[Main Engineering, Temep`Shar ]
2nd Day in the month of re`T'Khutai, YS 9022
The tall, silent Vulcan woman standing next to her Companion had watched the Starfleet officers with unmoved features, merely offering a perfunctory nod towards the Captain. She knew what Sajel was warring with in his mind, and knew as well when he had reached his decision after 0.7 seconds. For one such as him, a long time to make up his mind, but when a brief flicker in his eyes sought her counsel, she merely tipped her head by a fraction of a millimeter.
Naturally, young Havor selected this very moment to hobble forward on his makeshift crutch, trailed by a wary V'Ket giving his Commander an apologetic glance. There was no containing this one's curiosity.
"Shiarrael t`Rehu." Even with his right leg ending right above where a knee had once been, and a scarred hand missing several joints clinging to warped metal, his bow was near flawless. "The Zhel-lan is ever concerned for our safety; however your efforts are appreciated. How may we assist?"
At a small wave of Sajel's hand, the other survivors moved into the light, and even the quietly concealed V'Ket chose to reveal their positions.
"Fifteen, Commander." The veteran with silver streaks in his hair addressed the human who had first stated his question, presumably security from his demeanor "Fifteen out of sixty-one." If he was exasperated by the young scientist's incautious behavior, Sajel gave no sign of it other than a glint in deep, dark eyes. He had not lost a single one of them since that fateful flight, and to do so now of all times would be …
"You brought an engineer, yes? In order to safely transport to another vessel, we will have to lower the shields and transmit our life signs in short order. Unfortunately, the endeavor will likely cause a number of overloads." Havor, as usual, seemed unperturbed. Delighted, if anything, to meet a host of interesting individuals. "I do apologize for the state of engineering, it was necessary for our survival to make extensive modifications."
It was an understatement for sure, whatever had not been cannibalized was jury-rigged in one way or another, and the entire assembly looked as if it were going to blow at a moment's notice.
With taciturn approval from their Commander, S'Kel proceeded to lead the man identifiable as physician towards the group of civilians, no worse for wear unless one counted V'Lin's festering arm wound and a general lack of sufficient food while T'Min proceeded towards the armored Marine, standing nearly a handspan taller than the Vulcan.
"Yes, it is here." She said calmly, gauging the young one's demeanor with unreadable eyes. "No other section of the ship is inhabitable any longer. And if the Sundered are near as you suspect, they will care little for crossfire, but transport right into our midst as soon as our shields are lowered."
She nodded towards the other V'Ket, retreating silently towards their positions in the shadows.
"You should have tried to destroy us while you could."
Havor quirked a brow at the woman in her terracotta uniform, but refrained from commenting. "It may still be possible … you do plan to destroy her after we leave… yes?" for a Vulcan he seemed positively saddened by the notion, but bowed to the logic of the situation. Using his crutch lightly, no more than to keep his balance, the young scientist inquisitively gazed at the small Rihanha in front of him.
"Not my call to make, besides I made a promise to try. And while you might be right, they can't transport into matter and not have their troopers suffer consequence. We should stack everyone together. Bring everything in as tight as we can then. Mine up any other areas that they might try to come in." Brent said as he put his men to work on tightening up their positions, making sure that everyone stayed close together. He then began to bark out orders to his men to bring debris over to the last stand point and to begin to make barricades.
Being reduced to the task of shepherding by a Starfleet Marine young enough to be her son twice over was certainly an all new experience, but T'Min took it with aplomb.
Seeing as they had already rounded up their civilian crew in the most defensible area, the tall woman simply gave a brief tilt of her head to indicate the other V'Ket should assemble. And so they did, cautiously and in at least two cases with near perfectly concealed reluctance. That left only young Havor who seemed too fascinated by their guests to bother with following any order whatsoever. Were she not a Vulcan, T'Min might have sighed.
Commander Marcus stepped up to the officer that had answered him. "Fifteen huh? Ok, we need to get you and your team off this ship as soon as possible. If you have anything you absolutely cannot leave behind; I'd suggest you get it now." he said as amicably as possible.
"What we require, we have on our persons, Commander." Sajel noted the human's attempt to be polite and acknowledged it with a barely noticeable nod. "Although our scientists will undoubtedly point out that the database should not be left behind under any circumstance. Not only the technical data, but the reading we have been able to take of the stellar nursery. With your permission and your chief engineer's assistance, would it be possible to initiate a databurst to your vessel simultaneously to lowering the shields?"
Dylan considered it for a moment. There was more to it than just their permission. "Captain, I have no objections security wise, provided I am present; perhaps with Commander Tyrax. I can have Alice isolate the data behind several firewalls until it can be deemed safe to access." He said. he did not mean to imply that the Vulcans would be willing to harm Charon, but it was his job to be suspicious of everything.
As they discussed strategy and the next tactical moves, Doctor King had pulled his medical tricorder from his medkit and had slowly moved towards the civilians in the chamber. Given their situation the results were not very surprising. "Excuse me," he said to the nearest one, a woman. "Your arm, it's infected." Reaching for his hypo he attempted to step closer to her. The state of these people, going on emaciated, was shocking, even for the Doctor.
"So it is, ohassu." V'Lin greeted the healer who stated the obvious in the usual way of his peers with an outright friendly tip of her head and held out the arm, deducing it would be his next request. Under the makeshift bandages, sickly rust and olive veins could be seen reaching outward like a web of poison spreading slowly and inevitably.
No time, no energy to induce a healing trance, no more medical supplies save for what they could improvise. And were it not for S'Kel and his resourcefulness, the small wound incurred in yet another console explosion might already have lead to the young scientist's untimely demise.
There had been moments when she had pondered whether such would not have been a logical solution – to have one less crewmember to waste valuable resources on, so they may be shared among those with better chances of survival. T'Min had forbidden it.
Kaiidth.
When the hypospray hissed and took away the pain that had become an ever present companion, the Vulcan in her flowing deep blue robes blinked. "Fascinating."
"Glad to help," the Doctor replied flatly. After returning the hypo to his kit, David returned his attention to the wound itself. Infection was rather self-explanatory: a lack of proper medical care and any wound could easily become like this one had. But the wound itself would also need to be cared for. Watching the readout on his tricorder he ran it across the wound for a moment as he asked, "How exactly did this happen? This should have been looked at long before now."
"An overload, ohassu." V'Lin did not wince when careful hands tugged at the bandage to subject the injury to a visual examination, but her eyes widened near imperceptibly. "Several splinters caused considerable lacerations, and our medical supplies were exhausted sixty-eight days ago. The wound was cleaned as best as possible under the circumstances, however it was obviously … insufficient." There was a silent 'ow' in the sentence, but the Vulcan held perfectly still to not inconvenience the determined healer.
With what qualified as gentle insistence on her part, T'Min had managed to lead young Havor back behind the barricades already taking shape while marines were milling about, setting charges in strategic locations. S'Kel, as usual, had not been able to restrain himself and was offering advice and a helping hand, while Sajel had taken it upon himself to guard the engineer who would be the only one unable to seek shelter while he had to operate the last fully lit console in the cavernous engineering section. Almost nonchalantly, the graying Vulcan had positioned himself at an ideal angle to cover the broad shouldered fleet officer with his own tall but horribly thin frame and his hand rested on the sidearm at his hip with what one could mistake for absentminded grace.
"Na'glat t'du – when you feel preparations are complete, we will proceed." Although she sounded as level as if she were offering the marine commander a cup of tea in her home, the tall willowy V'Ket heard a note of apprehension in her own voice. And to her utter astonishment she realized the human had heard it as well.
"A promise." A sharp gaze studied the young human, seeing for the first time something … familiar. "Mayhap you will tell me to whom, should we live."
The charges had been set to go off remotely from the EOD expert and Brent was satisfied that things were going well enough. The barricades would provide excellent cover for his men and the civilians behind them. Brent himself and another man would hold off in firing too much for a little while till they were certain that too many of the Romulans would not try to beam straight into them.
Brent caught the Vulcan woman staring at him before he padded one of his men on the shoulder as they knelt down to gain more cover. "When we get out of here I'll buy the first round. How does that sound?" he asked before he slipped his helmet over his head and locked it into place.
[To be continued …]
Chief Security Officer
Cmdr David King
Chief Medical Officer
Marine Commander
USS Charon
Sajel
V'Ket
& a host of assorted pointy ears
Temep`Shar
