Knock Knock
Posted on Wed Dec 29th, 2021 @ 9:03am by Major Amelia St Lacroix & Commander Jonathan Mantell & Lieutenant Commander Asahi Kita & Lance Corporal Durst Haldane
Mission:
Between Realities
Location: Tholian Crusier
2369 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure
The flight over had been short, the Vesta having swung her orbit just close enough to keep from being too obvious near the ship, leading the small Miran to make the flight the rest of the way as quickly and discretely as possible. As was expected, when the shuttle had fired off a request to dock it had been firmly ignored by the Tholian ship, apparently their computers were as rude as the people that operated them. That had left only one way to get on board, and that was to make a hole, and climb through. A few passes around the ship found the docking collar that lined up best with the port side docking arm of the Delta Flyer, allowing it to latch onto the hull firmly at that point, and also allowing if needed to avoid venting the ship by spoofing the opening sequence on inside door. That wasn't exactly Amelia's style, but that's why they brought Starfleet along - to do the delicate stuff. "So, Lieutenant, remember, we need you to open the inside airlock, okay?" Her accent was made a hundred times worse by the comms system, filtering it through without the softening of in-person discussion. Once the little green light appeared over the door to show a solid seal was made with the systems, she pumped the door open and revealed the exterior of the airlock.
From one of her pouches, the Marine withdrew a small device. It looked like someone had managed to merge a 2260's Type-II phaser and a hypospray into a single unit - not an unfair comparison. The unit acted as a dedicated applicator for one of a breeching Marine's most potent tools, a combination of chemicals that operated in a similar manner to old Earth thermite. Once ignited it burned hot enough to carve through most hulls, reaching 2900°K.Leaning into the door, she set to spraying around the edges of the door, once the chemical made contact and settled in the air, it went from the aerosolized spray to a foamlike chemical. Once she had gone around the door a few times - no such thing as too much when it came to cutting - she took a few steps back and pushed a button on her visor swapping from regular view to a welders filtered view. "Avert your eyes, Starfleet suits take a second or two to polarize, it can burn." She turned to address Durst and Morwen as she drew her hand phaser. "Ready?"
Their faces weren't visible behind their already filtered visors but the Kainan hunting pair nodded as one, weapons already drawn and ready just in case the ship wasn't quite as dead as advertised. Durst braced, ready to stomp if the door didn't drop open once the edges burned through. "Ready."
Jack looked up from the controls, setting the Delta Flyer to stationkeeping within a dozen meters rather than docking. If the blast were to dislodge the two ships, the autopilot would get the runabout back under quick control. "Ready, freddy!"
Unlike the rest of how Asahi behaved about this mission, the Intel Officer was keen on looking about the tech the marines used. He might have been a spook, but the engineer at heart was always curious about this sort of thing. The only thing that called his attention away was the positive trilling of his tricorder, which he had attached to the arm of his suit. He gave it a cursory look, tapping at the buttons. "Should be good to go on the airlock too," he stated.
Amelia nodded to the hunting pair, levelled her phaser and fired a quick short burst. The chemical on the door reacted quickly to the heat, going from a boring grey, to red hot, to white with several centimeter long sparks coming off the mixture. From the point of impact the flare spread out in both directions, carving a molten metal trail along the seams of the door as the sheer heat of it all melted away support and locking mechanism alike. As the mixture worked, Ameila took several steps back, allowing the pair to take the lead, leaving Buck just behind her. She leveled her weapon and waited for the chemical to burn its way down. It only really took about five seconds, but the waiting made it feel like ten of fifteen at least, with it reaching the end and fizzling out. That just left the large central door sitting precariously on its hinges. It gave a massive groan and fell inwards.
"Aw..." Durst muttered, disappointed. Still, he stepped forward and gave the remnant hanging on the hinge and good kick to fully clear the hole. It made a satisfying clank as it hit the deck below.
Morwen instantly stepped up from covering him to beside him and they each jumped through, landing high and low to sweep their visual arc for threats. Their actions were so coordinated anyone could be excused for thinking they were communicating on a private channel, but it was part practice effect and partly the fact that hunting pairs knew each so well they practically move as one most of the time - but when actually hunting they were even more in sync. "Clear!" Morwen called up, and moved back to give the others plenty of room to descend.
Asahi hopped down next, giving a little hop to test the stability of his own knees before stepping to one side and pulling his arm up for more tricorder readings. "So how much you wanna bet the Tholians left this here because of some zombie tribbles?"
"You know, Asahi, next Halloween I want a haunted house on the holodeck, and I want you to design it!" The exuberant tones of the boy sounded harsh and mechanical through the speakers in the suits, though the expression on Jack's face would have confirmed his feelings if anyone turned to look. He made his way through the airlock, stepping much more easily than the tempered movements of the Intel Chief or the coordinated dance of the Marines. Even with the suit hampering his range, Jack didn't feel any differently in this environment than in normal atmospheres, the atmospheric density or gravity didn't have any noticeable resistance or give. "Well, every sensor says it's hot in here, but the suit seems to be holding up. I'm reading 447 Kelvin, what do you guys have?"
The interior of the Tholian ship was still a distinctly alien environment. The air shimmered with the heat, distorting the Miran's vision. He held up his arm to take some readings. "Atmosphere is...mostly methyl chloride? Then how is it so hot?" Jack looked at the others in the away team, as if they had an answer for him. Beyond them, he saw the designs and patterns of the walls, more clearly now that his eyes had adjusted to the ship's strange environment, and the boy let out an astonished sound. "I didn't expect that..." He walked over to one of the walls, or at least what he thought was a wall. "It's like being inside a snowflake!"
"Back when we first did training exercises about Tholian encounters, someone told me they built their ships out of materials based on their own carapaces," Durst observed. "I assume that means crystalline, though it can't be that much the same or the outer hull would shatter." He eyed the structure Jack was touching. "I just hope the interior stuff isn't too close to their chitin or all this could come crashing down if the structure cools too much."
"I knew I shoulda added a buttflap to these suits," Jack grumbled in hindsight, this always happened with prototypes. The minute he got them in the field, suddenly there were a dozen new things he realized were forgotten. His eyes crossed as the boy bent his knees into a half-squat, and a flatulent sound came up over the speakers among the away team. "A few more of those bad boys and we'd have this place back up to temp in no time!"
Durst snorted a laugh. Morwen rolled her eyes. "First time I've been grateful to not be able to smell anything in these suits..."
"I'd ask if you were infantry in a past life," Amelia said, as she swept her eyes around the structure, "but I fear the worse thought is that infantry members learn from you," she added, thinking to all the jarhead wannabe's she'd met through the years. "I am not reading any immediate temperature drains, in fact things still seem relatively stable. I guess the Tholians know that seeing a complete vent is a death sentence for them." She reached out and touched the walls, the feedback coming into her hands via a series of sensors relaying it to her fingertips. "Such a fascinating design."
Asahi took a couple of steps from the group, flashlight shining down one of the hallways, which proved ineffective as it reflected off the aforementioned walls. "I'd worry if we end up in the middle of a cold spot," he stated mechanically, "Not because of the walls caving in on us, but because of what kind of tech could be in them. Tholian tech is used to withstanding this stuff, but Breen tech doesn't work so well under this sort of heat. I don't think they'd abandon a ship full of whatever else tech here, but then again, I didn't expect to be having a jaunt through a ship like this today, so here we are."
TAG RESPONSES
The Intel Chief turned to the group, tilting his head further down the hallway. "This way to Engineering. We should find answers there."
Amelia patted the Miran and pushed forward with the other Marines to sweep corners and check for any signs of motion, trying to ignore that there wasn't any and just how odd this was for a Tholian ship. They were known to go down with their ships and almost never abandoned them, so where were they? As they reached the doors for Engineering, she was more surprised to find the doors to which were simply jammed open, and got her first answer as to where some of the crew was. Stepping over the remains of the dead Tholian, her eyes scanned up and around the room, spotting more remnants of crew members and she shuddered. Something had happened here that was very much beyond the norm. The centre of the room was dominated by a large structure, which Amelia could only assume was the warpcore, but was as much in the dark there as any other Marine. "Left side clear," she said over comms, waiting to hear back from the twins to see if they maybe had found something.
Her eyes traced alcoves that were recessed into the walls, some of which appeared to be temperature and pressure controlled, and looked out of place. Perhaps these were the secrets of the mysterious ship?
"Right side clear," Morwen reported back over comms. Nothing alive and moving or showing on sensor displays anyway. Her shifted across the space, wary. The lack of scent in an environmental suit always made her edgy, unable to feel certain of what might be hidden in her surroundings. It made her wonder how humans could stand being so nose-blind all the time.
Amelia came back around to the front entrance where Asahi and Jack were still and offered a shrug. "Room is clear, and aside from our hosts," she gestured to one of the remains visible, "nothing of concern sirs. But this," she turned around to look at all the various bits sorted about, "is unlike anything we have seen in any simulation." Her eyes cast up in the room, which was far larger than originally expected, with many of the small alcoves still visible. Her suit was piping in the sounds, the soft chirp of machinery working away, the gentle hum of unseen pieces working in the background. "Best guess this is your engine room, but I have no idea what the rest of this is."
"It's not Tholian," Asahi stated plainly, only giving the odd technology around them a first glance before his tricorder went off. He tilted his head at the results, before smacking it against the inside of his free hand. "This thing can't pick up what kind of anything it is." It was that point that he decided to look up and around, first to the warpcore, but then further upward. Out came the flashlight again, as he helplessly tried to give the area above them a better look. "... The core's mostly Tholian, but the way this is all hooked up to whatever's going on above the core? That's not."
As Asahi turned his attention to the Marines and Jack, his gaze caught sight of a limp, Tholian arm on the ground. His eyes widened, as if it was the first remnant he spotted during their walk, and his light shifted downward, as he realized the severity of what they had come across. "I need a better look at the logs. I don't want to sound like I'm paranoid, but if this wasn't caused by sabotage or a deadly temperature shift, I don't want to find out what else could be hiding away here."
"If Commander Mantell is safe here," Amelia said, "Then Durst and Morwen can take you to the Bridge, get you what you need there, no? Buck, you and I can do a sweep of the surrounding decks, see if we cannot find something a little more concrete, or signs of crew. Unless you object Commander?" Her eyes were mirrored behind an unseen mask, but tracked to the man regardless. Even if he couldn't see her face behind the mirrored finish, it still felt like it was the right thing to do. Further, it would give the Marines a chance to set their Just in case party favours without the eyes of the Commander to ask questions he would not want the answers to.
With no objections, the groups nodded to one another and set off in their various directions to take care of their tasks.
