and almost collapsed against the Security Officers in the corridor outside.
"You....... you have .... to helllllp.... us" Mercy panted, tugging frantically at the sleeve of the first gold trimmed uniform she could ge hold of.
Yolanthe recovered first and explained what they had heard. But the two security officers seemed cut from the same impassive cloth as Lt Trellis. The pair stepped away from them to consult. The Bokkai blinked. "I am being ignored. They don't believe me." One of them tapped at his com, and began a conversation with a unseen third party. "Maybe you should just call your friend back, get her to put out the alarm."
Mercy looked shocked that the Security officers seemed not to be reacting as she had expected. She did as she was asked and contacted Alexia who agreed to circulate the descriptions and details. Alexia also said she'd go and find Duquesne or Trellis. She wasn't sure about Trellis due to her personal loyalty to Gabriel but she would clearly need to find someone in authority, which she went off to do.
Yolanthe looked back down the corridor to where the two conspirators had been lurking. The security officers might not believe her, but the men themselves was different. And it didn't sound like they had time to mess around jumping through hoops. She considered drastic action. She was taller than both of the two aliens, stronger too, based on their lacklustre performance in the fight the night before. She could probably drag at least one back here without doing him serious harm... And if Mercy was able to help... She looked at the shorter woman appraisingly.
"What?" Mercy asked as she wondered why she was being looked over. "Did I say something wrong to Alexia?"
"Not at all," the Bokkai shook her head, "But you heard those two down there, something's about to happen, and the yellow-shirts think I'm insane. You can handle one man can't you? The Bajoran looks pretty beaten still. You probably wouldn't need to be too rough with him."
"Handle.....?" Mercy's eyes opened like saucers. "Um.... " a spark of something warm kindled inside the ordinary administrator and a sparkle twinkled in her eye.
"OH! I see.... well, we can only find out!" she said bravely, a little bit excited and a lot scared but staunch enough to follow through and having no intention of letting Yolanthe go alone.
"Look, just follow my lead, and don't be afraid of hurting them. You'll feel like shit when you do, but try not to think about it." The Bokkai headed back down the corridor at a jog, all the time trying to tell herself that it wouldn't count. They weren't her species after all.
By the time they reached the junction the human and the bajorran were gone. Yolanthe swore and started walking quickly towards the science lab. She reached the end of the corridor, and risked a glance out. Her quarries were standing by the doors to the lab, peering in. They exchanged a few words, and then stepped away, heading for the turbo lift, where two security guards lay unmoving. She drew back as the two passed, letting them get ahead.
"Happy now?" The bajoran was scowling at his human companion. "Then lets get to sickbay before the party starts without us."
She gave a swift jerk of her head to warn Mercy, and then stepped out.
"Afternoon gents." Remember, she told herself, these two are involved with your wreck of a first night. Don't feel too bad about what’s coming next.
The two men turned. The human recognized her, and tensed instantly, hand moving to his belt. But she had the advantage of surprise. Her fist was already moving as he swore; it landed on the side of his chin and just kept going. Her punch powered into his face, whiplashing his head to the side. He made a surprised grunt, and staggered to floor, down but not out.
Tha Bajoran had that extra second to prepare, but was caught between the blazing yellow of a wrathful bokkai, and the altogether more apprehensive administrator. No contest. He lunged for Mercy.
An instinctive self-preservation reflex jerked Mercy to one side and the clumsiness of the Bajoran's lunge toppled him into the space she had just left. At the moment that the staggering man with flailing arms got to within a few inches of her face, Mercy saw in her mind's eye, the incident of last night when she and Bryan had been standing before an advancing ugly mob.
There were two reactions she could have had to this reliving of a horrible moment. One would have been total blind panic as the injuries she had sustained would have run through her thoughts like an instant-replay. The second however was that she could have seen red and retaliated, remembering the pain and the fear for Bryan as she had gone down and the humiliation the morning after when she had time to reflect on how ineffective the two Starfleet Officers had been, needing to be rescued instead of providing a solution.
Mercy brought up a furious knee right into the bending pot-belly of the would-be assailant as he stumbled forward and to her left. "That's for Bryan" she muttered and clenched both hands together into a ball with her fingers interlinked as she'd been shown at the Academy in what they had all jokingly called 'self-defence for the heroically challenged - 101'. ~Turns out it was a useful class after all~ she thought as this combination double-fisted thump crashed with all her might into the man's kidney from above as he went down beside her.
The searing pain in Mercy's injured hand caused her to cry out and drop to her knees cradling her re-damaged arm against her, the CMO's words echoing in her head about how she was to 'take it gently with that until it heals' but the 'enemy' was defeated and lay still beside her and the wash of redemption was such a high that Mercy retained her consciousness and just sat back on her calves, tears of pain and vindication on her cheeks. The little mouse had finally had her moment to step up to the plate and it was the moment of a lifetime of mediocrity.
The human struggled up onto his knees. Yolanthe wasn't going to let him up. She aimed a kick into his kidneys that lifted him off the floor and he collapsed down again onto his face. She dropped down beside him, wrapped his ponytail around her fist and slammed his forehead into the deck plating, once, twice. He lay still.
Mercy struggled to her feet, still cradling her arm but with a look of amazement on her face.
"Did *we* just do that?" she breathed as Yolanthe looked over to see if Mercy was still in one piece.
"See, not so hard was it?" Together they dragged the two unconscious males away from the main thoroughfare. With the immediate action over, Yolanthe had turned jade green again. Before she said anything more, she checked both of them for a pulse. Finding both still alive the jade turned to amber. She tipped the human onto his side so he couldn't swallow his own tongue, then patted him down. Under his jacket she found a knife clipped to his belt. She took it and slid it smoothly onto her own. "I need to learn the Vulcan nerve pinch." she sucked on a knuckle. The humans jaw had been harder than it looked.
She then looked up at Mercy. "Let me take a look." She reached out for the admin's hand and felt it carefully. She wasn't a doctor, but she'd seen enough broken fists in her time to know one if she saw it.
"Doesn't feel broken. Would probably hurt less if it did. Going to be okay?"
"Yes" Mercy said, the flush of her newfound courage and excitement still upon her and holding the pain at bay.
Yolanthe looked out towards the lab once again. Through the clear windows of the science lab doors she could see the Romulan Ambassador, the badly injured Cardassian and a human woman she didn't recognise, all surrounded by a handful of others in Starfleet uniforms toting various weapons. It was hard to tell with one-skins, but looking at the body language, she was reasonably sure she was looking at some sort of unpleasant situation. Multiple opponents, ranged weapons, at least one injured so badly he was a liability. Even allowing for the fact that the Ambassador had been rather good in the fight last night, if she and Mercy put one step towards that door, it would be suicide. Tag team and group melee she had always had more difficulty predicting, and with men in there, she wasn't prepared to risk trying anything heroic.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, and the amber faded to mustard. "We can't go in there. We'll die before we get six feet." But she couldn't leave it either. "And what about what they said about engineering, and ops? Sounds like they're going to attack there too, stars know why. And sick bay." She turned to Mercy. "Any ideas? Does Starfleet have a manual for stuff like this?"
But before the woman could answer, a communicator on the Bajorran beeped, and an unknown voice barked "Begin now!"
OFF
A JP between:
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner & Bartender, The Box of Delights
and
CWO (2) Mercedes Denoublier
Administrator, DS5
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
| Title | Amateur Investigations (Part 3) | |
| Mission | Unity | |
| Author(s) | Commander Chelsea Dunham & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Karen Villiers | |
| Posted | Tue May 04, 2010 @ 7:17pm | |
| Location | Science Labs | |
| Timeline | SD17 - approx 14.00 hrs |
Mercy looked incredulously at Yolanthe. ~What about Alexia?~ she wondered but answered the question she had just been asked without voicing that thought.
"Er... Lt. Cmdr. Tovan would be in the Lab... if he's not back in Sickbay by now?" she said thoughtfully.
"Okay, well, he was wandering about not long ago, so lets try the lab first." She headed off towards the turbolift, expecting Mercy to follow behind. "On the way, call your friend and tell her that one of her men chased us out, and we'll be back with the actual trouble makers just as soon as can be."
"Will do" said Mercy and she complied.
The approach to science lab 1 was alive with engineering teams, trying to clear the debris and begin repairs. "What on earth happened here?" Yolanthe asked Mercy. "One of the other bombs?"
"Yes, exactly that." Mercy confirmed, picking her way through carefully.
Yolanthe frowned. "No wonder that Cardassian looked such a mess, the whole place must have come down on top of him. Poor thing." Grey tinged her violet skin for a moment. She looked around withh hands on hips. "I'm guessing he isn't here." She looked around the chaotic scene, searching for inspiration on where to look next. A small unlit sign pointed down a darkened corridor to Science Lab 2. It seemed the logical choice.
The corridor only managed emergency lighting every 10 or so meters, the feint orange lights giving out small glimmers of light, just enough that they didn't trip over their own feet as they made their way past small offices and empty junctions. Yolanthe was beginning to think that the second lab was a lost cause and it would be quicker to go back and get a turbo lift when she noticed the light levels starting to lift. With renewed determination she started forward again, this time paying more attention to the quiet surroundings, certain she would trip over the human she was hunting soon enough.
Her wish was soon granted. Yolanthe grabbed Mercy suddenly. In the darkened glass of a deadened computer access panel, she had seen the reflection of the two they were hunting. She put her fingers to her lips, and then flattened herself against the wall hoping their prey couldn't see them the same way. She silently inched closer to the side corridor they were lurking in, untill she could hear what they were saying, and beckoned for Mercy to join her.
Mercy silently did as she was asked, flattening herself too and keeping so still and quiet that even her breathing became shallow and less noisy.
"We shouldn't be here." The Bajoran was hopping nervously from one foot to another. "The job is done - The ambassadors have sealed themselves in their consulates and the civvies wouldn't piss on the fleeters to put them out if they were on fire. We've done the dividing, its for others to do the conquering."
The human shook his head. "Did you see the size of that security team? I'll bet good money that core is in that lab. And whoever the boss sends for it, if they walk in to this unprepared, they're dead, Or worse. Then it won't matter about the other attacks. It will render everything pointless, and I'm not about to see this thing go belly-up if I can do anything about it."
"It could be anything in there, you're jumping to conclusions."
"Maybe. But I doubt you need that many armed guards for a bunch of rock samples." The human replied
The Bajoran checked his chronometer. "Look, everything will kick off in a minute anyway, and that security team will go running off to protect ops or engineering, and then the doors will be wide open. We should get clear and make it to the rendezvous. Don't worry about it. As long as the boss hasn't sent Gord the Waffle King, if the core is in there, it’s as good as ours anyway." He took a grip of the humans arm. "Come on. Let’s go."
The human started to argue in hushed tones. In the course of eavesdropping Yolanthe had turned from a pale blue to a mint green. She been half enjoying the hunt across the station, but it was now a lot more sinister. This was suddenly a lot bigger than one tiny little booze ban. They had to report this to security, and hope they paid slightly more attention than they had before. She leant down to Mercy's ear, "Let’s get out of here fast! Before they spot us."
Mercy couldn't have agreed more with that sentiment. She shuffled back along the way they had come, still flat against the wall and moving sideways. Her heart was beating so fast she thought she was about to have a heart attack. She wished Bryan were here, he'd know what to do.
Panel by panel they got back to the beginning of the corridor and backed out into the walkway beyond. Once clear of the sightline, they began to run as if the devil himself was coming along behind them.
Reaching the entrance the two women were breathless and almost collapsed against the Security Officers in the corridor outside.
"You....... you have .... to helllllp.... us" Mercy panted, tugging frantically at the sleeve of the first gold trimmed uniform she could ge hold of.
Yolanthe recovered first and explained what they had heard. But the two security officers seemed cut from the same impassive cloth as Lt Trellis. The pair stepped away from them to consult. The Bokkai blinked. "I am being ignored. They don't believe me." One of them tapped at his com, and began a conversation with a unseen third party. "Maybe you should just call your friend back, get her to put out the alarm."
Mercy looked shocked that the Security officers seemed not to be reacting as she had expected. She did as she was asked and contacted Alexia who agreed to circulate the descriptions and details. Alexia also said she'd go and find Duquesne or Trellis. She wasn't sure about Trellis due to her personal loyalty to Gabriel but she would clearly need to find someone in authority, which she went off to do.
Yolanthe looked back down the corridor to where the two conspirators had been lurking. The security officers might not believe her, but the men themselves was different. And it didn't sound like they had time to mess around jumping through hoops. She considered drastic action. She was taller than both of the two aliens, stronger too, based on their lacklustre performance in the fight the night before. She could probably drag at least one back here without doing him serious harm... And if Mercy was able to help... She looked at the shorter woman appraisingly.
"What?" Mercy asked as she wondered why she was being looked over. "Did I say something wrong to Alexia?"
"Not at all," the Bokkai shook her head, "But you heard those two down there, something's about to happen, and the yellow-shirts think I'm insane. You can handle one man can't you? The Bajoran looks pretty beaten still. You probably wouldn't need to be too rough with him."
"Handle.....?" Mercy's eyes opened like saucers. "Um.... " a spark of something warm kindled inside the ordinary administrator and a sparkle twinkled in her eye.
"OH! I see.... well, we can only find out!" she said bravely, a little bit excited and a lot scared but staunch enough to follow through and having no intention of letting Yolanthe go alone.
"Look, just follow my lead, and don't be afraid of hurting them. You'll feel like shit when you do, but try not to think about it." The Bokkai headed back down the corridor at a jog, all the time trying to tell herself that it wouldn't count. They weren't her species after all.
By the time they reached the junction the human and the bajorran were gone. Yolanthe swore and started walking quickly towards the science lab. She reached the end of the corridor, and risked a glance out. Her quarries were standing by the doors to the lab, peering in. They exchanged a few words, and then stepped away, heading for the turbo lift, where two security guards lay unmoving. She drew back as the two passed, letting them get ahead.
"Happy now?" The bajoran was scowling at his human companion. "Then lets get to sickbay before the party starts without us."
She gave a swift jerk of her head to warn Mercy, and then stepped out.
"Afternoon gents." Remember, she told herself, these two are involved with your wreck of a first night. Don't feel too bad about what’s coming next.
The two men turned. The human recognized her, and tensed instantly, hand moving to his belt. But she had the advantage of surprise. Her fist was already moving as he swore; it landed on the side of his chin and just kept going. Her punch powered into his face, whiplashing his head to the side. He made a surprised grunt, and staggered to floor, down but not out.
Tha Bajoran had that extra second to prepare, but was caught between the blazing yellow of a wrathful bokkai, and the altogether more apprehensive administrator. No contest. He lunged for Mercy.
An instinctive self-preservation reflex jerked Mercy to one side and the clumsiness of the Bajoran's lunge toppled him into the space she had just left. At the moment that the staggering man with flailing arms got to within a few inches of her face, Mercy saw in her mind's eye, the incident of last night when she and Bryan had been standing before an advancing ugly mob.
There were two reactions she could have had to this reliving of a horrible moment. One would have been total blind panic as the injuries she had sustained would have run through her thoughts like an instant-replay. The second however was that she could have seen red and retaliated, remembering the pain and the fear for Bryan as she had gone down and the humiliation the morning after when she had time to reflect on how ineffective the two Starfleet Officers had been, needing to be rescued instead of providing a solution.
Mercy brought up a furious knee right into the bending pot-belly of the would-be assailant as he stumbled forward and to her left. "That's for Bryan" she muttered and clenched both hands together into a ball with her fingers interlinked as she'd been shown at the Academy in what they had all jokingly called 'self-defence for the heroically challenged - 101'. ~Turns out it was a useful class after all~ she thought as this combination double-fisted thump crashed with all her might into the man's kidney from above as he went down beside her.
The searing pain in Mercy's injured hand caused her to cry out and drop to her knees cradling her re-damaged arm against her, the CMO's words echoing in her head about how she was to 'take it gently with that until it heals' but the 'enemy' was defeated and lay still beside her and the wash of redemption was such a high that Mercy retained her consciousness and just sat back on her calves, tears of pain and vindication on her cheeks. The little mouse had finally had her moment to step up to the plate and it was the moment of a lifetime of mediocrity.
The human struggled up onto his knees. Yolanthe wasn't going to let him up. She aimed a kick into his kidneys that lifted him off the floor and he collapsed down again onto his face. She dropped down beside him, wrapped his ponytail around her fist and slammed his forehead into the deck plating, once, twice. He lay still.
Mercy struggled to her feet, still cradling her arm but with a look of amazement on her face.
"Did *we* just do that?" she breathed as Yolanthe looked over to see if Mercy was still in one piece.
"See, not so hard was it?" Together they dragged the two unconscious males away from the main thoroughfare. With the immediate action over, Yolanthe had turned jade green again. Before she said anything more, she checked both of them for a pulse. Finding both still alive the jade turned to amber. She tipped the human onto his side so he couldn't swallow his own tongue, then patted him down. Under his jacket she found a knife clipped to his belt. She took it and slid it smoothly onto her own. "I need to learn the Vulcan nerve pinch." she sucked on a knuckle. The humans jaw had been harder than it looked.
She then looked up at Mercy. "Let me take a look." She reached out for the admin's hand and felt it carefully. She wasn't a doctor, but she'd seen enough broken fists in her time to know one if she saw it.
"Doesn't feel broken. Would probably hurt less if it did. Going to be okay?"
"Yes" Mercy said, the flush of her newfound courage and excitement still upon her and holding the pain at bay.
Yolanthe looked out towards the lab once again. Through the clear windows of the science lab doors she could see the Romulan Ambassador, the badly injured Cardassian and a human woman she didn't recognise, all surrounded by a handful of others in Starfleet uniforms toting various weapons. It was hard to tell with one-skins, but looking at the body language, she was reasonably sure she was looking at some sort of unpleasant situation. Multiple opponents, ranged weapons, at least one injured so badly he was a liability. Even allowing for the fact that the Ambassador had been rather good in the fight last night, if she and Mercy put one step towards that door, it would be suicide. Tag team and group melee she had always had more difficulty predicting, and with men in there, she wasn't prepared to risk trying anything heroic.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, and the amber faded to mustard. "We can't go in there. We'll die before we get six feet." But she couldn't leave it either. "And what about what they said about engineering, and ops? Sounds like they're going to attack there too, stars know why. And sick bay." She turned to Mercy. "Any ideas? Does Starfleet have a manual for stuff like this?"
But before the woman could answer, a communicator on the Bajorran beeped, and an unknown voice barked "Begin now!"
OFF
A JP between:
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner & Bartender, The Box of Delights
and
CWO (2) Mercedes Denoublier
Administrator, DS5