Author's Note:
Thank you to Meianou, Kim, Shi shi, Lt. Spooky, Chianna, Suzanne, Braycat and Sethos for the kind reviews of chapter one. Here's chapter two for you guys, but I doubt it will do much to relieve the suspense. Me evil, yes?
We All Know The Risks
By Bittersweet
"Get that damn gravity back online!" Trip shouted to one of his subordinates.
"I'm trying, sir, the controls are not responding!"
"I'm loosing power to the warp core!" shouted another voice.
Trip, who was still clinging to a railing in the zero gravity, swung around in shock and nearly kicked a crewman in the face.
"What?"
"The warp core – it's shutting down, but the impulse engines are nearing maximum power capacity."
"Reroute the power then!"
"I can't!"
"You should be able to!"
"Tell that to the damn computer! Sir!"
"I've got gravity back on line," called the first crewman, "initialising now!"
Trip cursed as he slammed bodily into the deck, and scrambled to his feet, over to the control panel for the warp core. Sure enough, the engines were loosing power rapidly, and the impulse drive was near overload.
"Trip to Archer!" he called out, as he worked.
"Archer here – I take it the gravity's back online?"
"Just checkin'. Trip out."
He frowned in confusion as he board lit up. The systems all over the ship were going haywire. The engineering crew erupted into greater chaos than before, as they scrambled over each other to get to their stations. It seemed like their wasn't a system on board that wasn't going crazy. Trip straightened up as someone called his name, but it was impossible to filter out the individual voices, even amongst such a small crew. It seemed like everyone was shouting at once.
"…get the damn thing under control…"
"…re-rout the power through the internal relay system…"
"…careful or you'll blow out the lighting on all decks!"
An alert cut through the noise, and Trip spun around, trying to locate the source of the latest emergency. He froze in shock, but quickly shook himself out of it.
"Everybody out of engineering, now!" he hollered out, "we got a breach in containment and we're gonna flood the ship with radiation if we don't seal off engineering. Now move!"
Quickly, the crew abandoned their posts. They were loyal, but they weren't stupid or suicidal. They headed for the exits, as Trip began to punch in the commands to seal off engineering.
"Sir!" shouted the last crewman, as he headed for the exit, "the doors!"
"What the…?" Trip exclaimed, as he leapt from his post.
The doors, which should have been on a short timer delay to allow him to escape, were already beginning to close. The crewman just managed to scramble through them before they slammed shut and locked tight, and Trip stopped in horror, his hands pressed against the cold metal surface of the door. He was trapped. He was going to die.
Reed slowly entered shuttle pod bay two on the lower level, phase pistol held out in front of him, as the security team of four spread out behind him. He gestured for three of them to take a look around the bay, as he and the third man made their way up to the balcony level.
"There!" cried a voice.
Reed spun around, and the voice cried out again, a wordless exclamation of shock, and there was a distinctive sound of a body hitting the deck. Reed shot back down the stairs again, crewman in tow, as the other two emerged – one from within the shuttle and the other from behind it. The crewman was lying on the deck, apparently unconscious.
"Take him to sickbay," Reed ordered, in a whisper, as his eyes darted around the shuttle bay.
One of the other crewmen nodded a quick; "yes sir," and picked up his companion, lifting him over his shoulder and carrying him out.
The remaining two crewman and Reed began to move around the bay again, this time keeping in a close formation. Reed was already berating himself for not keeping the team in eye contact with each other. He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and swung around, phase pistol snapping around and locking on target before he'd even registered what it was. A tendril of bright orange light vanished into the bulkhead on the opposite side of the bay.
"What the…?"
A loud siren suddenly cut through Reed's exclamation, making them jump.
"Sir! That's a decompression alert!"
"Let's move!"
The two crewmen turned and headed quickly for the exit, and Reed followed them. He could have sworn there was nothing but flat deck plates, but, all of a sudden, it felt like the floor shifted upwards slightly, and he tripped over something, slamming to the deck. The two crewmen turned to help him.
"Move!" Reed snapped, seeing that the door was already beginning to close, as a loud whistling signalled the air beginning to rush out of the cargo bay.
The crewmen ran, skidding through the door, as Reed pushed himself to his feet and sprinted for the door. He swore loudly as the door snapped closed, and his fists impacted with the metal. Now, there was no hope of survival.
A voice drifted through engineering and the shuttle bay. It was heard only by two people, and no one else – that was its intention.
"Not yet. Too much promise your species has to wipe out…we shall see."
They both knew they were dying, but there was something else. A tingling, fading sensation…and they were no more.
Thank you to Meianou, Kim, Shi shi, Lt. Spooky, Chianna, Suzanne, Braycat and Sethos for the kind reviews of chapter one. Here's chapter two for you guys, but I doubt it will do much to relieve the suspense. Me evil, yes?
We All Know The Risks
By Bittersweet
"Get that damn gravity back online!" Trip shouted to one of his subordinates.
"I'm trying, sir, the controls are not responding!"
"I'm loosing power to the warp core!" shouted another voice.
Trip, who was still clinging to a railing in the zero gravity, swung around in shock and nearly kicked a crewman in the face.
"What?"
"The warp core – it's shutting down, but the impulse engines are nearing maximum power capacity."
"Reroute the power then!"
"I can't!"
"You should be able to!"
"Tell that to the damn computer! Sir!"
"I've got gravity back on line," called the first crewman, "initialising now!"
Trip cursed as he slammed bodily into the deck, and scrambled to his feet, over to the control panel for the warp core. Sure enough, the engines were loosing power rapidly, and the impulse drive was near overload.
"Trip to Archer!" he called out, as he worked.
"Archer here – I take it the gravity's back online?"
"Just checkin'. Trip out."
He frowned in confusion as he board lit up. The systems all over the ship were going haywire. The engineering crew erupted into greater chaos than before, as they scrambled over each other to get to their stations. It seemed like their wasn't a system on board that wasn't going crazy. Trip straightened up as someone called his name, but it was impossible to filter out the individual voices, even amongst such a small crew. It seemed like everyone was shouting at once.
"…get the damn thing under control…"
"…re-rout the power through the internal relay system…"
"…careful or you'll blow out the lighting on all decks!"
An alert cut through the noise, and Trip spun around, trying to locate the source of the latest emergency. He froze in shock, but quickly shook himself out of it.
"Everybody out of engineering, now!" he hollered out, "we got a breach in containment and we're gonna flood the ship with radiation if we don't seal off engineering. Now move!"
Quickly, the crew abandoned their posts. They were loyal, but they weren't stupid or suicidal. They headed for the exits, as Trip began to punch in the commands to seal off engineering.
"Sir!" shouted the last crewman, as he headed for the exit, "the doors!"
"What the…?" Trip exclaimed, as he leapt from his post.
The doors, which should have been on a short timer delay to allow him to escape, were already beginning to close. The crewman just managed to scramble through them before they slammed shut and locked tight, and Trip stopped in horror, his hands pressed against the cold metal surface of the door. He was trapped. He was going to die.
Reed slowly entered shuttle pod bay two on the lower level, phase pistol held out in front of him, as the security team of four spread out behind him. He gestured for three of them to take a look around the bay, as he and the third man made their way up to the balcony level.
"There!" cried a voice.
Reed spun around, and the voice cried out again, a wordless exclamation of shock, and there was a distinctive sound of a body hitting the deck. Reed shot back down the stairs again, crewman in tow, as the other two emerged – one from within the shuttle and the other from behind it. The crewman was lying on the deck, apparently unconscious.
"Take him to sickbay," Reed ordered, in a whisper, as his eyes darted around the shuttle bay.
One of the other crewmen nodded a quick; "yes sir," and picked up his companion, lifting him over his shoulder and carrying him out.
The remaining two crewman and Reed began to move around the bay again, this time keeping in a close formation. Reed was already berating himself for not keeping the team in eye contact with each other. He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and swung around, phase pistol snapping around and locking on target before he'd even registered what it was. A tendril of bright orange light vanished into the bulkhead on the opposite side of the bay.
"What the…?"
A loud siren suddenly cut through Reed's exclamation, making them jump.
"Sir! That's a decompression alert!"
"Let's move!"
The two crewmen turned and headed quickly for the exit, and Reed followed them. He could have sworn there was nothing but flat deck plates, but, all of a sudden, it felt like the floor shifted upwards slightly, and he tripped over something, slamming to the deck. The two crewmen turned to help him.
"Move!" Reed snapped, seeing that the door was already beginning to close, as a loud whistling signalled the air beginning to rush out of the cargo bay.
The crewmen ran, skidding through the door, as Reed pushed himself to his feet and sprinted for the door. He swore loudly as the door snapped closed, and his fists impacted with the metal. Now, there was no hope of survival.
A voice drifted through engineering and the shuttle bay. It was heard only by two people, and no one else – that was its intention.
"Not yet. Too much promise your species has to wipe out…we shall see."
They both knew they were dying, but there was something else. A tingling, fading sensation…and they were no more.