ronin Lt. Cmdr. Kirsty Carpenter - Mostly Armless

[Alieth]

The pacing, the action, Carpenter's struggles and just everything in general is just great in this sim. Fantastic work @Kirsty L. Carpenter , a first class sim!

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((Unknown Purpose Room, Deck 12, Interior of The Raided Ship.))

 

When Kirsty finally got her breath and pulse under control, clamping her eyes heavily across the Robot Thing's hellish point of egress, just knowing that it would double back and try to turn them into the soup it had made the "crew" of this ship...

 

But when it didn't, she and her companions were left with the grisliness and dispassionate carnage of the room they had found. Kirsty might have preferred the fight. The alternative was...well, let's just say Kirsty wouldn't be enjoying stew for the next few months. However, XO Alieth's near fearlessness, almost striding into the floating carnage and instantly going to work finally. Drawing her tricorder and throwing more coolly confident words her way, it finally jibed Kirsty's from her ghoulish awe. 

 

She stepped deeper into the compartment, turning her light toward Alieth's "work space" and keying a warning to the second splinter team that was (hopefully) still headed toward the Bridge.

Alieth: Excellent initiative, Miss Carpenter. :: She turned toward them awkwardly thanks to the helmet, but Kirsty could see her shining, curious eyes burning through the faceplate.:: Team scan the office, we have to find out where it is heading, and if there are any more of those things close.

Kirsty nodded resolutely, dropping her weapon hand and bringing back up her wrist display, but before she could glean a full TAC scan, Tuck’s tricorder beeped.

Tucker: Uh, Commanders, our creepy bug thing has gone up five decks. 

More and more blips started to echo through both Tuck and now Kirsty's display. She felt her finger flex across the haft of her beam weapon. 

Tucker: XO, look at this; we are not alone.

Tucker passed over his tricorder to Commander Alieth. Kirsty could almost feel her scowling from there. Carpenter was employing her own toward her own display. The upper decks seemed now replete with signals. Kirsty couldn't really tell if they indicated more of the Robot Things, but knowing the way her string of luck had been playing out recently...

Thankfully, XO Alieth's voice once more cracked through her rapidly growing fear.

Alieth: Mister Tucker, transmit this information to the Ronin :: Unhooking her tricorder from her wrist and tossing both to the engineer:: Transmit the scan I ran as well, it should give them a cursory analysis of whatever that robot is.

Tucker: Connected to the Ronin and transmitting, Commander.

As Tuck sprang toward work, she turned toward Kirsty fully.

Alieth: Chief, keep an eye on them, lest they decide to change direction and return to our position in group.

Carpenter: Copy. 

Kirsty turned back toward her scope, as Alieth traversed deeper into the viscera that used to be a working ship's crew, floating gracefully fully into the interior as Kirsty clomped into a loose parameter to give her and Tuck the room to work

But even the scopes and their now semi-solid information was just as unnerving as the floating graveyard around them. The signals...didn't seem to be moving with any sort of intention. It was more like aimless puttering around and Kirsty thought that might have been the weirdest thing so far. It could have very well been more blown compartments, more lack of hard atmo throughout the upper decks...

But the way that one Robot Thing had scampered after it knew they were there...its broken talk of an "Incomplete" new directive...another harsh chill jangled across Kirsty's armored skin as XO Alieth called out from behind them once more.

Alieth: I reckon I have found one of the crew members of the freighter.

Kirsty whirled around slightly, rechecking her stance and keeping her scope up, but seeing Chief Alieth now leaning across one of the few intact desk setups of the compartment. She rummaged and scraped a bit of metal across the deck plating, drawing an eerie buzz against the dim silence of the dead vessel. But then when she straightened...She held...

A single arm. Green and muscular and holding a wicked looking modified, long-barrelled holdout gun. Maybe a disruptor or some sort of particle weapon judging by the damage to the Robot Thing (if this even WAS the piece that made that shot, it would take more and just a cursory examination to determine that). But Kirsty could tell even from where she was standing it was illegal as hell.

More evidence toward this being a slave ship caught bad by something even worse. Kirsty scowled deeply in concentration (trying to highlight in her mind the absurdity of this whole thing) as Tucker spoke the obvious.

Tucker: Well, that’s not something you see every day. ::he grimaced::

Carpenter: No. No, it ain't. ::she stepped up slightly to the insane scene:: You...notice anything?

She looked back toward them. Kirsty might have been projecting, but she might have detected a hint of incredulity on her face. 

Alieth: Well.... I can at least say it is green.

Tucker: ::in a lower register:: I guess it isn’t easy being green. ::he shuttered::

But Kirsty could feel a kind of antsiness underneath Tucker's aloofness. Kirsty felt her own sort. They needed to get moving. Those blips on her scope screen were still wandering about, but that could change in the literal blink of an eye. She stepped a bit closer to the Chief, pointing slightly with the crook of her elbow.

Carpenter: We need to...secure that, yeah? At the very least, my people can trace the weapon.

The petite Vulcan clutched the combadge on her chestplate. Kirsty was genuinely shocked they got a clean signal. 

Alieth: =/\= Alieth to sickbay. We have found part of a corpse of one of the ship's crew members. You may transport it for analysis. =/\=

There was a sort of snorting, huffing sound through the line. She could tell it was Beck, but she couldn't tell if he was annoyed or impressed. But before long his voice finally sang out amid the dust and blood and stale, heavy vacuum around them.

Beck: =/\= Sickbay to away team. I've got the arm. Could you do me a favor with future corpses and try to send at least a little more next time around? Not giving me much to work with here. =/\=

Kirsty looked around at the floating house of horrors around them. How could she even explain something like this? Instead she decided her own aloofness was called for.

Carpenter: =/\= We'll, uh...keep that in mind, Doc...=/\=

The green arm disappeared from between the Vulcan's hands in a sparkling display. Leaving them only with...whatever remained. Which absolutely was not as whole and largely blemish free as the weapon-holding limb...it was...a tremendously odd feeling that Kirsty also couldn't articulate, but Doc Beck's voice refocused her away from the existential terror of standing in a cold pot of people soup.

Beck: =/\= Kirsty, I had the transporter tech start scanning the database for whatever this weapon is - I was planning to call in one of your Security folks to check it out, too, and secure it, just in case. Any suggestions who I should ask for specifically? =/\=

Kirsty considered, appreciating Alieth's silent support in her decision.

Carpenter: =/\=Solana is on duty, Breeze is too. If one of them can't pin it down, try running it through Sec-Net. I'll give ya my authorization if it comes to it...=/\=

Away Team: =/\= RESPONSE =/\=

Beck: =/\= Thanks. I'll reach out to them once I'm done examining this arm. Sickbay out. =/\=

As the line cut, XO Alieth turned toward them once more with directed power, snapping up Tucker's tricorder and reconsulting the readings.

Alieth: We need to hurry to engineering, to figure out why these things were here and what they did with the freighter and the rest of the crew, the Ronin will let us know WHAT they are.

They started forward, but were stopped by more insistent proximity bleeps from both Tuck's display and Kirsty's. The readings were starting to move now. And damn fast too. 

Tucker:Sirs, I’m reading two bogeys behind door number two. From what I’ve observed, I highly doubt that the door will hold them back for too long.

Tucker switched his grip from the scanning to his sidearm. Kirsty appreciated not having to impress upon him the wisdom of that move.

oO Speaking of...Oo

Carpenter: We need to move. Now. 

As if to emphasize the point, more heavy bangs and groans started to cascade their way through the corridor. She returned to her two-handed grip on the phaser, anxious for Tucker or Alieth to provide her some direction as she clomped her body between her team and the noises. 

Thankfully, and almost instinctively, her faith in the crew was rewarded as Tucker's voice sang out from behind her.

Tucker: XO, the corridor splits at the door. Left is the way to engineering. The problem is that we have two bogeys banging on that door, and I’d rather not be around when it’s opened if it’s all the same to either of you.

Alieth: RESPONSE

Carpenter: No alternate route?

Tucker: RESPONSE

Carpenter: Of course, that would have been easy, wouldn't it?

Adrenaline and pressure coursed through her blood and a...slightly reckless idea occurred to her. One that had worked for her in the past, but they would have to be fast. All of them. And they couldn't look back or try and fight (which was Kirsty's problem with it). If they did that, they were just as dead as the slavers that floated around them.

 

XO Alieth seemed to clock Kirsty's obvious calculus on her face. She stood straighter, trying to gather the words in her head. And trying even hard to block out the insistent banging on the outer corridor doorway toward their objective.

 

Alieth: RESPONSE

 

Carpenter: I think we...unlock the door.

 

Tucker: RESPONSE

 

Carpenter: Think about it. They are already hitting the door. With what seems like some force too. So, we unbar the door, quietly as we can, as quick as we can. Then the next time they hit it...they barrel on through like morons and then we slip past them. Re-bar the door. Beeline toward the Engine Room.

 

There was a moment where she was sure they were both going to tell her she was nuts. But the more she worked over the problem and started to time the oddly rhythmic and continuous hammerings against the doorway, she literally could think of no other way around other than through.

 

They could spacewalk around the exterior of the ship from the giant hole in the hold beyond, sure. But that would take too much time. And they couldn't double back toward Bravo Team. If they didn't restore the power, Bravo wouldn't be able to pull the records and sensor logs from the initial attack. No way around. No way under. 

 

The only way was through. Kirsty was prepared for it. And she had the sneaking suspicion her teammates were too. Especially since they started to "stack" neatly across the open side of the doorway, ready and waiting to scurry through even as the metal and rivets of the door started to groan and strain even further.

 

Kirsty got as close to the door as she would dare. Unlocking one boot and keeping her free hand on the trigger of her maneuvering thruster. She frowned deeply, suddenly realizing that she would have to reholster her weapon in order to make this work, but she did it quickly and didn't allow herself to hem and haw about it. The hits were coming in five to seven second intervals. She would have far less to unlatch the rudimentary mechanism and jet herself out of the way so she could get in behind her team and pull back the door once more. 

 

However, Kirsty wasn't allowing herself to think about it. She was simply rehearsing the moves in her mind. Hit the latch, trigger the boost. Re engage the mags and then run like high holy hell. Grabbing the door would be easy. It was a great hulk of a thing, she wouldn't have much problem pulling it closed...

 

Keeping it that way, though...that might be a different story. But that was enough preamble. Alieth and Tucker were set. The bangs were about to start a new cycle. It was now or never. At the last beat, Kirsty grasped the heavy locking lever across the door, she twisted, and even before she could finish a full revolution, two more of the Robot Things, one almost scorched completely black by presumably high heat and the other bearing heavy grooving cuts across it's chest and arms came busting through the door. Almost bowling over Kirsty entirely in the door's heavy swinging wake.

 

But something told her to trigger her boost early, which she thankfully listened to. Spurting madly to the left and then KA-CHUNKING down heavily as she remagnitized her boots and scrambled madly toward the door. The Robot Things, like she had predicted, spilled wildly and akimbo into the corridor beyond them. But they wouldn't be slapsticking for long. Kirsty almost shoved her team through the doorway.

 

Carpenter: GO GO GO.

 

As they cleared the portal, Kirsty whirled backward, looping her arm tightly across the hatch's inner locking wheel and pulling mightily with her other hand as if she was exercising for her life. The Robot Thing, the charred one that was, whipped around, boring lifeless, but scarily articulate eyes toward her. Once more, the vocal circuits seemed to be blackened along with the rest of them, but croaking protestations about "Post-Directives" and "Secondary Targets" seemed to blat from the "head" of the Thing.

 

But Kirsty clamped the door shut on their babbling, locking it tightly in turn and not allowing herself to breath until the door was secure. Though now they had an entirely new problem of being clamped in the aft section, but at least they were closer to their goal.

 

She gestured forward, giving her team a wan smile as the Robot Things beat the door at her back.

 

Carpenter: After y'all...

 

Alieth/Tucker: RESPONSE

 

But something else followed the intrepid team, something Kirsty missed amid the chaos of the scopes and the pitched rope-a-dope that would keep them safe for a few more minutes as they continued toward their goal.

 

A single life sign...one that was following so close to Kirsty and her team, it seemed to join their vitals as one. It was waiting. Biding its time. Once they got to the Engine Room, it would likely make themselves known. They had made its space unsafe once more...

 

And would have to pay a dire price for their discoveries and desecrations...

--

TAG/TBC

--

Lieutenant Commander 

Kirsty L. Carpenter

//\\

Chief of Security & Tactical

Starfleet SAR

(Marine Rank: Major)

//\\

U.S.S. RONIN

 NCC-34523

ID: E239512QC0

//\\

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