Flight Deck Rebellion

Posted on 09 Nov 2020 @ 2:59pm by Commander Marcus Wilcox & Ensign Kat Walker

2,003 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Ab Intra
Timeline: Backlog!

Quinn had never really been a fan of crawling through Jeffries tubes, but the pilot knew that one did what one must. While he had no idea what was going on here, he knew that it wasn't good and nothing any better would have come from him being taken to the cargo bay. So, here he was, crawling through these little tunnels made for people smaller than him...and onward toward the flight deck to find out what was going on there.

It was the place he knew best, after all.

Wilcox stood near the row of fighters, confronted by two men. His arms were crossed, his neutral facial expression showing the slightest of irritation. “Your request is invalid Ensign,” Wilcox said flatly.

“You are making this difficult,” The one said, his hand settling on his phaser. “Just follow us to the cargo bay,” the other responded reaching for his phaser as well.

"Shit," Quinn hissed, spotting the CAG talking to two more security officers. So, they were all over the ship. What was the reason for gathering certain crew members and not others? What made the difference? Quinn didn't know, but it just couldn't be anything good.

He had to think fast, since he didn't want to see Commander Wilcox get hauled away either. His field of vision was pretty bad looking through this grate, but he figured a distraction of some sort...

“Without proper explanation I will not,” Wilcox replied simply, however the irritation starting to become less subtle. Wilcox’s body posture started to change slowly. His weight began to shift to a more advantageous posture to defend himself, his hands slowly moving up to be ready.

The two men took another step forward towards him. Their coordination was subtly off, and neither of them seemed to notice the non verbal cues of Wilcox’s defiance. “We will take you by force then,” The one said. With that statement they took another step closer and began to to reach for their phasers.

Quinn let out a string of curses with the word "bastards" repeated frequently. He had his boot off and was sliding open the grate. It wasn't his best effort in the confines here, but he threw the thing as best he could at a line of canisters with compressed air. Then fell over, some spinning, some hissing, and all of them clattering. He had his other boot ready, just in case, but he hoped it would be enough noise for the moment.

Both of the security officers turned towards the noise. Wilcox resisted, trying to prioritize one threat at a time. He took one deft step forward striking the closer man in the next and behind his legs at the same time. He dropped, lining Wilcox up behind the other man, who was just beginning to turn around. He kicked hard at the side of the man’s knee which crumbled him down to the ground hard.

Kneeling down, he removed the phaser from the second security officer, checked to ensure it was on stun, and shot him. He turned to see the other officer gasping as he grasped his throat. The man went for his phaser, but couldn’t move quickly. A single stun shot later he was limp as well. “I am sorry,” He remarked to both of them as he stood and looked towards the noise, phaser raised.

"Commander!" Quinn hissed, trying to be both loud as he could be and as quiet as he could be. He didn't know if there were other around and if there were, he didn't want to alert them. "Over here." He was half hanging out of the access hatch, waving at the CAG.

Wilcox moved quickly towards the access hatch, his eyes darting from area to area looking for movement or other signs of trouble. "I hope you can explain what is going on?" He asked, keeping Quinn in his peripheral vision while keeping an eye out around them for more people.

The lieutenant snorted something by way of a laugh, waving the CAG to get into the access tunnel and then climbing back in. He refastened the grate, two boots down from how he started. "I wish I could, sir," he said, shaking his head a little. "Weird shit is going on, though. Two security officers tried to arrest me in sickbay right after I got there. I was with my sister after she got us from the planet. They wouldn't explain, though. They said nothing but wanting to take me to the cargo bay."

"Which cargo bay? Have you found anyone else?" Wilcox asked as he started to cycle through what little information he had. He followed Quinn, relaxing slightly as he seemed to be acting himself. "Flying blind, we need to regroup. Quiet spot to access the computer?" Wilcox finally asked, as he continued to process information.

"Cargo bay two, and not yet," Quinn replied in order of the questions. "It's only been minutes since I fled sickbay and this was the first place I came... I guess just because this is the place I'm most familiar with. I'm glad I did now, since you seem...normal." The lieutenant frowned slightly, still trying to parse together what was going on. "I think that's a good plan, but these are our own people. They know the quiet places. We can't use our own quarters or offices now either, because they know we're loose."

Marcus stopped for a moment, contemplating the situation. “We need a remote computer. Either a remote link to a fighter or shuttle, or possibly Ms Walker could aid us.”

It took Quinn a moment to recall who "Ms. Walker" was, but then he did. The AI. He shook his head. "I don't know. I think her craft is in the cargo bay. Maybe if we can find a way to contact her remotely without the ship's systems."

"Lets move closer to the fighters. We can tap their encrypted systems. It may be possible to avoid detection," Marcus said slowly, obviously thinking the thought process through as he talked.

"We'll need to crawl through the tubes to a different area of the deck," Quinn said, thinking aloud. "It still sounds like they're getting their shit together out there but they will probably look here soon. We should move. If we can get to another area of hte flight deck, maybe we can even manage to get inside a fighter unseen. Use their systems. Doubt any of them will be looking into the cockpits of the birds." It wouldn't be easy, but maybe...

"Lead the way," Marcus replied. The rest were what ifs, and no point in delaying getting to the right spot to make the right decision.

Quinn learned as they crawled that the tips of his boots had actually been pretty useful in terms of traction, and his socks were less helpful. Still, he managed as they took one turn after another to move around the whole, long, wide outside of the flight deck and reach a section away from where they had been. He peered through the grate as best he could without removing it. "Looks clear," he said, with a trace of doubt.

"A Valkyrie would be our best option," Marcus said, peering over Quinn's shoulder, eyeing several fighters he could see from this angle. He pondered the exit from the grate, and the trek across open space to get to one. Not far, but not close and covered either. His mind imagined the movements, filling in what he couldn't see of the bay with memory and possible places watchers could be.

"Perhaps I could create a distraction again while you race to the nearest fighter?" Quinn offered. After all, it had worked once already...

Marcus nodded. “You risk capture, and we do not know the lengths our...” Marcus stopped, contemplating the situation again. Why was the crew acting this way? “...opponents will go.”

Quinn smiled mirthlessly. "If you have another idea, sir, then I'd be more than happy to hear it," he said. "But I feel like we don't have a lot of time or many chances to do this. It's the only idea I've got."

After a moment’s thought, Marcus nodded. “Proceed quietly, if we see someone, we’ll go with your plan. If you are within range and the fighter has a sidearm, I will attempt to back you up.”

Nodding once, Quinn turned to the grate and fidgeted with the fasteners until they came loose and he was able to pull it away. This part was new, though, since he hadn't gotten out of the duct when he'd found the commander. He kept the grate in hand as he leaned out, looking around to see if he could see any guards. No one was in sight, so he wiggled out and lowered himself to the ground--successfully, if awkwardly. He cleared the way for the commander to follow, still keeping a lookout. "So far, it's clear," he whispered.

Sliding himself out of the duct, having learned from watching Quinn, he landed on the deck with just a touch more noise due to his shoes. He nodded to his partner, and started working his way across the semi open space, ducking behind whatever cover he could. He wasn’t even sure if he was covering himself in the right direction, but something was better than nothing he figured. He glanced about for a long moment when he reached the fighter. Climbing the ladder would be very easy for him to be spot from anywhere.

With still no noise or movement, he attempted to gingerly climb the ladder. The metal of the ladder clanked slightly against the fighter hull as he went up and over. Settling into the seat he shrank himself as low as he could go, and began the process of starting up the computer.

Quinn didn't think it was possible to be more anxious or tense than he already was, but as he watched the CAG climb the ladder, he discovered that it was, indeed, possible. His heart seemed to beat erratically, which was an odd feeling for him because he was normally a very calm person. All he could do now, he knew, was make sure they remained undetected. To that end, at least, it was so far so good.

He just hoped there was someone "safe" out there for them to reach now.

Marcus tapped quickly, moving screens and information around. He resisted the urge to pop his head up, trusting Quinn to alert him if needed. After several minutes and many reroutes of communication lines, he opened an encrypted secure line of text to hopefully Kat’s machine. “Possibly secure encrypted line. Ship under attack, unknown bogeys inhabiting or replicating crew. Your status? - Wilcox.” He hit send and waited.

He didn't have to wait long for a reply, in plain text like his message. "Ship taken over by hostile entities inhabiting crew. Commander Petrova taken over, bridge on lockdown. Some crew resistant and functional. Some resistant but mentally affected. Found a way to temporarily drive hostile entity out of possessed crew. Rebellion underway, lead by Captain Thorne. My status, active but without remote emitter, unable to roam."

“Solution to repel hostiles?” Marcus wrote back, going with the assumption she knew more than him at this point.

"Beings of electromagnetic origin. A pulse of a certain frequency and intensity will drive them out temporarily. Resistance group trying to reach deflector dish, to run pulse through entire ship," Kat responded, almost immediately.

“Two able bodies here, what’s needed?” Marcus replied quickly.

An instant reply in text. "Comm badge signals found. Opening channel. Stand by." A moment or two later both Marcus and Quinn's comm badge gave a soft chirp. Another text message. "Double tap comm badge when within ten meters of possessed crewmate. A very loud noise will emit. This will drive out the being and disable the crewmate for a few moments."

 

RSS Feed