Descent To Safety

Posted on Fri Jan 18th, 2019 @ 12:37am by Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Asa Dael & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Kodria Mizu

Mission: Section 31-B
Location: Sector 31 base 'Castillo De Muerte'
Timeline: 2396, following "Ascent To Danger'

The darkened two tier command center resembled most starbase nerve centers with the central command console and the upper tier surrounding it with workstations. At one of them an android with a distinctly Vulcan hairstyle and eartips had a cable running from her arm into a panel. though the uniform she wore was definitely Starfleet, it was not a familiar design, though it bore the bare delta shield. Her black glossy eyes glanced between them in the hopes of rescue.

"Please, I just want to leave here. I was brought online at the Vulcan Science Commission in 2480. They'll have all my repair data. I don't even know how long I was offline." The voice was digitized and strained but clear enough through the comms.

"Doctor, please do some scans and give me a good reason not to shoot what looks like the sole survivor of this massacre. Dedjoy," Paris detached a unit from her back and floated it over to the doll-eyed doctorate. "Here's your generator, get some systems up and running. See what we can power while we're here. I'd like to know what's going on down there and what state the reactor is in while that data downloads."

Striding over to the artificial life form, Paris studied the scans. Incredibly complex, at least to her eye, Rita hoped this wasn't Experiment 209- Killer Cyborg Librarian. "All right miss, talk to the Doctor now and tell us how you got here?"

Ila wasted no time finding the central data station and plugging her equipment in, doing her best to remotely power up what data cores she could and downloading it into the data storage she had on her. She also tried to connect to the reactor to check its status, but that seemed like it would be a trickier task.

The android nodded and turned to whom she assumed was the Doctor. "Well, my name is Kodria Moana Mizu, assigned to the SS Haspatia NCC-80113 as a Data Analyst. I was doing a space walk near a spatial anomaly to re-calibrate one of the deflector dish's high energy charged particle detectors in the long range sensor platform manually when some sort of energy pulse from the anomaly hit me."

"It must have taken my self repair function some time to bring me back online because the next thing I knew, I woke up here and the lab I was in was in a station taken over by some sort of horror holo monsters. I did my best to make my way here and was able to send out a distress beacon, but the other station residents didn't like that very much..." Looking up hopefully at her rescuers, she would have had tears in her eyes if she were organic. "Please, what year is it? How long have I been gone?"

The first officer eyed the doctor- they knew to proceed gently, and Paris had to make sure nothing got to them while Dedjoy worked instead of counseling the victim right now. "Tread lightly Doc, but give her the truth."

Approaching slowly, Doctor Dael continued to scan the not-quite-Vulcan ahead of them. “Hello there, Kodria Moana Mizu, I am Doctor Asa Dael, and we are here to help. We heard your beacon and fought our way in here to help you, but we have a few questions too, ok? The year is 2395, and I know that's scary, but we will figure it out. Let's get back to our ship, ok?”

The questions were asked in a calming, soothing voice, and Asa had reached out a hand to Kodria, hoping the universal gesture of friendliness would help to put the others mind at ease. Meanwhile, with their other hand, the doctor had transmitted through the HUD to Paris and Dedjoy, “Unknown non-biological materials make up 18% of Mizu. Positronic brain detected. Residual artron energy detected consistent with time anomalies.”

Kodria took the offered hand as shock registered on her face. "2395? But... How? I..." Visibly setting herself, she nodded. "What is, is. I'll have to analyze the data later. Thank you. Once I disconnect from this station, I won't have a way to communicate without atmosphere. All the EV suits I found had no air or power."

“What’s the last date you remember, Miss Mizu?” Paris asked distractedly as she watched the readings. Apparently many of the stragglers had gotten the hint and were starting to pile up in the hallway outside, according to her scanners, even as Dedjoy worked to bring a few systems online to help them

"Ah... stardate 169540. July sixteenth, 2492 on the Earth calendar. It was Commander Pavel's birthday." The android blinked slowly, recalling the last memories in her time, realizing she'd have to keep a lot of things secret if she couldn't get back.

"I'll need three more minutes to finish copying the databases." Ila grinned as she looked up from her work. "As for the rest of the systems, there's not much left, but I think I can get a few of the station's sanitization systems working. Namely, the plasma flamethrowers in the corridors outside."

“Wonderful, Miss Dedjoy- that saves us time and trouble, well done." Meanwhile Paris’ internal systems translated that stardate into the date, and it checked out. How an android from 96 years in the future had come to be reactivated in a base that had been inactive for 20 years was still a mystery, however. There were going to be some extensive questions that would need answers… unless the android was not what she appeared to be.

Taking the time to type out a text, Rita sent to Dedjoy.

= Find her project file, please. We’re not bringing an assassin droid back to the Hera with us on my watch =

Quickly reading the message, the doll-faced yeoman started searching the data she'd already downloaded, quickly finding several android and positronic related experiments. Narrowing it down further, she found one specifically about a recovered android that was covered in enough chroniton and artron radiation to fry an egg on. It had been brought here for decontamination, monitoring, and study. While the details were a bit fuzzy, the physical data matched the android before them. The internal specs that the labcoats were able to determine were pretty amazing as well, but overall, everything seemed to be geared towards data processing, even to the point of sacrificing emotional development. Though the self repair functionality was advanced and there were many redundancies, the physical capabilities were just... lacking.

Opening a private channel to Rita, Ila reported her findings. "Commander, the project file on her checks out with what she's saying. Triple redundant memory cores and data analysis neuro-nets, advanced self repair systems, and time radiations aside, physically, she's about as weak as I am. On top of that, I doubt her emotional or social development is that high. She said she was built in 2480 and her last memory was in 2492? Her construction... Everything is directed to logic circuitry and data analysis. I wouldn't be surprised if she's twelve years old in more ways than one. Well... Other than sitting here dormant for about... ah... 48 years..."

"Damn. Thank you, Yeoman- good work. That's exactly what I needed to know." Switching back to full comms, Paris stepped up to the android. "Miss Mizu, you were very brave to make it to the control center and activate the beacon. We're getting you out of here, but I'm going to need you to do something." Kneeling down, Paris' eyes flickered about as she searched through menus to find the space on the inventory where the system was located, then a port opened on her wrist unit she kept mounted on her left forearm. Reeling out the cable, it ended in a universal comm jack.

"Are you compatible with this technology, Miss Mizu?"

Kodria took a moment to look it over, the nodded.

"Then jack into my wristcomm, and climb onto my back. I'm going to need you to hold on tight, because I might have to move quickly or do something very action/reaction-ish to get us out of here. But you hang on, and you keep talking to me, and I will get us out of here, I promise. Okay?" 12 year old girl, Dedjoy had said, so Rita just said and did what she would to a 12 year old girl she found in this situation.

The vulcanesque android unplugged from the terminal and plugged the cable into the makeshift port she'd built into her arm. After a second, Rita heard a light pop of static and a bootup sound over her comms as Kodria climbed onto her back. "Data analysis online. Kodria online. Initialize assist mode?"

In a lifetime of exploring, there always arrived that moment with another sentient creature where there was a reach for a moment of trust. When two strangers would choose to trust one another, and take the first step toward being friends. The Federation believed that all worlds could be friends. Starfleet sought out new worlds to spread that word. And in the most dire of circumstances when all seemed lost, a friend could be a very welcome companion.

A friend was made in that moment of trust.

"Initialize assist mode, sure," Rita offered gamely as she checked the area.

"Miss Dedjoy, are we done here? See if you can get some lights or something going to draw in a bit more of a crowd. We have to sterilize the entire base anyway, may as well put those plasma flamethrowers to good use on these monsters. And let's hope Lieutenant Dox and the security team are doing as well..." Paris unlimbered the assault weapon from her back to make room for the android.

"Lighting systems... Here we are..." With a few taps, Dedjoy was able to get a few of the light panels in the area of those plasma flamethrowers to at least flicker dimly, which she was able to confirm through the sole camera feed that still worked. "Well, they're flickering at least. Ready to engage the fire on your command."

Shaking off a moment of confusion as to the nature of what was happening, Asa decided to ask for clarification about what must have passed between Rita and Dedjoy later. The sooner they could all get off this station, the better. Something about the situation was still oddly sinister, and it tickled the back of Asa's mind, but they couldn't fully process what it was.

In a gentle voice, Asa said, "I am fine, Commander. Kodria, have you seen anyone else here? Anyone like you? Or like us?"

Kodria shook her head, still linking into Rita's suit's onboard computer to enhance its processing capabilities.

A few beeps later, an overlay was placed on Rita's hud, enhancing it with targeting data and on the fly stats that the suit had previously not been able to process fully previously. In green it targeted Asa and Ila and rattled off biosign readings as well as assessments next to them. In red it targeted through the walls motion and organic signs that it previously couldn't identify fully as enemies, even going so far as to assign them threat ratings and identifying weak points on them. Every sensor and reading was boosted to an efficiency level that was just that much higher.

"Assist mode online. Thank you, Aunt Rita." Kodria said softly, clinging to the anachronistic cosmonaut as tightly as she could. Then over Rita's suit comms she replied to Asa. "Sorry, no. You're the first thing here that didn't look like it wanted to eat me. I had to crawl through the life support ducts just to get here from the lab I was in."

"Okay, I have all the data I can get," Dedjoy started unplugging everything and returning it to her belt, minus her hacking terminal and power unit.

You'd better not turn out to be a killer assassin android, Rita thought to herself as she worked to process the enhanced graphics while the kid calling her Aunt Rita made her heart mushy in a place it needed not to be mushy on a mission like this.

"Let me know when you are packed and ready, and we'll play a few rounds of fire in the hole. Once we've cooked what's stupid enough to have bottlenecked we'll clear what we have to on the way down. Reconvene with the reactor team, make sure everything is primed and make our getaway. Easy, right?" Rita held up a thumbs-up over her left shoulder to what she suspected was a scared kid.

A small pink icon appeared in the corner of Rita's HUD showing a cartoonish depiction of Kodria giving a thumbs up.

The feeling of something being off was increasing the closer Asa came to the exit from the room. There was a feeling of a pulsing mind behind the doors, something seething with malicious intent....Asa truly hoped it was only the zombie things gathering en masse setting off their internal alarm bells. Nothing for it but to proceed though, so Asa copied Paris and gave a thumbs up to the group.

"Ready here commander. Igniting the plasma in 3... 2..." With a press of the button the one screen lit up in green fire and Rita's HUD lit up in danger symbols as the target acquisitions vanished one after the other on the other side of the walls. After about fifteen seconds the plasma flamethrowers had all died out on their own, finally having given their last. Thankfully, that was more than enough to clear everything for almost half the trip back. "Well, that's it then. Shall we?" Dedjoy asked, disconnecting her hacking terminal and power pack, returning them to her belt and unslinging her rifle.

“Okay people, lash together again,” Paris ordered, determined that none of her people were being left behind in this hellhole if she had to personally drag them to safety. Unlocking the cable winch in her right forearm, Paris offered the probe tip that it could fire over her shoulder to her civilian rescue passenger. “Miss Mizu, attach this to your center mass, if you will. If you lose your grip, I’m not losing you. I’m on point, Dedjoy, you take rear guard and Doc, you keep your eyes on the scanners. Everybody goes home and nobody gets left behind,” the gold-armored commander stated, as if her saying so with such absolute conviction, that would make it so.

Because to those relying on her command, her confidence was their confidence. There might still be doubt about the survivor who had sent a lonely message into the void, hoping against hope that someone was listening, and that help would come. But there was a good chance that she was just a very lonely, frightened soul out of her element who was in need of rescue. In the mind of Rita Paris, this was Starfleet, and those cries in the darkness would be answered by hope- at least on her watch.

Opening the hatch, Paris stepped out, rifle at the ready even though there was no movement onscreen. It appeared the survivors of the plasma torch massacre were hiding around the corner, waiting for them to approach. So Rita floated halfway down the corridor before activating her magnetic boots, then she launched a concussion grenade down the corridor, aiming it so that it would impact around the corner. As the shockwave nudged her, Paris strode forward, rifle up and hollow point rounds ejecting with precision shots that were targeted easily with the enhanced system readouts she was getting, which made her realize that her weapon could be linked to her systems far more closely than she had been using the two systems.

“Just hang on, kiddo, and don’t watch,” Paris instructed. It was a foolish thing to say since the AI was hooked into her armor’s systems and that enabled access to a sensor suite greater than anything she’d ever seen short of a starship. But it would be what she said to a human girl that age in this situation, so as silly as it might have sounded, no child should have memory what Rita Paris was doing right now.

The sound of footsteps coming down the corridor was unmistakable. After all, the three shipmates should have been the only ones in the corridor with gravity boots. The heavy, slow steps kept up their pace though as they were a coming doom.

At the first sound of booted feet Doctor Dael had been scanning in their direction, but their tricorder would not give up the cause of the mystery. They began to communicate the anomalous readings to Paris, but were cut off after the initial word by the sound of the footsteps picking up pace. It took the dedicated doctor only a couple of heartbeats before they gathered themselves enough to say, “There are no life signs showing up on my scans, ma’am. Only a few of those…whatever they were… from before fleeing in the opposite direction.”

It was at that point a huge form appeared. It was 10 feet tall in mechanized armor, clearly designed to repair the outer portions of the station, but makeshift arms had been soldered on. The figure piloting the armor in all probability used to be a man. There was even a name on the suit, “Ensign Cleary”. Whoever he had been in life, Ensign Cleary was now nothing more than a skeleton with rotting, gangrenous flesh hanging loosely around hollow, dead eyes. The creature let out a gurgling roar, its mouth hanging slack now and a putrid tongue lolling forth. As it moved its head back and forth, bite marks were visible where the artery would have been in his neck.

As it approached, Dael said to the group, “This is more than the Romero strain. Or any strain of virus that I know. The putrefaction evident is all wrong…everything about this is wrong. Safe to say he’s hostile though.”

On Rita's HUD Kodria had already begun her analysis and begun identifying weakened joints, central nerve clusters, possible firing patterns, and methods of takedown. The key difficulty was that there was no central control over this behemoth - it seemed to be operating on instinct based on nanotech fused with the mutated spinal column of the infected Ensign, both of which were heavily armored. Thus a protracted battle was predicted as well as a forty seven percent chance of a friendly fatality occurring.

Ila wasn't entirely sure what to do but she knew this was bad. "Orders, Commander?"

"I got this." Cycling through her options, Rita loaded up a plasma grenade. She had been conserving her ammunition in case of a siege or a long drawn-out battle to get outside, but this was not something she was going to deal with. Hustling her charges back around the corner as the mechanical monstrosity lumbered forward, Paris called out quietly, “Fire in the hole.”

The grenade launched from the futuristic firearm, and the plasma grenade impacted solidly on the chest of the hard-shelled monstrosity, whereupon it burst to life as brilliant, all-consuming plasma. When Rita peeked around the corner again, there were bits and pieces of the hulking undead brute that were scattered about, drifting lazily in the zero-G, idly burning with plasma. Which would be pretty if not for the fact that those floating bits of plasma fire would burn through their armor as well, and it was between them and their exit. Shifting loads again, Rita emptied two more concussion grenades down that way to flush the corridor and clear the debris before ejecting the clip. Collecting the full clip and replacing it on her hip with the empty one, scanners showed the passage now mostly clear. “Okay people, let’s keep moving. There’s a starship out there waiting to take us home, and I for one don’t plan to be late to the party.”

“Lieutenant Dox, Lieutenant Sexton, do you copy?” Rita called out, but there was no response. Likely still the interference of the complex, she reassured herself. But if she had to do down there and rig the detonation herself, she’d do it. Making their way back to the central shaft, more of the space zombies drifted about even as smaller versions which looked like piranha were intermingled with sharks and a few lifeforms she did not recognize.

A sudden smile lit up Asa’s face, and they cried to the two Valkyries firing heavy weapons into the blackness, “There’s an opening ahead right in 500 meters. I’m not reading anything past that point! If we can get to the corridor, we have a clear path.”

“Miss Dedjoy, let’s clear the field. Precision shooting, let’s thin these out so they won’t be harassing us on the way down. Miss Mizu… again, try not to watch.” Paris rolled her eyes for being overprotective of what was probably going to be a horrendous mistake for her career, but she’d rather err on the side of compassion than let her caution make her callous.

The doll faced yeoman lit up the corridor with weapons fire as best she could, hitting most of her targets as they made their way down. It wasn't pretty, but at least it got the job done. "Commander... I don't think I want to go on another away mission again for a really long time..."

“Nonsense, Yeoman Dedjoy. This is like shore leave… just on a really awful planet,” Rita tried to keep the mood light as she and the lab-bound scientist continued popping off shots until the remains of the remains that floated past were no longer of any threat to them. With the field of fire cleared, there was no more visible activity in the turbolift shaft, although there were still some creepers that might make their way out to pursue them. Looking down the shaft via the enhanced sensors, Rita could see the exit shaft. Switching to her internal comm, Rita spoke to the android on her back.

“I’ll need your safety tether for a moment, Miss Mizu. I need to get us all down to where we’re going, and I won’t risk everyone’s safety trying a freefall. So you just keep holding on tightly- you are doing great, and I’m very proud of how brave you are being through all of this.” Part of Rita felt stupid coddling an artificial life form, but until other evidence showed itself, she was going to treat this individual as a trauma victim in need of rescue.

Unlocking the gravity magnet in the tip of the probe, Rita retracted it into the housing, reseated the probe, then aimed it for the shaft they needed to escape. Firing the probe out, it attached itself to the wall of the shaft where she had aimed it, and she opened her comms again. “On 3 people, unlock magnetic boots… 1…. 2… 3.”

As the trio drifted for a second, Paris reeled them in, drawing them down to their target locale. Hopefully the rest of the landing party would meet them there… but if not, her first priority was to get the rescue and the non-coms to safety. Which made her chuckle internally…. Since when did Rita Paris become a combatant? I thought you were a lover, not a fighter…

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Kodria hung on as tightly as she could, her actual eyes closed. Unfortunately, she was still processing every detail through the sensors of Rita's suit so while she didn't physically see anything... Still, she did as her Aunt Rita told her to do so she could get through this.

Dedjoy fired off a few more shots into the few enemies that were moving as they descended, keeping an eye on the level they were headed to for hostiles. "Let's hope the housing level is still relatively clear for now. We might be able to make it back to the Thor without too much of a hassle if it is."

“Hassle or not, we’re getting back to the runabout in short order, Miss Dedjoy,” Paris declared, because confidence needed to remain high, especially this close to successful completion of half the mission objective. As a few abominations of science threw themselves their way, Paris wasted no time in popping off shots, the enhanced targeting making shooting from the hip surprisingly accurate. One hand was still holding the crossed arms of the android charge the supercentenarian space explorer was carrying to safety, while the other hand was playing action hero, shooting animated corpses who were far too eager to embrace them as one of their own.

“Sorry gruesome, but we got better things to do today than die,” Rita muttered under her breath as they carefully moved forward, clearing the creatures who were eager to approach them, firing cautiously to conserve ammunition and reduce the chance of a ricochet doing some harm to the away team.

When the transport was in sight, Paris hailed them.

“Commander Paris to Runabout Thor, do you copy?” she called. She was fond of Palmiotti and Bunche, and the third of their trio, Conner. The three officers had held the Thor then beamed all of their gear to them as well as the armories of the Thor to coordinates the Commodore fed them. When Paris found a shrine she couldn't beat, she painted a target on it, steered clear and called in a missile pair, and they had obliged her. In the retelling of the tale in 10-Forward, Paris dubbed them her airborne artillery assist, and the nickname had stuck. Paris called them for their away missions because somebody needs to mind the boat. Now she waited with anticipation to hear their welcome voices for ID confirmation.

After the pause waiting for the two security officers stretched on just a second too long, Asa extended the range on their scans and pointed in the direction of the runabout. The readings were as they feared....the two men may be mobile, but they were no longer men. At least not in the same way they had been before disembarking the Thor.

"Commander...I am getting the same readings from them that we were those creatures in there. I....I think something got them," Asa said gently. "Let's get closer and see what we can do. Recommend firing upon any aggressive action, though." The doctor suited their words by taking a few tentative steps towards the Thor, and saw spattered droplets of frozen fresh blood drifting across the shuttle bay.

“Dammit, I told them to stay buttoned up. Why would they disobey orders…” Paris started, when she noticed some of the creatures pulling themselves along the hull, hammering at it with makeshift tools, clubs and conduit pipes. It seems they had set out to try to destroy the runabout, and apparently the security officers had decided that the biters had a chance of breaching the Thor’s structural integrity. Which was when they had been ambushed, dragged themselves back into the runabout and died.

“Miss Mizu, I need for you to unplug from my system. I’m going to leave you in the care of Miss Dedjoy and the Doctor here, because I have to go do things you shouldn’t see. You two, protect the civilian while I deal with this.” The Commander’s voice was grim as she spoke, even as she put a bullet through the undead roamer that was drifting too close for her liking.

"Yes, Ma'am. Please be careful," came the reply right before Kodria disconnected from Rita's suit, returning it to the normal HUD setup. She then used the lanyard connecting the trio to make her way over to Asa and clung to the Doctor like a backpack, waving hello as she did so.

The moment was a poignant one as Asa remembered all the times they gave their baby brother a piggy back ride growing up. Remembering how he would cling to their neck brought a happy sad smile to the doctor’s face. They reached for Kodria’s legs to wrap them tight around Asa’s midsection and waived softly over one shoulder in greeting.

“Hi there, Kodria,” Asa spoke gently, “I’m Asa. It’s pretty scary here, huh? Let’s think about something happy. I like reading and stories, those make me happy. What’s your favorite story?” Waiting for the android to speak, Asa rocked, floating back and forth slowly in what they hoped was a calming manner.

While Kodra could somewhat pick up what Asa was saying through the vibrations transmitted through their contact, she had no way of talking back so she held out the exposed cybernetics in her forearm which currently had no connection plugged into them for Asa to see. She liked a lot of stories but without any way to talk or a built in comm unit like most other androids of her era... Even her comm badge she was wearing was rather useless at the moment and that made her feel very... Disabled...

The silence seemed to stretch to Asa, who suddenly realized their error and quickly plugged in the port to both Kodria's arm and onto the armor of their own in the same manner Rita had. "Oh! Kodria! I'm so sorry sweet one! Well, when we get back on board, we'll fix it so you can talk whenever you want. I'm a doctor you know, so that's what I like to do, fix people. I'll ask my friends on board to help us so I can listen to all your stories. For now, you get to listen to me ramble on, ok? I'll try not to be too boring. I know how boring most adults are. They talk about the most bland things, like what type of pants they look good in or what kind of vegetables are best for needing to poop. Can you believe that? Poop talk! Anyway, how you doing back there? I get our lifeline situated ok?"

Within a few moments, Asa's HUD lit up with all sorts of pink and flashy icons relating to Kodria's status as she interfaced with her EV suit. Then it all finished processing and just ended with a small cartoonish animation of Kodria crying as her voice finally came over the internal speakers. "Thank you so much! I was helping Aunt Rita but all that data and now processing it all and then no way to talk again... I had no one to talk to for over a month in here and no air to breathe so I couldn't even talk to myself... I may be an android, but my organelles are all shriveled up... I have no idea how my self repair was able to even... And then all this... I just want to go home... But this isn't even my time so I can't... My parents haven't even been born yet! What am I supposed to even do?"

Kodria then paused, trying to calm herself down and do what she did best - process the current data. "I'm ok. It'll be ok. We just have to take things one data point at a time for now."

“Hey there, Kodria,” Asa replied in their best older sibling voice, one full of care, compassion, and a bit of humor. “It’s going to be ok, I promise. You wanna know something cool? You can find new families. I did, on the ship we are going to. You don’t have to be alone. There’s tons of people there, and we like meeting new individuals. If you want, we can stay up late in my quarters and watch silly videos together. You can make fun of how silly I look when I eat spaghetti and we can plan games to play with our other friends. We can make it a new home, or we can help you look for a new place if you want. How does that sound?”

The young android did her best to stay calm. "Ok... That sounds nice. Maybe I can help out too. I'm good at data processing and scientific analysis."


Meanwhile, the golden-armored valkyrie levered the large heavy firearm onto her back, drawing her antique phaser in her right hand and her cutlass in the other. As the gruesome fiends detached themselves from the runabout to attack her, she dealt with them. Grimly marching forward, destroying the horrors with her phaser, driving them off with her cutlass when they got too close, she paused once she reached the hatch of the Thor. Crouching down, she found a few of the biters had attached themselves to the bottom of the fuselage, so she targeted their limbs until they broke free, then she ended them.

Inside her helmet, the horror of the day was getting to Rita. But she didn’t have time to be squeamish- she had work to do. Opening the hatch, she stepped back. When nothing emerged and her scanners showed the duo were still inside, Paris stuck her head in and thumped on the bulkhead.

The two security officers who had survived and aided her on multiple missions were now clad in broken and battered MACO EVA armor, the inside of their helmets obscured by spattered blood, filled her with sorrow and rage. They weren’t supposed to die like this. If only they had followed orders, they would still be alive now. Instead, now she was luring them out of the runabout so that she could execute their still-moving corpses. As they approached, she withdrew, drawing them further out in the shuttle bay. Even inside their helmets, which looked as though the men had died vomiting blood, she could make out the somewhat recognizable faces of the men she had commanded, and had failed.

“I’m sorry Jimmy,” she whispered as the phaser beam lanced out on setting 10, disintegrating Palmiotti. As Bunche followed him, tears welled up in the eyes of the lost navigator who fired on him, disintegrating the other infected security officer as well. Taking a second to inhale deeply, Paris struggled to hold back the tears. Tears in zero G were a hazard inside a helmet- at least that's what she told herself- for now. With that pretty face set in a grim frown, Rita Paris looked every bit the part of Sergeant Calhoun as she strode back to the trio.

“Lieutenant Dael, you’re in command,” the first officer declared, her voice ragged but still clear and strong, and not a tone to be argued with. ”Get buttoned up in there, and you don’t come out, no matter what, understood? Yeoman Dedjoy, make sure the systems are all intact and that we’re ready to fly when I get back. I’m going back in for Dox and Sexton and the security team- I’m not going losing anyone else on this mission. If I’m not back in 30 minutes, get back to the Hera and blow this place to smithereens. That’s an order.”

The doll faced yeoman had been picking off a few oddball biters on the floor of the shuttlebay while Rita was busy but at those orders, she turned back to face the time tossed cosmonaut and let them sink in before replying in a deadpan voice. "Aye, Commander. Orders received." She then headed into the runabout to startup the sturdy vessel's systems.

“Aye Commander… and… be careful.” Asa replied, moving inside the Thor.

“I’ll be back, Doctor,” Paris replied through the comms, with a firm determination in her voice that was meant to reassure the very young doctor who was now thrust into leadership, barely out of the Academy. But Paris believed in the good doctor, and she knew she could rely on them to follow orders and do the right thing. The young immortal was having a very interesting life...

Once inside the runabout, Dael gently placed Kodria to stand next to them on the deck. The good doctor was internally panicking at their first command being in the midst of such calamity, but was determined to prove good the faith put in them.

Leaving Dedjoy to prepare the Thor, Dael secured the hatch to the Thor and took the seat closest to the exit. As soon as Kodria was seated next to them, they turned to her and said, “Rita went to go get some of other friends that are here so we can all leave together. She will be back soon and we can go see your new home. For now, we have to wait patiently and not leave this ship, ok? If we leave she would be very sad and we don’t want that. So let’s play a waiting game, I’ll say a word and you take that word and use the last letter in the word and come up with your own word. Bet’cha you teach me some new words, and learning is always fun."

"I’ll start……petrichor....”