YE/D99 - Ancillary Locations

[Paul]

==

[Scarlett Papaver]

== Deck 6 – Sensor Maintenance ==

When the Yeager had approached the system, the scans had shown them an astrophysicists playground. Papaver had seen the particle fountain and knew instantly that any paper she wrote based on any research from it would probably give her the Zee-Magnees Prize just for the title alone.
But there were even far more interesting anomalies out there that needed to be recorded before she moved on to something so mundane as a particle fountain.

To ensure that the resolution was the absolute best the ships extensive sensor suits could provide, she'd headed down to the sensor maintenance suite to fine tune the already near perfect sensors to even better.
The doors had barely opened when the deck lurched hard, and she was thrown against the door jam striking her head and more worryingly, the bridge of her nose which instantly split and began bleeding profusely as the lighting around her changed to red, and the sounds of klaxons only served to disorientate her further.

Her hand went up to her face a second too late, and she felt the sticky wetness just as the shock set in and she felt suddenly weak as she lost her balance grasping for some kind of support that wasn't there. She hit the deck unimpeded, the wind knocked from her as the doors closed again.

== Oopsy daisy... ==

[Artemis d'Tor'an]

== Aeroshuttle Bay ==

Art knew there was no getting near the actual site of ground zero, and was proven correct when she saw what waited for her and her small team. Conditions had gotten worse the closer they got, and the air where she stopped was thin, but breathable.

Throwing a glance at Alden, she thought that him grabbing the O2 tanks had been a smart idea, even if she had chosen style over substance, swiftness over preparedness. It was good that Beinn was with them; it was a blessing from Sto’vo’kor really, that he was both a warrior and a medic.

“d’Tor’an to Bridge,” Art coughed out. “Investigating the scene now. What the hell was that?!”




==Ok, GM:
What do d’Tor’an, Beinn, and Alden encounter on this deck?
--What color is the fire? (plasma fire is green)
--What is the visibility?
--How much ship damage / debris is there?
--Do they see any injured crew?
--Is there a giant sucking hole to space, or have automatic forcefields worked?  ==

[GM-04]

The heat was intense, the smoke thick and black. Melted duranium and polymer spewed toxic fumes into the air. Through the smoke, two fires were immediately visible - one the standard yellow and orange of a fire consuming fuel and oxygen, the other the acid-green of a plasma fire from a ruptured EPS conduit.

With so much smoke in the area, visibility was almost zero. There were no injured crew immediately visible, but they were likely on the other side of the smoke and flames.

The damage was extensive, small fragments of debris littered the floor, but appeared to be contained. Further and more extensive debris would be more likely the closer they got to the dock area itself. 

There was no distinctive whine of emergency forcefields, and given that the area maintained atmosphere, the hull appeared to be intact.

[Leo Alden]

The heat pressed against Leo’s skin like an open oven door. Even at the edge of the blast radius, the air was stifling, thick with smoke and acrid fumes from burnt polymers and melted duranium. He squinted into the darkness ahead, where only the angry flicker of fire, one orange and the other a searing, unnatural green, cut through the haze.

His breath caught in his throat, stinging with every inhale. He reached down and quickly secured one of the oxygen masks he'd brought, pulling it over his face until the gentle hiss of airflow gave him something clean to breathe. Mask sealed, he stepped closer to the fire.

“Anyone in there?!” he called out, voice muffled but forceful. “Hello… call out if you can hear me!”

Turning back to d’Tor’an, throat still tingling from the fumes, Leo spoke, husky, uncomfortable. “Chief, can we get the EPS shutdown in this section to help get the fire out? I don't think we stand a chance while there's still plasma flowing through it.”

He faced the inferno again. Even in the dim emergency lighting, he had to watch every step, fragments of bulkhead plating and scattered debris made the deck uneven and treacherous. One wrong move could twist an ankle or worse.

The fires danced ahead, alive and hungry. Leo adjusted his grip on the portable extinguisher and moved nearer to the blazing orange fire, the one he might actually be able to do something about.

As he sprayed the suppressant toward the base of the flames, he kept glancing back at d’Tor’an and Beinn, looking for their next move. He was scared, halfway to panic if was honest with himself, but trying to make headway regardless. They couldn’t stand there long. There were people that needed saving… whether they'd survived or not.

== Tags ==


== GM Input == A) Was there any response from beyond the fires to Leo’s shouts?
B) Is his extinguisher doing anything to reduce the size of the ‘normal’ fire?

[Pax Cassidy]

<<<< Engineering <<<<

Cassidy arrived at the wall of flame that had consumed the aeroshuttle bay. The young security midshipman was calling into the inferno, hoping to hear back from anyone trapped inside. Cassidy had dealt with burn victims before, but he’d never had to charge into a fire himself. His implants could withstand extreme environmental conditions, but unfortunately his organic body could not. He would need a heat resistant EV suit.

Cassidy tapped his combadge. “Cassidy to Manx: prepare to receive multiple casualties with severe burns. Hopefully not including myself.”

== GM Input: Is there a locker with environmental suits? If so, Cassidy will put one on and charge inside ==

[Mika Bowman]

A quick reply was given from the Caitian doctor.

[Acknowledged.]

[Artemis d'Tor'an]

It was, of course, Peter who answered her. “Jensen here. We’re trying to ascertain that at the moment. Proceed, but proceed with caution.” Art wondered how much of that warning had to do with his feelings towards her, and his knowledge that she tended to act before thinking.

Either way, before Art was something the First Officer could only read on sensors: almost zero visibility lie ahead, the smell of toxicity thick in the air. Red, orange, and green flames peeked through the smoke, giving the officers a hint of what was beyond the smoke. Granted three lungs by her genetics, Art could undoubtedly hold her breath longer than the others that stood with her, but it wasn’t just a case of holding one’s breath: the body had to work its other muscles to withstand the heat, the pain, and the inevitable moving of heavy objects, including whatever persons they may find.

“The only good thing,” Art spoke loudly over the roar of the fire as they inched closer, “is at least this means everything didn’t get sucked out into space!”

Alden was putting his mask on, and Art in turn began taking slow, deep breaths in preparation to head in. The Midshipman called out, and as the two got closer, Art had the sinking feeling that the only way to know what was in there was to go in there. The newest member of her team turned to her, posing the idea of shutting down the EPS conduits. The CO grimaced and nodded, touching a hand to his shoulder and hiking a thumb back to where they came.

“Get clear and coordinate that with Engineering,” she ordered, “I’ll dip in and see what we have.” The Klingon turned to Cassidy, frowning. Though his bulk was useful in a fire, it would be of little use here. “If I’m not back in five minutes,” she told him, pausing as she considered the possibilities, “tell them to vent the atmosphere.”

And, stupidly, Artemis took in one last deep, deep breath and bent her head, walking quickly and steadily into the fire.



==Tags to Alden and Cassidy

Questions for the GM:
- If there were any responses to Alden’s shouts, does Art find anybody in that immediate direction?
- Does Art bump into anything / anyone?
- (Asking for it here) Does anything fall on Art? ==

[GM-04]

==Alden==

There was no reply to his calls. Whoever was beyond the flames was unable to respond.

Fortunately the extinguisher was doing some good keeping the flames under control. Another extinguisher would be required to douse the flames entirely, but for now it was no longer at any risk of spreading.

==Cassidy==

The equipment lockers in this area were on the other side of the flames. Aeroshuttle missions often required specialist equipment, so lockers had been placed in the bay itself. The closest environment suits were two decks up at the nearest airlock.

==D'Tor'an==

Half-blinded by smoke and skin already starting to blister from the intense heat, D'tor'an made it at most ten feet before her foot caught something and brought her crashing down to the deck. It was a body, unmoving and not breathing. Even through the stench of smoke and melted equipment, her Klingon olfactory senses detected the scent of blood. Human blood. Lots of it.

The ceiling, fortunately, appeared to have retained structural integrity. She was in no danger of being crushed, but if she dallied too long, life-threatening burns were a very real possibility.

[Leo Alden]

The extinguisher hissed in Leo’s grip as he swept it across the base of the flames. The orange fire in front of him began to recede, not out, but weakened—controlled. He adjusted his footing, careful on the scorched deck plates, eyes flicking through the smoke.

Still no sound from beyond the fire.

His heart thudded in his ears, louder now that the immediate flames weren’t roaring quite so violently. Chief d'Tor'an had vanished into the haze moments ago. One minute? Maybe less? The smoke distorted all sense of time.

He couldn’t see her. Couldn’t hear her either. No comm click, no shout, no sound of boots moving across metal. But she’d told him to get clear. To contact Engineering.

Right. Orders.

Leo stepped back a few meters from the roar of the fire and tapped his combadge. “Alden to Engineering. Requesting immediate EPS shutdown to the Aeroshuttle Bay and surrounding sections. We won't get the Plasma fire out while the EPS is still active and there's a high risk of more fires if we don’t.”

He paused. Hesitated just a second before he added, “We’ve got at least one missing officer unaccounted for. Fire’s partially controlled, but we need EPS offline now or we’ll lose any chance of recovery.”

He glanced toward the flames again. Still nothing. Was she through? Was she okay? His mind was racing. His first real emergency, not a holodeck program where he knew everyone would be safe. His hands began to shake as he stepped upto the somewhat diminshed flames once more and started to use the remainder of the cylinder he had been using. As he swept the contents of it side to side across the base of the flames, he glanced over his shoulder to where Art had been standing. He definitely picked up two cylinders, but did he carry the second one down too? He couldn't focus properly.

The CMO wasn't just stood there, he appeared to be looking for something. But nonetheless, it would be quicker for him to pass the next can over than walk back for it.

“Sir” Leo shouted at Cassidy. As much as he looked like he could year his arms off without thinking about it, now was not really the time for niceties. “Hand me that extra extinguisher.”

As the extinguisher in his hand grumbled and spat out the last of its contents, Leo reached a hand back in Pax's direction waiting for him to hand over the next canister.

Don’t go running in. Not yet. She said five minutes.

Waiting for Cassidy, Leo looked back into the lessened inferno to see whatever he could. Still no sign of d'Tor'an, no voices or shouting had come back. 3, maybe 4 minutes before Pax had to vent the atmosphere.

Surely he can't? He wouldn't. Would he?

== Tag Cassidy and Art ==

[Kal-Geal Beinn]

Lt Beinn emerged from a crawlspace, looking ruffled but also wearing a breathing mask. It seemed that Kal-Geal didn't like smoke inhalation that much, especially from burning polymers. Seeing Art charge into the fire, Kal-Geal swore at her in Klingon, before pulling out his tricorder. He used the life sensors on his tricorder to sync up with his own aim of what looked like a set of darts, but was a number of transporter tags. He tossed one at where he hoped Art was, before scanning for other lifeforms inside of the burning bay and trying to aim transporter tags at them as well.

"Midshipman. Grab the extinguisher on my belt and use that one instead. With the tags and your aim, we should be able to get people out of there, as well as keep our Chief safe."

Kal-Geal hoped that Art wouldn't melt inside of the flaming room, but enhancing the transporter resolution without having internal sensors meant that those tags would be a necessity.

==GM Input: Is Kal-Geal able to scan for lifeforms and toss some transporter tags so that the transporters can lock onto them?==

[Jadaris]

A voice came back over Alden's commbadge,

[Engineering to Alden. There should be a secondary EPS bypass on the deck. Flip the master switch and put bypass array's isolinear chip into the emergency bypass slot to shut off that EPS conduit. If we shut down the complete grid, we won't have the power to keep anything else running.]

[Pax Cassidy]

Cassidy was out of luck. The EV suits were on the other side of the aero shuttle bay, somewhere behind the intense glow of flame. The next closest suits were two floors above them. They might as well be on Azati Prime. He locked eyes with the Chief of Security and instantly understood what she would do next.

“If I’m not back in five minutes,” she told him, pausing as if in thought, “tell them to vent the atmosphere.”

“To hell with that, you’ll never carry two people out of there by yourself.” Cassidy barked. It was futile, of course. He could tell that there was no stopping her.

Alden asked him for something, but Cassidy could barely hear him over his own thoughts. Beinn appeared and seemed to offer him a fire extinguisher from his belt.

“Jadaris, I’m following Artemis into the fire to look for our people. If the time comes, do what’s best for the ship.” Cassidy said, tapping his combadge. He took a deep breath and followed behind d’Tor’an. He closed his left eye and relied on his cybernetic right eye to guide him, hoping that it would help him distinguish organic matter among the flames.

== GM Input: Any luck finding evidence of the other crew member that was supposed to be down here? ==

[Artemis d'Tor'an]

Artie walked into blackness. Klingon genetics were superior to Humans, but not unfortunately, in the ways of eyesight. The smoke stung her eyes until tears filled them and ran down her face, and she struggled to keep her eyelids open, let alone see anything with her eyeballs feeling as if they were burning. She felt strain on her chest, but was confident that her breath would hold; what good would having three lungs be, otherwise? Her eight-chambered heart thudded at an increased pace, and she felt her pulse through her thickened skin.

All that, and she could not see to save her life, much less anyone else’s.

She moved carefully, pretending it was deliberately, and tried to identify the things that her hands, arms, and feet brushed up against. She squeezed her eyes shut to try and ward off the burning and stinging, and her right foot bumped, causing her entire form to stumble. Ending up in a three-point landing, Art felt a body, unmoving and, when she pressed a hand to their chest, also not breathing.

Crouched on the ground, the smoke was lighter here, but just barely. Without meaning to, the CSO took in a small bit of air with her nose, sending black smoke into it, along with the sharp tang of iron-heavy blood. Fumbling and groping around, Art grabbed the as-of-yet-unidentified person under the armpits and began pulling.

They were moving at a perpendicular angle, Art knew that much. She wondered how long it would be before they came up against a bulkhead, and then, whether that bulkhead was still there or not. There was no way of telling her comrade’s condition, but she knew she felt the flames burn through her uniform, and she could only hope that it was combustion fire, not plasma.

When a person experiences burns from an ordinary combustion-type fire, it is typically diagnosed on a graded scale: first degree, second degree, third degree, and as the fallen officer most likely had, fourth degree burns. Injuries from plasma fires are assessed similarly, though the intensity and radiation increases the severity of the injuries.

Artie knew that the person she was pulling was most likely already dead.

Though in her mind she knew she was now clear of the flames and the billowing smoke that was still reaching outwards, she continued to pull the fire’s victim far from its clutches. Reaching the bulkhead she knew she was eventually headed for, Art allowed herself to collapse, landing on her rear end, her hands slipping from the arms of the victim.

Her appearance could be described as “singed”. The orange-and-black uniform was burned through in patches, showing her light-brown skin that was reddening and bleeding with blisters and burns. The dark-brown hair, usually in a tight bun while on duty, was now half-fallen, and though her lungs were clear of smoke, Art found it hard to breathe as the skin around her ribcage was taught with the damage that the inter-woven fire had caused. The sclera of her eyes shone brightly through, in stark contrast to the darkness covering the rest of her body.

So, she sat, somewhat-panting, surveying what she had just left behind.

Wait a minute.

“Where’s Cassidy?” Art rasped.



==Tag Alden and Beinn! Tag GM: Who did Art pull out? What is their condition? And, how much of her burns are normal v. plasma?==

[GM-04]

==D'Tor'an==

Fortunately the majority of D'Tor'an's burns were of the common variety, as she had successfully (albeit narrowly) avoided the plasma fire. The burns to her hands where she had collected the body were the most severe, requiring medical attention, while the burns to her face were more superficial.

The body was male, Human, and dressed in an Engineering uniform. His commbadge had melted under the intense heat, and in places his exposed skin had been turned a waxy consistency.

His major injuries, however, were not burn-related. In several places his uniform was tattered and torn in a manner consistent with proximity to an explosion. Likewise his face was peppered with debris-related injuries, with deep cuts and tears in the skin and muscle beneath. In places, his skull and jaw were exposed.

==Cassidy==

Cassidy's artificial eye successfully hunted out the second casualty. Humanoid and female. She was currently pinned to the bulkhead by debris, and as he grew closer it would become clear to Cassidy that even with modern medical technology, the wounds were not survivable. The debris had impaled her torso in several places leading to massive haemorraging, and burn damage had significantly eaten away at her exposed flesh.

Mercifully, she was unconscious.

==Beinn==

The tricorder showed two lifesigns, both critical to the point of imminent death. Both were human, though one was a hybrid. One male, one female. No further data could be immediately ascertained.

Throwing transporter tags at this point would be like pitching in the dark; there would be no guarantee the tags would go anywhere near the bodies.

When D'Tor'an dragged the engineer free of the debris, Beinn's tricorder got a good read on him. He'd suffered multiple lacerations, blunt force trauma to his abdomen, multiple punctures to the chest cavity and organs within, severe internal bleeding, and fourth-degree burns to his head and hands.

The tricorder began to wail as the engineer's vital signs spiked abruptly, and then ceased.

[Leo Alden]

The extinguisher in Leo’s grip sputtered, coughed, and then gave one final hiss before dying with a hollow clunk. The worst of the orange fire ahead had receded, smothered under the suppressant foam, but the danger hadn’t passed. Some of the flames were still trying to regain their foothold, licking hungrily at debris, while the green plasma fire crackled furiously, fierce and luminous, spilling poisonous light through the churning smoke.

Leo turned slightly, the heat prickling his neck through his uniform. He saw Beinn emerging from a crawlspace nearby, looking more like a soldier than a doctor. The San-Tarah’s fur was singed and his breathing mask clung tight over his elongated muzzle. Leo watched as Beinn raised a hand, a paw. It's not important he reminded himself, but nonetheless, the soldier raised a tricorder and began scanning through the smoke with his tricorder while another hand started unfastening something from his belt.

“Midshipman. Grab the extinguisher on my belt and use that one instead.”

Leo nodded sharply. Leo turned and took a couple of steps to take it, but his foot caught something. A metal cylinder, partly obscured by the haze. The second extinguisher, the one that had been close to where Cassidy had been standing. It fell over as his foot connected with it, rolled and clanged dully against the bulkhead.

Ouch. Damn that hurt.

He ignored the sting and slung the new canister from Beinn under one arm. Just then, his commbadge chirped. Jadaris’s voice came through, precise and calm even through the chaos:

[Engineering to Alden. There should be a secondary EPS bypass on the deck. Flip the master switch and put the bypass array's isolinear chip into the emergency bypass slot to shut off that EPS conduit…]

Leo looked around. There, maybe ten meters behind them and protruding from the bulkhead. A small access panel, blackened at the edges and scorched by the earlier blast. Close enough to have taken damage, but far enough from the worst of the remaining fire that it was still safe to work on. He gave Beinn a glance, looked back at the flames and then back at the access panel. Leo moved quickly to it, placed the new extinguisher on the floor next to the wall. His hands moved fast, tugging open the panel. The isolinear chips inside still glowed faintly, but some of the relays were scorched and partially fused. He hesitated. Academy basics, yes, but no real field time.

He flipped the main switch. The hum changed pitch. Then he yanked the bypass chip from the emergency rack and slid it into its new place. Click. The hum stuttered for a moment, then steadied. A success? Or a failure? It wasn’t clear—and he didn’t have time to check.

He left the panel wide open, the cover leaning against the bulkhead and grabbed the extinguisher at his feet again, turning back toward the plasma fire just in time to see movement in the haze. Artemis.

She emerged through the dense, acrid smoke like something out of a dream. Blackened, burned, her uniform seared through in places, patches of blistered skin visible beneath torn fabric. Her usually-perfect bun had fallen in charred, wet strands around her face, and her expression was tight with pain and determination.

In her arms, dragging behind her, was a human man, clearly an engineer. His body was slack and brutalised, limbs limp, skin melted, uniform shredded from the blast. Leo didn’t need a tricorder to guess his condition.

He surged forward, moving to cover them. The green plasma fire danced just ahead. Leo pulled the trigger and sprayed the suppressant in wide, deliberate arcs, trying to push the flames back from where Cassidy had vanished minutes earlier.

“Chief!” he shouted, glancing over his shoulder. “Are you okay? Is he—?”

She collapsed by the wall, the body slipping from her grasp. Blood smeared the deck. Then she rasped, hoarse and broken:

“Where’s Cassidy?”

Leo’s jaw tightened. “He followed you in. Just after you went through the flames.”

He didn’t wait for her reply. Cassidy was still in there. And the plasma fire was still alive and roaring as though full of malicious intent. Leo turned back and kept spraying.

== Tag Art, Cassidy and Beinn ==

== GM Input - A, Did Leo’s attempt at engineering work, and shut down only the immediate areas (areoshuttle bay and corridor) EPS Conduits, therefore reducing the flames of the plasma fire and risk of further EPS related problems like more fires and explosions? and B, is his continued fire-fighting now completely eliminating the fire? ==

[Scarlett Papaver]

== Deck 6 – Sensor Maintenance ==

Papaver returned to consciousness after a few minutes. The pain in her head felt noting like she'd felt before. The blood from her wound had spilled onto the deck before it had coagulated and matted her hair, blocked her nose, and glued her right eye shut.

Breathing gingerly through her mouth, she took even longer to try to sit herself up. A task made harder when she sporadically began coughing sending more waves of agony through her head. There was a tang of something in the air that she couldn't make out.

The sensor maintenance room was generally unmanned, so she had been alone. Taking her time, she tried to remember how she'd ended up in this state. Then she recalled the red alert.

“Computer.” She said between breaths. “What happened.”

The computer voice replied instantly. Chipper and too loud as ever. [Explosion Deck Seven. Plasma Fires Detected. Aeroshuttle Launch Bay.]

Her first thought as she listened was how much her head hurt. Her second was that she should be doing something to help. But at this point, she could barely help herself. She was probably no more that twenty feet above the incident. Which would probably explain the odd taste in the air. Were fumes from the fire seeping their way upwards?

Raising her hand up to her comm badge, she intended to contact sickbay, but instead her need to help others over road her own preservation. “This is Papaver to...” She wasn't sure who to talk to.. She assumed that Jadris and his engineers would be leading the repairs. She coughed again. "To Jadris. I'm above the shuttle bay on deck... cough... Six. Is there any way I can help?”


== Tag in Engineering ==

[Pax Cassidy]

Cassidy turned around, back toward safety. The hardest part of emergency medicine was recognizing a lost cause. He emerged from the flames shortly behind d’Tor’an. Tears stung his organic eye.

“The other crewman was pinned under a bulkhead.” His throat was tight, causing his voice to come out in a strangled rasp. “I’m sorry, she’s too far gone already.”

He glanced down at the body that d’Tor’an had pulled from the debris. They were gone as well. Some part of him wanted to pound the wall and scream, he could feel the anguish rising in his chest, but his training was deeply ingrained. He would complete the triage and grieve later. The security chief and himself were the two crewmen with the most urgent medical need.

“These two have things under control, chief,” Cassidy said, glancing toward Alden and Beinn. “I think you and I are due in sickbay. The faster we treat these burns, the lower the risk of complications.” He shuddered to think of how Manx would react when she saw the two of them.

>>>> Sickbay >>>>

[Artemis d'Tor'an]

“He followed you in.” Alden said, his voice sounding clipped. Or maybe it was just Art’s perception of things; she was starting to feel a bit light-headed. “Just after you went through the flames.”

Art could only stare into the fiery abyss, watching the smoke still pillowing out, albeit slower now. She dared not look down at the body she had pulled out, her mind coming around to the realization that it was now just a body without a soul. She felt a single drop of sweat run down her face, knowing it was leaving a trail of clean skin against smoke-clogged pores.

She knew she was alive because she was in pain - and wasn’t that just the Klingon way! Her hands hurt, the skin on her face felt tight, and her arms still felt like they were on fire where she knew her uniform must have been burned through. Looking down at the face of the man she had pulled, she only recognized the uniform, and not the face. Engineering would have to identify one of their own once this body made it to the morgue.

Chief Medical Officer Cassidy returned without someone in tow, his face pained from either harm or defeat. “The other crewman was pinned under a bulkhead.” You didn’t need to be a medic to assess the state of the crewman next to Art. “I’m sorry,” he said of the one he’d left behind, “she’s too far gone already.”

Artie wondered who they were. If she had passed them in the halls yesterday. Had they shared a laugh in the turbolift? Waited in line for the same food replicator? Or maybe they were brand new to starship life, and hadn’t even had the chance to let their personalities shine. A darkness edged around Art’s vision that had nothing to do with the smoke.

“These two have things under control, Chief.” Cassidy said, bringing Art back around. “I think you and I are due in Sickbay.”

The Security Chief grimaced, using the wall next to her to help her stand up. She grunted, and leaned against that wall for a moment to get the strength back in her legs.

“The faster we treat these burns, the lower the risk of complications.”

She shot Cassidy a dirty look that had nothing to do with him, and stared down the wall of flames that had just claimed the lives of two of their comrades. A tap on the commbadge brought their news to the Bridge.

“d’Tor’an to Bridge.” The Klingon coughed out, her voice still raspy. “Two crewmen lost. One male, Engineering, one female… department unknown. Alden and Beinn are staying on scene.” Her voice sounded like it was about to give out. “Cassidy and I are heading to Sickbay.” Her voice faltered on the CMO’s name, but she managed to get the rest of the sentence out.

Taking a deep breath, Art took a few steps towards their intended destination, expecting the doctor to lead.

>> Sickbay >>

[Kal-Geal Beinn]

Kal-Geal had been ready with his transporter tags, but the smoke was a bit much for him to try to see through. However, then Art came back through the smoke, and Beinn remembered the smell of charred Klingon quite well. However, the burns weren't as bad as the crewmember she had dragged out.

His tricorder wasn't very happy with him, and neither was Kal-Geal at the sight of the male, as the fire had ravaged what the explosion had not touched. However, there was always a chance, and Kal-Geal wasn't ready to give up on the crewmember. He placed a transporter tag on the male, and gave him an injection of morathial to attempt to counter the neural metaphasic shock that had just happened, and said,

"Beinn to Sickbay, prepare for incoming emergency medical transport to trauma biobed. Extreme internal damage, will require artificial support and potential stasis for starbase assistance due to severity."

He tapped his tricorder to send out a signal to the transporter system to lock onto the transporter tag, and beam them directly to sickbay as he intended. As he did so, he looked over at Cassidy and said,

"I'm not giving up yet. I'll see you in sickbay."

==GM Input: Is the emergency transport to sickbay successful?==

[Jadaris]

==Deck Six, Sensor Maintenance==

[Jadaris to Papaver. You don't sound so well, but I'm going to need you to reroute the internal sensor grid around the damaged junction. Can you access the rerouting controls safely? I'll send a pair of engineers to help you out if you need the assistance, but we need the internal grid back up in that section. Once you manage to get it operational, report to sickbay; you survived the Magellan, you can survive this Lieutenant.] The Gorn's voice returned strongly over the commbadge.

[Mika Bowman]

== Aeroshuttle Bay ==

[Sickbay acknowledges. Standing by.]

[Scarlett Papaver]

==Deck Six, Sensor Maintenance==

[Jadaris to Papaver.] Came the husky reptilian reply moments later. [You don't sound so well, but I'm going to need you to reroute the internal sensor grid around the damaged junction. Can you access the rerouting controls safely?]

I'll do what I can. She internally monologued as Jadris continued his orders. She'd taken enough engineering side courses in her time that she considered herself competent enough to handle such a task.

[I'll send a pair of engineers to help you out if you need the assistance, but we need the internal grid back up in that section. Once you manage to get it operational, report to sickbay; you survived the Magellan, you can survive this Lieutenant.]

Why did he have to bring that up? She asked no one as she tried not to think on the thumping headache she had and the now that memory to boot.

Thanks.

“I'll, cough, do what I can. Papaver, out.”

Turning her head to look around the room, there were usually maintenance hatches around the perimeter of the lower bulkheads below the console interfaces. Crawling over on her hands and knees, Papaver popped off three of the covers before she found what looked like EPS and internal sensor distribution nodes running through.

Some were illuminated some weren't. The nature of ODN systems. Shaking her head to try to focus as it pounded didn't help as that caused her a new wave of dizziness that she took a second longer to recover from. The emergency lighting, both monochromatic and pulsing really didn't help.

Taking her time to study the layout, she knew she was looking for the navy blue coloured connections with the white indicator markings and not the black connectors with the yellow markings. One was the data feed, the other was power.

“Right...” She said to herself, as she moved her fingers gingerly toward the open panel.


== GM – Does Papaver find the right systems? ==

[GM-04]

==Alden==

Despite not being an Engineer, the young Security Midshipman was successful in shutting off the Electro-Plasma flow through the damaged conduits. Starved of its primary fuel source, the plasma fire ceased roaring and began to simply continue to feed on the melting materials. As the materials were consumed, the fires decreased in size and intensity.

With the second extinguisher, Alden was also able to fully extinguish the "regular" fire. He could now either wait for the plasma fire to burn itself out, or find a plasma extinguisher and douse those flames as well.

==Bein==

The corpse successfully disappeared in a blue haze.

==Papaver==

It took her a moment, but Papaver eventually found the suitable connections. Working with live circuits was always risky, and the young scientist got a few minor jolts as a result, but after a few more moments of cross-wiring, she had successfully bypassed the damaged systems.

[Scarlett Papaver]

== Deck Six, Sensor Maintenance ==

Gingerly, Papaver traced the visible connections through the exposed panels. The first connector she tried in the misguided hope it was the right one was thankfully not as spicy as it could have been.

There was a brief flash, and small jolt. “[i]Ow![/b] She exclaimed as she sucked on her finger tip to try to get feeling back in the digit.

She took another few seconds, and a second jolt to retrace the pathways again, and this time, she picked the correct connection as an audible sound of yet another panel that had been dead seconds ago, lit up and looked to be pulsing in a way that said it was transferring data of some kind.

Slowly standing up as her head was still thumping, she activated the panel above to confirm that she had managed to bypass the effected system. Then she saw her reflection in the black surface of the display.

The cut ran across the bridge of her nose, it had thankfully missed her eye, but it was looking swollen and darkened against her naturally pale complexion, and it continued up over her right brown and forehead. No wonder she felt like hell.

“How hard did I hit the floor?” She asked herself as she poked the injury before wincing again.

“Papaver to Engineering. I think I bypassed the damaged grid. I'm going to go to sickbay now...” She paused. “That's deck two isn't it.”


>> Sickbay >>

[Leo Alden]

==Let me preface this by saying I'm sorry for a really long post==

The hallway hissed with dying heat. Smoke clung to the walls, crawling sluggishly over scorched bulkheads and shattered ceiling plates. Leo stepped back from the now spent fire extinguisher in his hands. Its once-weighty form now light, releasing only a few dying puffs of inert gas. A long, high-pitched wheeze signaled its final breath. He looked down at it, then let it fall to the deck with a dull metallic clatter.

The standard orange flames were out. The plasma fire, robbed of the conduit's plasma stream, had weakened, but not died. It still licked at twisted hull supports with hungry green tongues, casting small but still shifting shadows on the corridor walls. Yet it was manageable. Contained. Almost quiet.

A flicker of motion to his left caught Leo’s eye. Cassidy emerged from the thick gloom like a ghost, smoke curling off his shoulders, ash clinging to his face. Leo barely recognized him at first. The man's uniform was half-charred, torn and seared down one side. The skin underneath, what little Leo could see, was darkened and cracked, an angry red and black patchwork.

One single, silent tear trailing from Cassidy’s organic eye. It cut through the soot on his cheek like a scar. His other eye, the cybernetic one, remained cold and impassive, but Leo saw the look behind it. Fury. Helplessness. The brittle restraint of a man who wanted to punch a bulkhead until his knuckles bled just to make something hurt as much as he clearly did.

Leo slowly turned his head to look at Artemis. He hadn't forgotten that she was close, sitting beside the body that she had dragged free of the fire and debris, but his focus kept shifting and second guessing and trying so hard to take in everything, trying to be the best he could be in that moment, but all that split concentration made his brain a mushy pile of uselessness.

He stared at his chief for a moment longer and saw that her expression was drawn, tight with pain and exhaustion. Her face was also streaked with soot, one side blistered from the heat; her uniform too, half-melted into her skin along the upper arm and shoulder. The burns were severe, raw, angry, and blackened in places where the fire had lingered too long. But more than that, she looked... diminished. Not weak, not broken, but momentarily defeated. Like someone who had pushed themselves past the edge and was only now realizing how far they'd gone. To Leo, she didn't just look wounded. She looked spent.

The smell hit him next. Acrid, scorched cloth over something more organic. Something awful.

Burnt skin.

Leo stiffened. His stomach knotted on instinct. He swallowed hard, but the lump in his throat wouldn't move. He didn’t gag, not here, not now. He blinked a few times, pushing the urge down into some locked compartment where it could claw quietly for attention later.

Cassidy walked slowly, supporting d'Tor'an beside him. Her limp frame leaned against him, the pain etched onto her face. Even from here, he could see the streak of melted fabric across her arm and back, the way her boots scuffed as she dragged her feet over the deck.

He'd studied casualty protocols. He knew, academically, that people died. Even in times of peace. But nothing in those reports or training sims prepared him for this. For the sudden, absolute absence of someone who had, maybe minutes ago, been alive.

He didn’t even know their name.

No phaser fire. No battle. Just an explosion. A deck rupture. An accident.

Three weeks aboard the Yeager. That was all. Was this just how it happened sometimes?

A voice cut through the roaring silence in his head like a lifeline:
"I'm not giving up yet. I'll see you in Sickbay."

Leo looked again at the limp body that Beinn was kneeling over and he felt it hit his chest like a flare, a spark of hope. But it flickered uncertainly. False hope could be dangerous. He’d heard instructors say before: “Hope can make you hesitate. It can make you take risks you can’t afford.”

But he held on to it anyway.

He turned his gaze again into the darkness from where Cassidy had emerged, half-expecting another miracle. None came.

Leo exhaled, low and steady, then tapped his combadge.

"Alden to Security. Standard fire is out, plasma fire contained but not fully extinguished. We have one confirmed fatality. One critical evac, two en route to Sickbay. Requesting a security team to assist with site containment and investigation. Is there any chance of getting a couple of Engineers and some lifting equipment too please? I'm heading further in to see… whatever I can see.”

His voice trailed off. Something inside him had dimmed and his words petered out as he finished speaking. He closed the channel, took a slow breath, and stepped toward the fallen crewman that Cassidy had said was against the wall.

Leo looked at the officer pinned to the wall, lifeless. He couldn't make out any facial features, the smoke and fire doing a thorough job of hiding their identity and another feeling struck Leo. It didn't crash over him, it just was. Manifested like a bruise you don't notice until someone touches it. His chest felt hollow through and through but there was no mistaking the weight on the left side of his chest. It felt like a gravity well. Trying to rip his now heavy heart out through the sole of his foot and into the floor. Still not knowing who these officers were. One was definitely dead. The other had about as much chance as Voyager completing its historic journey in under a year, and the why. Why them? Why now? A hundred whys. The why was what bothered him most. But he had a feeling that question might never be answered.

As he stood blankly before the body, his comm badge chirped to life, and luckily for him, drew him from the deep and dark place of never ending questions.

[Alden, I can send a team to assist with containment and investigation but they may take a while to get there” the voice said smoothly. “And engineers may have to wait. Who are you with? What happened? Where's Art?]

That final question was much more than a question. Recognising the voice of Gary, Alpha Shift’s team leader whose surname Leo was still yet to learn, and also recognising that he was somewhat furious about the lack of information given and the whereabouts and possible condition of his friend.

All thoughts of Beinn had left Leo too. Was he going to help that transported crewman or follow him to where he now stood. It didn't matter to Leo too much as for now, the damage was done, and assistance possibly on the way. So he stood motionless and silent a while longer.

He had to know who they were.

He had to try and find out what happened.

Even if he didn't know them, or had never even met them. He owed them that much.

== Tag Beinn == 
= I wasn't sure which way you was planning on heading so have left it open for you =

== Gm Input - Leo's request of assistance is answered by the security complex but A, does the 3 man security team that is sent to assist arrive and if so, how long until they arrive? and B, would an engineer be available to join that 3 man team and Leo to investigate the area further for such things like structural integrity and any thing that could be unsafe.

[GM-04]

The team arrived in less than five minutes, though the wait would seem longer. There were not any Engineers available, but one of the reinforcements was also a member of a damage control party, so they would be suitable for what Alden had planned.

Structural integrity, for the most part, appeared intact. From an initial glance it seemed that the majority of the force of the explosion appeared to have been directed outwards, rather than inwards, and the current mess and casualties appeared to be little more than collateral damage.

Aside from the fire and the hazards of tripping over or placing exposed skin against hot and jagged debris, the area seemed more or less safe to investigate.

[Kal-Geal Beinn]

The emergency transport functioned, but as the casualty faded into the transporter beam, Kal-Geal noticed that the tag he was using sparked a few times before going dormant. The transporter hadn't grabbed him, and left him right where he was. He sighed, hoping the morathial had worked to restart neural functions so that the biobed could take over life support, but it was a long shot. The Child of San-Tarah stood up from where he was, and put a hand on the smaller Midshipman's shoulder,

"I realize that being right out of the Academy, this must seem like a nightmare. To a graduate of the Klingon Academy, these situations are drilled into us, and some of our simulations are done without safety protocols enabled. But it never quite stops the pain you'll feel from losing your fellow officers. If you feel the need to release those emotions, I am always available to help."

Kal-Geal looked into the smouldering compartment, and added,

"Midshipman. As you are the senior officer from Security currently present, you're in charge of investigating this mess as well. Regardless of who we've lost, for the sake of the many, what you find here may save the lives of others."

==tag Alden==

[Leo Alden]

== Leo Alden and NRC's Radley, Bandit & Stripe ==
== This post was also finalised and posted with permission ==

Leo's gaze remained locked on the body. The one pinned to the wall.

The smoke was mostly gone now, but some of the remnants wafted around the ceiling. The heat too had subsided, only small and sparse plasma fires remained, but the usually cold metal walls still radiated the heat inflicted upon it by the infernos, and it hissed and creaked in places as the temperature slowly fell.

You have a job to do. Breathe. You have a job to do. Breathe. You have a job to do.

Not seeing the large figure rise from his knees and step up to him, Leo shuddered slightly as a hand was placed on his shoulder moments before he heard a jumble of words. All Leo really picked out was Academy, nightmare, Klingon, drilled, safety, pain and help.

Leo stood, eyes still locked in place on the remaining casualty as the male's words fell on deaf ears. Not completely missed but they landed in the currently empty space between his ears.

"Midshipman. As you are the senior officer from Security currently present, you're in charge of investigating this mess as well. Regardless of who we've lost, for the sake of the many, what you find here may save the lives of others.”

The seemingly gentle giant next to him continued a little more clearly now. This time however, the words, almost as if they had pinched him, made him stand a little taller. Leo did nothing to acknowledge the combat medic and instead, walked forwards, closer to the body, still not looking at anything else but that body.

His surroundings and his senses remained blurry, as if he was there and not there until another hand was placed on his shoulder roughly.

"Are you deaf?" The voice asked in jest unbeknownst that he'd scared the Midshipman half to death. "Sorry, kidding, really. Are you alright?" The man finished with more of a comforting tone.

Leo turned his head and looked blankly at Radley, almost as if he was looking through him, past him even. Like he was a ghost. He breathed through his nose and shook his head gently. Not in disagreement, but just enough to dismiss the question.

Looking around, he also noticed that Radley had come with others. His request for assistance had been answered. One of the men sent with Radley was putting the last of the green flames to rest and the other started to look around as if searching for something he'd lost. Leo supposed he was just assessing the damages and structural integrity of their surroundings but ultimately, he paid no heed to the men.

Not unkindly, maybe the shock was still rattling his cage, but he finally saw Beinn standing a few steps behind him too. Realising that the man, trained to kill probably from birth, had just offered an ear should one be needed, Leo nodded his gratitude before very quietly saying, “Thank you.”

Radley lingered beside Leo, calmly and reassuringly. But even his gaze flicked between Leo and the body on display like a gallery's latest acquisition. Leo felt the man's grip tighten on his shoulder. Not aggressively or rudely, but questioningly. Turning his head to look at the trapped body once more and then back to the man who was essentially holding him up at this point, he mumbled his words.

"I'm… still standing."

He no longer felt the shock, not exactly. But something colder had begun to settle in, like frost under his skin.

"And we have a job to do. Would you..." He said as he stared at the body, somehow unable to rip his gaze from its unearthly sight.

"Beinn.” He said a little louder. “Would you and Radley help me get the body down? Please?." He finished very quietly.

The sound of scuffing boots began to fill Alden’s ears as the men moved to assist, and then the murmuring of somebody behind them talking quietly to himself. The sounds became louder as if he had, as Radley had asked, been momentarily deaf. He shook the notion from his head as he and his teammates began removing the debris that had halted any chance of help for this person and eventually laid them carefully on the floor.

He knew the face, but couldn't place the name and something so silly as that, upset him even more. He didn't know why but it did. He glanced at Radley standing next to him, then to Bandit and Stripe moving about the space and then to Beinn who stood with a preternatural calm before returning his eyes to the lifeless body.

“Kal.” Leo started, second guessing his selection of the wolf's name. “Would you see that this officer gets to sickbay as well please?”

Leo's throat tightened as he spoke and his skin grew colder still. He noted the occasional look Radley kept giving him, not of judgement, but intent.

Ah. So you're here to check up on me. 
Good.

He became more steady now that reality and the weight of Kal-Geal's words were setting in.
‘You are the senior officer from Security currently present, you're in charge.’

You. Have. A. Job. To. Do!

He looked around at the mess as he finished regaining his focus. He knew the gentlemen who were sent here to assist him but not that well. And given that two of them, possibly all three, were a rank above himself, he tried his luck. His voice began to flow without thought, giving out orders as if he'd been doing it for many years.

“Beinn, I'll leave you to deal with the crewman as now there are some extra hands, see if sickbay needs assistance, just in case. We're heading to the shuttle bay if they don't.”

"Bandit.” He shouted to the man still checking for any serious damages. “Let engineering know if there's any dangerous bits that need immediate attention."

He turned to face Stripe, who was just putting out the last embers of the wicked fire that would not relent.

"Get that out now and follow me."

His voice grew in confidence tenfold. Whether it was a mask against the bleakness, a response to Radley, who he suspected had been sent to check on him, or because the warrior turned healer may also be assessing, Leo wasn’t sure. But he buried any further emotion and doubt and continued to take charge.

"Radley. You too. Let's go see how bad the shuttle got it."

Leaving Bandit to assess the current state of the hallway and Beinn to deal with the fallen crew member, the three officers strode towards the remnants of the door to the shuttle bay where the Glennis had been sitting pretty and waiting for her moment.

== Open Tag ==

== GM Input - As Leo and his new teammates, Radley and Stripe, approach the origin of the explosion to begin investigating. A)What state are the doors to the bay in (Smashed open, broken but accessible if the climb/crawl or Damaged beyond belief and have no way to get in)? And B) If they do get into the shuttle bay, what might they see, condition wise?