Dance of Death

Posted on Tue Feb 27th, 2018 @ 3:01pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Lieutenant Mona Gonadie & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Ahreva Malana & Aewia Larani & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott & Commander Mal Xustos & Lieutenant Commander T'Pral Jordan & Lieutenant Commander Eneas Clio & Akira Zhuri & Lieutenant Marci Ulfred & Chief Warrant Officer Daytona Ral & Staff Warrant Officer Nexi

Mission: When Iconians Deserve to Die
Location: Various
Timeline: After Iconian Gateways

http://swa.split-world.com/Hera/Deathshadow-class.jpg

***USS Hera Bridge***

The bridge was strangely silent as the Hera gently glided away from the dyson sphere to meet the Master's ship. The entire senior staff and all the specialists Enalia had gathered were now on the bridge staring at this black mass of warp 'cloud' coming at them and it was not pretty. The specs that Intel Command had found on the ship did nothing to prepare them for the sheer terror that now lay before them. it looked like something out of an old ghost story brought to life.

It generated its own nightmare cloud as it flew along but it abandoned it when it left warp and got closer to the Hera, which elicited a gasp from the junior crew members as the bow of his ship came into view - a dull white alien skull and crossbones with red glowing eyes set across a dull blackened hull streamed from the cloud followed by spinal ridges leading to a circular rotating collar section covered in weaponry in the middle. The aft of the ship had six armatures coming off like vicious claws reaching out to attack anything in their path. The command section was unique in that it looked more like it belonged on an antique sailing vessel than on a starship.

Ensign Gonadie at helm worked up the nerve to speak up first. "Captain, the Master's ship is almost in weapons range. Thirty seconds."

Pressing the intercom on her chair, Enalia braced herself for what she was about to commit her ship and crew to. "Red alert. All hands to battle stations. In less than a minute, we engage our greatest enemy to date. I know every one of you can do this. Just trust in yourselves, your skills, and your fellow crewmates." Releasing the intercom, Enalia nodded to Mal. "Let's get this party started then."

"Ensign Gonadie," Mal said. "Attack pattern Xustos-Gamma-Four. Advise me when we are in weapons range."

"Xustos-Gamma-Four, Aye..." Gonadie copied as she tapped in the orders and began the maneuver. The helm was still a bit sluggish with all the damage to the starboard nacelle, but she was managing well enough. "Five seconds to contact." Tension was so thick in the air, you could cut it. "Now in weapons range."

***Master's Bridge***

The Master was in his rather large and darkened bridge in a sole high backed throne, his hellhounds to either side of him. The image of the Hera floated in a projection in the middle of the room. Massive windows behind that gave him a superior view of the entire battlefield. He grinned at the readouts beneath the display. "Well, my dear... It seems you may be a bit of a distraction after all. Let's see how well you'll dance for me."

***USS Hera Bridge***

As Gonadie spoke, the Master's ship opened fire, all gun turrets simultaneously firing some sort of blackened orange energy beams towards the Hera. Most narrowly missed, but a few grazed the ship's shields and sent sparks flying from EPS conduits all across the ship as the shields were strained just from the initial salvo.

Enalia gripped the armrests of her chair tightly as the ship shuddered. "Return fire! Full salvo of quantums and phasers! signal the boarding party to beam over when ready!"

Phaser beams and quantum torpedoes shot out from the Hera and towards the Master's ship as Mal's fingers flew over the tactical console with practiced ease. Without missing a step, Mal signaled the boarding party.

"Commander Eneas," he said. "You, Commander Jordan, and the boarding teams may begin beaming over to the Master's ship immediately."

"We were already preparing to do so, sir," Clio replied with a crisp politeness. "We'll call you when we've finished him."

***Section 31 Transporter Room***

Crewman Ila Dedjoy was one of three people on the Hera that even knew about this transporter system, let alone how to operate it, and here she was about to send three people through it. All of her tests had come through safely. She even sent herself once with no ill effects. She also discovered that shields had no effect on them, so that was no bother. she just needed sensor coordinates and that was the hard part. With a link to any Starfleet system, she could send a biocanister to anywhere in Federation space... in theory... but she hadn't tested that yet. The logs had a few residual traces of some interesting transports that she was still investigating, like a trip from the Regulus system to DS9 that had no return displacement.

Anyway, she was now looking at three living, breathing sentients about to step into the transport chamber. There were three pads, so that was convenient. They were just inside a sort of clear aluminum booth with sliding doors to contain the... quasi-quantum Celium particles? The system was vague on this subject and it was likely going to take her a while to figure this part out.

Nodding, Ila stepped behind the controls. "Commander Jordan, Commander Eneas, Staff Warrant Officer Nexi... You may experience a moment of disorientation after transport. This is because this is a bit faster than the normal transport action. I also recommend you exhale as soon as you arrive. It helps with transition. I just wish we had gotten the normal transporters working in time."

"No sense wishing. We'll use what we've got." Clio did give Nexi a bit of a sidelong glance. She couldn't help it... she'd heard the story many times over about the demon dog that had tried to eat Daytona. "Whether you're ready or not, this is our only chance. Let's go."

T'Pral nodded as she focused on the situation before her. "We will be fine," she said as hefted the spear on the pad.

Nexi winced as she stepped up to the odd looking transporter, then looked down at the hellhound at her side; it could not realistically come into the chamber with her, though she suspected that even the vacuum of space would not be able to separate her from this monstrous beast. And though agitated, Mister Pickles seemed uninterested Clio, T'Pral, or Ila, but his awareness of the tense situation seemed to be riling up his sibling, causing Nexi great pain.

"Let's just hurry this up before the blood kills me," Nexi said in rough tone as she fought back against the clawing pain building up inside her.

Suddenly the ship shook violently and the sound of the pod weapons firing could be heard through the deck echo bars. A few seconds later, the signal to transport the away team came through the console and Dedjoy nodded to the trio that it was time.

Dedjoy gulped as the trio filed into the transport chamber. "As soon as you're over there it'll take a little bit to recharge the system but I'll send over backup as soon as I can, if you want. I'll also be monitoring your vitals. Just take a deep breath and give me a thumbs up when you're ready and I'll have you on the bridge of that ship."

Nexi didn't need to prepare mentally, she was ready to do this. "I'm good," she said with resolve. Looking over at T'Pral and Clio, she flashed them her trademark smirk. "When we get there, I'll run interference with anything the Master can throw at us, you two just focus on him; you make him pay for what he's done to me, to all of us."

"That could be too much. Should you require it, request Security from the Hera to help protect you. I have chosen Read, R'Tor and Shavni as our backup," T'Pral offered.

"I'll keep that in mind." Taking a few breaths to steady herself, Clio ran her hand over the hilt of the sword that hung at her hip and prayed it would work as advertised. This would be their only chance to rid themselves of the Master forever. She let a moment or two pass and then gave Dedjoy the thumbs-up signal.

Ila nodded and released light particles into the chamber, starting the reaction. It only took a second or two for the reaction coefficient to get high enough before she could activate the transport and glancing at the target, she slapped her hand down on the large red button. Immediately, all three of them vanished and the light particles dimmed, having been consumed in the transport.

***Master's Ship Bridge***

Without a sound or shimmer, the three Hera crew members popped into existence right on the Master's ship's bridge, a few sparkles of light fading around them. A moment later, Mister Pickles crawled out of Nexi's shadow with a low growl. The bridge itself was about thirty meters long and ten meters wide with a series of windows along the bow and ceiling. A circular holographic array sat in the middle of the bridge and behind it was a three meter tall throne in which sat the Master himself. On either side of him were his two hellhounds. A salvo of fire from the Hera rocked the Master's ship, but it didn't seem to be anything but an annoyance.

Without hesitation, Clio drew the sword from its sheath as the team simply 'popped' into existence. The Master and his dogs had not yet moved, but she was ready for them the second they did. The distance was far enough that if they tried to run and take him on, the hellhounds would be on them before they made it halfway. Their only advantage appeared to be Mister Pickles.

T'Pral grasped the spear, which was rather easy for her to learn considering she was already proficient in using the Lirpa. She took several steps as she moved towards the chair. She held a hand up for Nexi to stay back as she continued to move forward. That's when one of the Master's hellhounds sniffed the air. It's head snapped in T'Pral's direction, letting out a vicious growl as the other hellhound joined it.

The Master stood and glowered at the trio that suddenly appeared on his bridge. "I don't know how you got here, but you'll pay for this trespass." With that, he pulled a pike from his throne and sent his hounds after the trio. Compared to Mister Pickles, these two were absolute beasts, but he leaped at the throat of one of them to defend Nexi with absolute gusto.

All fear and confusion lingering from the incomplete memory restoration was gone as training took over; Nexi drew her pike, snapping the staff open and igniting the mono-filament plasma blade just as her beast lunged. The other hell-beast inside her was clawing to get out, but Nexi pushed down that feeling and grinned as she attacked the Master's other hellhound, the heated plasma blade slicing through the maw of the Master's beast like a hot knife through butter; she knew the beast would recover, such a weapon couldn't kill them, but she could slow it down and keep their attention off of Clio and T'Pral.

"Go!" Nexi shouted as she threw herself into the fight along side Mister Pickles against the Master's pets.

Shadowy figures moved along the edges of the bridge as the ship lurched and returned fire on the Hera, the blackened orange light shining through the massive bridge windows. The brief lighting gave the bridge an almost surreal yet eerily sinister look for just a moment as the hellhounds grappled in mortal combat with Nexi and Mister Pickles. The hellhound on Mr P, though it was several times his size was having trouble with the slightly more vicious hellhound as he could seemingly move faster. The one facing off with Nexi was wary of her after that first attack so was circling her, looking for an opening as it regenerated its misplaced jaw, black ooze dripping as it stalked. This foe smelled of its Master but it was a foe, nonetheless.

T'Pral stepped quickly, holding her spear with two hands as she closed the distance with the Master. Normally it would be in Starfleet's directive to offer an enemy the chance to surrender but after witnessing what this Master was capable of doing and under Captain Telvan's orders, death was the only logical end for this Master. "Normally I'd offer you a chance to surrender however, the galaxy would be better served by your death," she stated just as she lunged, thrusting her spear forward at the Master.

While Nexi dealt with the demon dogs and T'Pral went for a frontal attack, Clio instead slipped into the shadowy area at the edge of the bridge. Moving silently, she crept around to a flanking position where her approach wouldn't put her at risk from T'Pral's weapon. Hoping T'Pral had the man distracted enough that he wouldn't turn to see her, she took several quick steps out of the darkness and attacked the Master from the side with her sword, taking care not to hit herself or T'Pral with it.

The Master took a step back as he parried - he was not happy to see the auras that radiated off of the weapons these two carried. To top it off, the one he fought before had summoned her own hellhound? They were still far from his equal in combat, but combined... No! This was not how it would turn out! Leaving a shadow clone of himself behind to die in a high pitched screaming mass of black ooze that disintegrated quickly with Clio's strike, he evaded their attacks with seeming ease as he used the same shadows she did to get right into her ear and whisper... "You missed me..." He then reformed a few feet from his throne, looking cocky but a bit drained. He wouldn't be able to repeat that trick for a few seconds at least.

T'Pral was impressed by the Master's tricks, knowing she would have to try to keep him distracted long enough for Clio to hopefully make a strike. She took a few steps forward, pressing her advance. "A novice could have dodged those attacks," she insulted with a grin, hoping to anger the Master before charging again with all the speed her legs could muster.

The splatter of black goo was unsettling enough without his voice in her ear. Clio spun to strike him again, but he vanished and appeared across the room instead. Clio growled, a sound more worthy of Mister Pickles and the other hellhounds. They'd had him for a split second, and they hadn't known he could do... that. She let T'Pral press the attack, slowly circling around behind the man this time.

The Master parried T'Pral's spear thrust hard, stepping back behind the throne but careful to keep both of them in his sight. He had to find a way to end this fast. Another salvo of fire exchanged between the two ships lit up the bridge in orange and blue lights and rocked the ship, this time a bit harder as blue electrical bolts seemed to dance around the edges of the bridge. The Master was no longer smiling - instead a snarl twisted his darkened and horrid features. "You think you can win this! You think you even have a chance!"

"I'm part Vulcan. Of course I have a chance," T'Pral replied. "And I am not the one hiding." She moved to the right of the throne, keeping the spear leveled at the Master. She waited until Clio moved to his other flank. This time she rushed again, grasping the lower end of the spear and swinging the bladed end out as she dropped down.

Since T'Pral went low, Clio went high, aiming for the Master's head and neck. He wouldn't be able to avoid both strikes before his little disappearing trick.

The Master jumped into the air, high enough to dodge T'Pral's strike and made an attempt to parry Clio's strike with his pike. However, Clio had broken his range. His attempted block was not as successful as he intended it to be and he screamed in pain as Clio's sword sliced into his collar bone. He stood there a moment, looking confused as his wound failed to heal.

"What?" he said. He glared at the two women as blood spilled all over his torso. He brandished his pike one handed in an effort to keep his attackers at bay. He could still use his right arm, but his left appeared to be too painful to use. "Fine. You think that will stop me? You are mistaken! I'll kill you both for this! I'll kill you all!"

The Master threw his pike at Clio and made a dash for his command chair. He pulled a sword from a scabbard on the chair and turned to face his opponents.

The clumsily thrown pike glanced off Clio's shoulder as she dove away from it, leaving a shallow gash that oozed shimmery green blood down her left arm. While aware of the cut, she didn't feel the pain of it. No, she was too focused for that. She regained her feet easily, turning to face the Master again.

"Is that fear you're feeling?" T'Pral asked with a grin as she approached The Master, using the balls of her feet, poised to strike as she waited for Clio. "It is only logical for someone such as yourself to feel fear before their death." As Clio moved in position, T'Pral knew she had the advantage against The Master with her spear as she again rushed and leapt forward, thrusting her spear forward at The Master's sword rather than The Master himself, planning a risky move to lock weapons with the Master and hopefully offer Clio a chance to deliver the killing blow.

Clio let T'Pral do the talking. It seemed that the Master fixated on whomever was speaking to him, and it gave her the opportunity to come up behind him again. She'd injured him once. If she could aim the sword well, another strike could end him.

The Master parried T'Pral's thrust with a wave of his sword. He panicked when he lost track of Clio. He turned around to find her, then back to T'Pral, then back around looking for Clio, then back again, frantically trying to defend himself as he bled profusely from his shoulder.

"No!" he said. "You can't defeat me! You won't...you can't kill me! I am undying! I am immortal! I am an inescapable fact!"

Taking advantage of the Master's panic, Clio moved with him and kept just barely out of his sight each time he turned. She couldn't help scoffing a bit at his claims of being immortal. That was worth breaking the silence she'd so far kept. "I can and I will," she growled in a low tone, laying the edge of her sword against his neck with just enough pressure to begin splitting the flesh. "You've avoided death for too long. It's time the two of you were acquainted." Before he could teleport away again, she moved the sword in a lightning-quick slice, severing both the carotid artery and jugular vein in the Master's neck. "Say hello to the devil for me."

As Clio and T'Pral held the Master's attention, Nexi continued her dance with the Master's hounds, Mister Pickles was fast and had inherited Nexi's cunning, so he was putting up a valiant fight but the Master's hounds were so much bigger and stronger, Nexi and Mister Pickles could not hold them back without more help. Nexi had been holding back the clawing pain inside her, but she decided not to fight it any longer. Mister Pickles sensed Nexi's resolve and howled, causing her to grunt in pain and stagger back from the hounds. One of the Master's hounds took advantage of this momentary lapse in focus and lunged at her, knocking her to the ground and biting her arm when she brought her hand up to shield herself. Nexi was beyond pain, beyond caring, and didn't cry out as the beast tore through her arm; and there was blood, so much blood, quickly forming a puddle around them.

Mister Pickles attacked the hound tearing at Nexi, knocking him away and freeing Nexi to get back up. Her arm hung limp at her side, dripping black blood into puddle from which something began to emerge. The Master's other hound began to back away, now growing apprehensive about taking on two of Nexi's hounds; they had been a force when there was just one hound, now there would be two! With her good hand, Nexi tightened her grip on her pike and stalked towards both the hounds flanked now by her own hounds.

"Run," Nexi said in a menacing tone. Nexi had been holding back for far too long and the dogs could suddenly sense it and were frightened, but they couldn't get away from her fast enough when she attacked, unleashing hell on the Master's dogs. The Master's hounds were quickly on their way to becoming shredded when suddenly the fighting stopped; not just the Master's hounds, but Nexi and her hounds too, they all felt it when Clio sliced through the Master's throat, could feel him gasping and bleeding out. Nexi and all four dogs stopped and looked on in disbelief; was it finally over?

As the Master gushed boiling black blood all over himself in an attempt to heal, he stumbled back away, dropping his sword and grasped at his gurgling throat. Tripping over the deck plating, he fell backwards and splattered like a ball of snot against a frozen windshield as his black tar-like blood slowly stopped boiling and what remained of him began disintegrating into a sticky mess. A few moments later, his two hellhounds laid down with a whimper and did the same. The ship around them then fell eerily silent as the shadowy figures faded and all the lights of the bridge consoles went dark. The ship was dying as well - and it was already starting to decay.

Nexi stepped closer, heedless of the impending danger of the ship dying around them, and she began to stab at the decaying puddle of the Master's corpse with her pike; she knew it wouldn't mean much, her pike didn't have the fatal blades like the ones gifted to them by Hephaestus, but the act helped to work out some of her pent up rage, and it also had the effect of working her dogs into a frenzy and they jumped in, attacking the corpse. And then they went one step further; they began to eat the Master's remains. Nexi didn't seem to notice, instead focused on this empty pit of sorrow within her as tears and black blood streamed from her eyes; killing the Master stopped him from hurting anyone else, but it couldn't save those already infected by his malevolence, couldn't save her from what it was turning her into. With a primal cry of frustration, Nexi dropped her pike and fell to her knees; her dogs immediately abandoned their feast and returned to their master. It seemed strange to her that these beasts should want to show her any kindness or affection, but it was much needed.

The appearance of another hellhound failed to surprise Clio. After the fight they'd been through, it would have been more surprising if it hadn't appeared. At least with the death of the Master, his hellhounds had vanished. But now the ship seemed to be dying around them. Ominous creaking noises from the shadows had her hoping Ila was ready to bring them back. Raising her hand to her commbadge, she wiped a layer of black blood off of it before pressing it to open the channel. "Eneas to Hera. He's dead. Get us out of here before we join him in the afterlife."

Ila's voice came through as the air started to cool. "Stand by for transport. Six second countdown."

TAGS all

*** Section 31 Transporter Room***

Ila had the system recharged and ready just barely in time to get the away team back and had a lock on all three of them. Unfortunately, the biofilters weren't exactly designed to remove the black blood, so she'd have to bring them back with whatever was on... or in... all three of them. Cycling the chamber, she filled it with the sparkling particles and slapped the big red button, instantly absorbing the particles and making all three of the away team appear inside the transport chamber instantly.

"Crewman Dedjoy to the Bridge, the away team has returned alive but we could use a medical team... And a quarantine unit." Pressing a few more controls, Ila activated quarantine protocols. Not only were they covered in black blood, but the one person she knew wasn't infected with it was now bleeding black.

Taking a deep breath, she unsealed the transport chamber. "Welcome back. Medical and quarantine teams should be on their way now. Commander Eneas, you're now bleeding black as well, it seems."

"Not surprised." Seeing as how Clio's uniform - and hair - were soaked with the Master's black blood, she imagined she'd have been infected even without the now painful gash in her shoulder. Leaning on the wall of the transport chamber, she slid down to sit on the floor, taking care to place her sword where she wouldn't cut herself with it.

Nexi stepped out of her chamber and her dogs melted out of the shadows to rejoin her. Mister Pickles licked at her injured hand, which was already mostly healed and Mister Pickles' attention seemed to be speeding this up, but Nexi hadn't yet noticed.

"Don't worry, we'll find a way to fix this before it gets as bad as me..." Nexi said in a quiet tone that was quite uncharacteristic for her.

"Thanks." Clio smiled just a little. It wasn't like Nexi to offer comfort, and even if it wasn't all that reassuring, Clio appreciated it anyway. Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes for a moment. "What's taking medical so long?"

Almost as if on cue, Marci scurried into the room with her quarantine team in tow. "Sorry! I didn't know where this place was! And... well... no one else did either. Had to find it on our own. What are we dealing with?"

"All three are contaminated with the blood now and covered in it. Also, it looks like Commander Jordan might be the only one uninjured." Ila replied, stepping back so they could work their magic.

It was then that Nexi finally noticed that her hand was now once again whole. She held it up to study it for a moment, before finally sighing, then she unbuckled the belt around her waist. "I'm beyond saving, so focus on Clio's injuries." Once the belt was free from her waist Nexi held it out to Clio; the readings on the belt were so confused, it didn't know what to make of Nexi anymore. "This can't help me anymore, but maybe it can help you."

Clio took the offered belt and set it on the floor next to her. It wouldn't pick up accurate readings until she'd showered, and she wasn't going to be showering any time soon.

Marci looked at the three of them, noted that Nexi's hand seemed to be fine now, and crouched down to examine Clio's injured shoulder... without touching her. The gash was shallow but bled freely, not closing despite how Nexi's wound had healed. Perhaps Clio's infection was too new to have such an effect. "Full isolation protocol. Commander Jordan and Warrant Officer Nexi need to take decontamination showers. Commander Eneas... I'm afraid you'll need to come to sickbay. I didn't bring an autosuture, and we'll need to take some detailed scans to compare your blood to the others who are infected."

"Yeah. I thought you might say that." Clio sighed, not really wanting to get up and walk to sickbay. Fighting the Master had taken most of her strength. "Now?"

"Yep. Now." Getting off the floor, Marci quickly tugged on an isolation suit before pulling Clio up off the floor. The Cervan woman was heavier than she looked, nearly knocking Marci over. "You two." Pointing at T'Pral and Nexi, Marci then gestured for them to follow a member of the team. "Decon showers and you'll get a cursory scan to make sure your condition hasn't worsened."

"Keep your extra hands, we'll take Dedjoy," Nexi said with a gesture to the extra medical crewman approaching them. Truth was, Nexi felt more comfortable with Ila taking scans and samples than anyone else, mostly for consistency since they had been with and without a proper Doctor or Chief Science Officer to oversee her care, so it made sense to Nexi to keep the familiar pattern going. "This is gonna be a bit more... invasive than a usual decontamination, but... better safe than sorry," Nexi cautioned T'pral as she headed for the showers, Mister Pickles and the new hound right at her heels.

"There's a decon station not far from here - it's part of the science and medical labs we got from the Section 31 suite." Ila wasn't entirely sure about some of the options it had, but she was certain they could at least safely use it. Motioning to the group, she set the transport system to sterilize itself of all foreign biomatter as soon as they had finished vacating the room with a baryon sweep. "There are also a few medical kits that way as well as a full miniature biomed suite if you'd like to treat Commander Eneas up here."

"That's... probably a good idea." Marci wobbled slightly under Clio's weight and then breathed a sigh of relief as a male member of the quarantine team slipped his shoulder under Clio's other arm and started moving toward the biomed suite. "Call me if you need any help with T'Pral or Nexi, but I'll probably have my hands full!" Scooping up the dropped belt, she then darted ahead of the rest of her team to set up the biomed suite for treatment purposes.