The Other Side (Part 3 of 6) [18+]

Posted on 30 Mar 2023 @ 6:35pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Ensign Amanda Turell & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen
Edited on on 30 Mar 2023 @ 6:38pm

3,186 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Cold Station 31 - Level 3
Timeline: MD 10, 0925 hrs

Previously, on The Other Side (Part 2)...

Again Allyndra was standing on the burning and falling sky ship. The flames licked the wood and up the masts the sails already sheets of flame. The ship was listing as well and she could not maintain her balance.

She tried to fly, to escape the ship and grab her husband but her wings refused to work properly. She hopped trying to get closer to him, trying to make it when with a crack one of the masts with the sheets on fire came down on top of him. Flame leapt and pieces of burning cloth flew every where. Bits begin to catch her clothing on fire and she screamed as her dress begin to catch fire and her skin blistered along with it.

She crashed back to the deck writhing in agony and went to scream again but only fire was the only thing her lungs could suck in.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

"Commander." Amanda called out too late to stop one of the hands grabbing Allyndra, she moved into a position close enough that even with a busted arm she could get a good shot at it. Pulling the trigger her rifle made a click but nothing happened. "Come on baby, don't quit on me now." She said with mild anger; her rifle had never failed her before. Making some quick adjustments she fired again, a bolt flashed out from the muzzle striking the hand at the wrist.

The pulse of phased energy impacted the necromatic-like appendage and disintegrated several inches of bone and ligament. But even partially-severed, the hand continued to embed itself deeper into the Akkadian's torso. Its mangled fingers had now sunk knuckle-deep into the Starfleet commander, quickly become one with her biology.

Donald ran towards the open hatchway, as he passed Sofie he saw her begin to topple over then saw why. One of the hands gripping her around her ankle, "I got you Ensign." He said stopping his own run to grab hold of her and keep her upright.

Still muttering something inaudible to herself, the ensign was unresponsive in Donald's arms. Eyes locked somewhere far off she didn't seem to register the engineer's presence or really anything of her surroundings. She was lost in another world and as the hand at her ankle dug in further she continued to float away.

Her breathing had gone shallow as in her mind, her lungs and air sacs could only suck in searing flame.

Blake's jaw tightened, the eyes of the usually calm and collected woman shining, the glint of anger undeniable. She turned her phaser at seeing the lackluster results of the phaser blasts, using the butt to slam into what remained of the arm grabbing Allyndra. She let out a rasping sound of effort with how hard she smashed at it, again and again, unrelenting in the force of the attack.

For a moment there was a bit of lucidity. Allyndra screamed out, "Burn it out, cut it out! I will heal!"

Darius' heart was rapidly throbbing in his chest while anxiety-fueled perspiration beads dripped down his forehead. The chaos unfolding around them seemed supernatural in nature - an impossible version of reality manifesting. If they weren't dead, then what was happening? He had precious little time to contemplate the unknown. Warraquim's cries for help snapped him into action and he ran up next to the first officer then quickly tapped his hand phaser's power setting button to calibrate the weapon to its highest non-lethal discharge.

"Stand back!" he yelled to Blake, then aimed the weapon at the hand in doctor's shoulder and fired. The orange phaser beam struck the necrotic hand and Lamar kept the trigger depressed for several long seconds. Intense phaser energy began to deform the morbid flesh into a malleable substance. A morbid squeal of anguish seemed to emanate from the appendage as if it possessed a consciousness of its own. Its digits squirmed and slowly retracted from the Akkadian's body as they proceeded to be incinerated by the phaser's energy.

Blake yanked her poloneck off in one, swift movement, wrapping it around her hand in hopes of it giving some kind of barrier from whatever the hell it was. "Andrews!" she shouted over the chaos. "Highest stun setting, keep it going!" She grimaced as she grabbed what was left of the hand, easing it out of from the doctor's flesh until it dropped on the floor. She stamped on it out of sheer instinct, getting hold of Allyndra to ease her down onto the ground. "Easy...got you now..." she dragged the medkit over, taking the tricoder to scan her.

The burning ship and burning flesh disappeared and Allyndra was back to the station. "By The Twins!" She managed to get out before her body reminded her she really was hurt.

Hearing Commander Blake shouting his name Donald looked at her and heard her instructions. Drawing his phaser he quickly set it to heavy stun and practically put the beam emitter into the flesh of the hand and fired keeping the trigger depressed until it began to have an effect, the flesh melting off of the hand. As the unnatural life in the hand seemed to die he kicked at the remains trying to extricate them from the Ensign without touching them.

The voice of the flayed man was still echoing in her head as Ensign Ullswater started to regain consciousness. She could still feel the heat in her lungs and hear the crackling of the fire, but both were fading quickly, just memories of a dream. "I don't—" she repeated again, trying to muddle out something but only those two words would come. She scrunched her eyes shut and tried to wake up somewhere else.

"We need to move Commander, there are more coming." Amanda called out as she fired her phaser rifle set to wide beam as she could barely aim it down the corridor.

Blake glanced up to see for herself, her jaw tightening at the impending doom. "Hold them back as long as you can," she called back, pressing a pain killer to Allyndra's neck before waving Karras over to help. "We need to stabilise Warraquim and Ullswater!"

The corridor's ambient lights started to flicker in the section ahead of the away team. Momentarily at first, then becoming more and more rapid until they finally went offline. A long, crying groan from an unworldly creature pierced the air -- seemingly from within the new shadows. The sound of footsteps echoed off the deck plating, each one becoming incrementally louder as it approached.

Vansen moved to Ullswater side, looking at Blake for a moment. "I can carry her," he suddenly said. He knew he could. Maybe not for long, but the hypo he had used earlier had helped. Warraquim might be the lightest of the two, but Vansen was too worried about the unknowns of her species to risk carrying her.

"Let me take her, get back in the tube and I'll pass her through." Donald said, Constantin could take her but he'd have a easier time.

Vansen looked at Donald, with some worry. More because that meant he was left with Warraquim. He shook himself out of it, giving a weak nod, the movement reminding him of the drying blood in his hair and back of his neck.

Amanda sent another couple of wide beam blasts down the corridor, the blasts melting flesh from bone of the hands encroaching on the position. "Commander, something big is coming." She called out before her rifle flashed an alert; her power cell was almost drained. "Someone cover me."

"Move! Move!" Allyndra shouted the pain obvious in her voice. "We have to get out of here! Here only a hand weapon but use mine!" She tapped the phaser hanging off her belt.

"Keep it doc, just need to reload." Amanda said as she quickly dropped to a knee and glad that she had practiced doing it with one arm behind her back quickly disassembled her rifle enough to slip the almost empty power cell out and slip a new one in. "Back up."

Blake's jaw tightened as she glanced between Warraquim and Ullswater. She held back a curse, nodding shortly. "Fall back to the Jefferies tube!" she grabbed her rifle as she got back to her feet. "Vansen with Ullswater, Andrews with Warraquim, Darius take point, Turell cover our flank...let's move!"

Shit! exclaimed the conn officer to himself. The sounds of Turell's phaser firing and the loud orders of both commanders indicated the situation was turning dire. Lamar looked forward to where the security officer was holding her position then back behind them to where the XO had instructed them to move. Neither were great options, but they certainly couldn't stay where they were. "Taking point," he confirmed back to Blake, then ran to the rear of the group and readied his hand phaser. "Let's go!" The closest Jefferies tube he remembered seeing was back near the doors to main engineering. He trained his hand phaser and flashlight in front of him then started moving with methodical precision.

Lamar jogged to the sealed Jefferies tube hatch then stopped, holstered his phaser. Using both hands, he opened the small control panel on the bulkhead and pulled the emergency release lever then turned back to the rest of the team behind him. "Follow me, I'll clear the--" The Jefferies tube door hissed open and suddenly a swarm of decrepit appendages reached out from within. Multiple mangled, blood-soaked hands grabbed Darius by the back of his uniform and swiftly started to pull him inside the maintenance shaft. "--Ahhh!" he cried out, flailing his arms and legs with futility as he was dragged inside.

"No!" Allyndra shouted. She watched as Darius disappeared. "Somebody close that hatch! Right now!" She hated to give that command, but it was obvious that way was compromised. She swiveled her head around. "Options? The turbolift?"

"Leave that hatch open...Turell! With me!" Blake called across to the security officer, not willing to give up on Darius as easily. She was firing, wide beam blasts at the creatures, expecting Turell to join her, refusing to close the hatch on a member of the crew. "Vansen, try the lift!"

Vansen moved to the turbolift, taking a breath as he tried it. The doors did not respond and he swore, opening his bag to pull out a tool he used to force the panel open. "Come on, darling...you got to work with me now..." he muttered to himself, his fingers quickly trying to manually change the commands.

"Come on Constantin, get the door open." Donald said over the sharp sounds of the phaser fire trying to keep the hands away from him, Constantin and Sofie.

The whole situation was a mess Allyndra decided. How were these things even operating? She didn't believe in magic, something else had to be at work. "Musculature needed innervation" The thought popped in her head. See if a nerve inhibitor would work. Pulling a hypo from the kit she set it and turned and ran toward Darius' struggle stabbing at one of the appendages dragging him into the tube.

Vansen grinned as the turbolift doors opened, shaking his head. And it seemed operational. Well, seemed was the word that had the most stress on it. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and took a moment to get his voice under control. "Turbolift door's open! We should be able to use manual commands!"

"Get in and hold it!" Blake called back, cold focus on her features as she maintained her fire, pushing forward towards Lamar. "Turell, we're not leaving him behind..."

Allyndra could hear the turbolift might work, but right now she was trying to avoid the things pulling on Darius. As the hypo hissed the one appendage seemed to spasm and let go. It was not very long but it had worked. "I need help! Might be able to rescue Darius!"

"Hurry Commander. I doubt we can hold them much longer." Amanda called out after running to catch up to Blake firing as quickly as she could manage, her arm getting more and more painful as the engagement went on.

"Covering fire, Turell," Blake shouldered her rifle, taking a deep breath before pushing forward. She moved on instinct, using her hand phaser to try and cut her way through to the hatch. She leant forward, catching her breath as she reached for him. "Darius!"

Allyndra dialed up the hypo to the highest level of neurotoxin and looked like a mad woman as she stabbed anything clinging to Darius.

Through the entanglement of otherworldly appendages, Lamar's feet and legs reappeared. The combined efforts of the other away team members had created a brief opening to grab hold of him. "No! ...You won't take him!" his voice echoed from within the Jefferies tube. "Nooo!!" His legs flailed frantically again as he started to kick and swipe at the remaining offenders clinging to him.

"We've got you," Blake got out as she clung to his arm, but he was an almighty weight with his athletic physique and the effort was both real and apparent as she had to use her own body weight to help haul him up.

"Ahhh! Get off me!!" he yelled as he was painstaking torn away from the hellish nightmare he was experiencing. "You won't take him!" he repeated before physically lashing out at the Starfleet officers attempting to save him. With his arms and hands finally free, he closed his right fist then swung it at the nearest person's head. Hard.

Thankfully, Allyndra thought to herself as she just managed to avoid the powerful swing is compound eyes are very sensitive to movement. She dialed down the hypo and pressed into Darius arm. That should numb for a short amount of time any more strikes on that side.

The nerve inhibitor in the hypospray quickly took effect following the soft hiss of its deployment. Darius once again tried to swing at the winged woman; however, this time his arm loosely flopped against his side in a futile attempt. He outwardly appeared enraged yet it was the result of fear and anxiety receptors in his brain firing at maximum capacity. "I'll kill you all! ...I won't go back!"

"Come on!" Vansen shouted from where he was braced against the doors of the turbolift. He could heard Lamar shouting, but from this angle he couldn't see anything. And truth be told, he wasn't sure he wanted to. He swallowed, tasting something metallic and wasn't sure if it was fear, or there was a radiation leak somewhere. He hoped for fear.

Blake didn't need to be told twice. She motioned to Turrell to fall back to the lift before grabbing hold of one side of the muscular pilot, letting Allyndra take the other side, moving as fast as she could to get them to the lift...and refused to look back.

Though she was not in great shape herself, once she felt Commander Blake shift Darius' weight and begin to move, she grasped the other arm and did her best to help. There were still a few things hanging on, but they could take care of them later. Instead she focused on the turbolift as if it was a welcoming updraft from a dangerous plunge from the heights. "We can do this, we can do this!" It became a mantra.

From the turbolifts doorway Donald helped Vansen provide cover fire to the rest of the group as they made their way towards them.

Together as a unit, the two Starfleet away teams managed to carry three of their incapacitated personnel toward the open turbolift doors. The escape was so close yet so far; marred by splatterings of fresh blood strewn across the walls and the supernatural cries of the appendages deforming through the bulkheads. Yet the cadre managed it. Slowly and methodically, the combined members of both teams dragged their wounded into the turbolift's cramped quarters then defended their new position.

The moment the last person was in, Vansen pushed the up button on the turbolift, ignoring the little spark going through his fingers at badly conducted wires. He was almost immune to those to be fair.

"So who had disembodied hands on their 'expect to find here' list?" Amanda joked before groaning hard, with the slight break in the combat her adrenaline dropped and the pain in her arm became even more painful. "Will someone get me another hypo."

"That I can do," Allyndra replied and reset the hypo. "We are going to run out of things though soon enough, let's hope we don't have another skirmish like that." She then turned her attention to Darius. There were still a few bits and pieces embedded. "I'm going to dig these out, as they hit, destroy them. Trust me, whatever they induce is a sheer mental torture." She got to work but her mind was wondering when the lift got to wherever what might be waiting.

"Soon as we get out and its safe enough to..." Amanda said pausing as she felt the painkillers coursing through her system. "everyone check their phaser power cell, if its below 50% change it, i bought spares."

Blake nodded, following the advice as she looked around the group. Now the adrenaline was starting to fade, the cold kicked in. She suppressed a shiver, checking her rifle. "Scan the samples we have, I want to know what the hell those things are."

Vansen looked at the others, pressed against the wall in the confined space. He reached for his pack, his fingers going over what was there. Enough to keep him going for a while. He took a deeper breath then exhaled, slowly, almost as if tasting the air. "We need to keep an eye on the CO2 levels," he suddenly said. "Won't matter if our phasers are charged or not if hypoxia gets us." Or hypothermia for that matter, but he didn't add that in.

"Excellent observation Vansen. Here I can pull up some trioxide to help each of us maximize what oxygen there is. Hopefully, this ride will not be overly long." She prepared the hypo. In her mind with all that had been going on she had all but forgotten the enclosed crowded space. Now that it had been mentioned, her phobia was starting to kick in and she couldn't take any calming breaths either.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Sofie Ullswater
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO3 Constantin Vansen
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

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