[Columbia] What Happens in Engineering Stays in Engineering

Posted on Fri Sep 28th, 2012 @ 12:52pm by Commander Raven Adams & Colonel Wilhelm Baron von Hackleberg
Edited on on Fri Sep 28th, 2012 @ 12:54pm

1,064 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Enemy Within: Typhon is Missing!
Location: Tiberius IV

ON

Kara stopped outside the door to the Columbia's Engineering room and looked at the others. "Ready to go in? I'll go first, to make sure the way is clear. The rest of you follow. Got it?"

"I'd say I should help, but I didn't dress for that party." Daniels said, with a shrug. "Good luck."

Kara looked at Daniels for a moment, then shook her head.

Maria nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be." So far, she wasn't sure what to make of this group. She'd barely been on the Calypso three weeks, and hadn't really met anyone who wasn't on the Von Braun or Torchwood with her.

Kara opened the door and walked in, looking around quickly and carefully.

Doc braced himself for the worst and hoped for the best

The door opened and they found...nothing. The warp core was cold. Engines were offline and there was no one around.

“Great… anyone feel sense of impending doom?” Doc said sarcastically.

Just then a shriek let out from one side of Engineering "LET ME GO!! LET ME GO BACK IN THERE!!" a female voice said to one of the security personnel as he pulled her out of a storage room.

Maria ran over to her. "What's the matter? Why do you want to go back in there?"

Kara slipped past the hysterical woman and quickly searched the room. "Nothing there but storage," she reported a minute later.

Maria signaled to Renfroe to come take care of the woman. "Something's scared her pretty badly."

Kara took up a position just inside the doors, rifle ready. If anything wanted to jump out at them, she'd be ready.

Renfroe arrived tricorder at the ready. “Calm down, you’re safe now," he said in is his southern drawl. He examined the readings: blood pressures 180 over 93, pulse 165, respiration rapid and shallow at 100 breaths a minute. “Whatever she saw kicked her endochromatic nervous system into overdrive," hee said as he pulled a hypo of nor-epinephrine to start bringing her vitals back down to the normal range. “She should be fine in a few minutes. Once she’s stable I recommend we transport her directly to sickbay and let the doctor do a full workup.” Renfroe said matter of factly in his deep southern drawl.

"LET ME GO!! They overran the crew! They'll take you too!" The Crewman shrieked, "We need to get out of here!" she yelled hysterically.

“Who overran the crew, who did this?” Renfroe asked slowing pulling a hypo with sedative out of his kit. He continued to monitor her vitals the nor-epinephrine was having an effect but much more slowly than normal.

"Bugs....Hundreds of football sized bugs with a bunch of legs and a long whippy tail..." she said with dread in her voice and shivering at the memory.

“Ok we’re here to help we’re going to take you where the bugs can’t get you but I need you calm down so I can accurate reading of your vitals. Ok?” Renfroe said reassuringly, the sedative still in his hand behind his back.

The Crewman sagged in defeat and started crying, but not hysterically.

"Bugs?" Kara echoed. She turned to Cam. "Have you seen any sign of bugs?"

Cameron shook his head, walking over from the doors to engineering to join the group, "I haven't seen anything that would say that any form of bugs have been here, and if they were here, where are the bodies? surely the crew would have fought back"

Maria sat down at a computer console and began to look for any indication that the ship had a bug problem. Was this what brought down the Columbia? Bugs? Or were the bugs here in the sand somehow? She wasn't sure she liked either option.

“Great and I forgot my bug spray.” Renfroe replied as he continued to monitor the crewman. The nor-epinephrine was now working at peace he had expected from the start the crew stable enough for transport in a few moments.

Maria turned to the engineer. "What sort of bugs were they? What did they do?"

The engineer looked up from her sobs, "No species that I've ever seen, but then again I dispise spiders. They swarmed over every surface and then jumped at the crew's faces and latched on. I just found the nearest thick walled storage locker and locked it behind me. The crew was fighting back but people were shouting their phasers had no effect. Then came the horrible screams through the walls..."

Maria'd never heard of a creature like that before. "Were they on the ship, or did they come on board when you crashed?" If the bugs were here, she'd have to alert the other away teams and the Calypso.

"They only appeared after we crashed sir." The crewman said.

“Well I guess that’s good news, but why is every new species we find tries to kill us?” Renfroe muttered under breath

Maria couldn't help but grin at Renfroe's obvious irritation. "That's what we're going to find out."

Kara tapped her combadge. "Melo to the Calypso. We have a potential situation down here."

A moment later, Commodore York replied. "Staff Sergeant, this is Commodore York. What sort of situation?"

"Bugs, ma'am. Football-sized. Spider-like. They attacked the crew. We have a survivor who locked herself in a storage room."

"Where's Captain Raine?" And why wasn't he the one making the report, Sam wondered.

"He's looking for signs of bugs, ma'am."

"Look for any sign of these bugs. If they're responsible for the missing crew, we need to know. And find out where they came from. I suggest you check sickbay. If anyone was injured by these bugs, there'd be a record there." She would need to inform the team in the caves as well. The bugs had to come from teh sand or the caves. Either way, this didn't look good. "Have Colonel Raine contact me the minute you find anything. York out."

Kara turned to Renfroe. "Get her ready to beam to the ship. Looks like we're heading to sickbay."

OFF

Staff Sergeant Kara Melo
Alpha Platoon Leader
USS Calypso

Ensign Maria Delgado
Science Officer
USS Calypso

Petty Officer Second Class Samuel "Doc" Renfroe
Medic
USS Calypso

Columbia Engineer
NPC
Starbase Typhon

Master Sergeant Cameron "Cam" Bourne
Delta Platoon Leader
USS Calypso

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