The Other Side (Part 6 of 6)

Posted on 20 Apr 2023 @ 6:42pm by Commander Scarlet Blake & Lia Quil & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Ensign Amanda Turell & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen & Marcus Mulder
Edited on on 20 May 2023 @ 7:55am

4,056 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Cold Station 31 - Level 3
Timeline: MD 10, 2357 hrs

Previously, on The Other Side (Part 5)...

"Afraid we have to take them all," Mulder said, touching her arm for a moment. "I am sure they all have strengths that...can help." He looked around, carefully. "Your injuries...did it touch you? Did the dark touch you?"

Rafe slowly turned his head towards Mulder to his left as he slowly reached for his phaser with his right hand. "What in the world did you just say?!? Take?!? Just who do you think you are mister?!!" Rafe's eyes narrowed as he trained his phaser on Mulder while beginning to step back. His foot landed on some conduit which rolled out from under his foot and his right hand hit the banister as he tried to steady himself and his phaser went off, the beam hitting one of the support columns for the warp core.

Lia looked across to Marcus, and actually met his eyes for once. She arched an eyebrow, her lips pressed together. Superfluous she sent to him telepathically.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Blake's eyes narrowed with the noise the column made, the resonating metal ringing sound making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She was over to Rafe in a couple of strides, wrenching the phaser off him. She let out a tight breath as she saw the default stun setting that had been fired off, tilting her head as she looked down at him. "You could have just gotten us all killed," she yanked him up to his feet all the same, motioning Allyndra over. "Stay with him," anything could have happened to the pilot while he was stuck in this place.

Blake used the back of a bare arm to wipe her forehead. She wasn't sure how in such cold temperatures, but she could feel sweat on her brow. And she'd had just about enough of everyone's nonsense. "Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs to get their shit together," she said loudly and sharply, looking around the group, meeting each person's eyes as she spoke. "Everyone leaves together. The end. Anyone starts a fight, I will stun you myself and you leave being dragged by your ankles. Mulder, if you need Andrews and Vansen to help us get out of here, they're at your disposal. But to be clear, I don't give a damn about your experiment or what you were trying to do here, so I want to know exactly what the plan is before any work starts, understood?"

Mulder nodded, taking a deeper breath. "I think we have gathered all the data we need," he said jokingly, but it was more directed to Lia with a small smile. "Our best chance of getting out of here is to get the transporter running again. Unfortunately, we lack the...mechanical skills. Vansen and Andrews can help with that. Once we have it up and running, we...beam back. And hopefully to where we belong."

"Get us there and I'm sure we can get it running again provided it's not damaged any worse than everything else around here." Donald said.

Allyndra had listened to everything being said. She was still not sure if she exactly knew what had happened to the place, but it was moot as long as they could get away. "Where is the transporter? I'm sure between all of us we can figure out something to get it up and running. It wouldn't be the first time my surgical skills have been used to repair machinery rather than organics."

The XO's curt rebuke of the situation was a welcome change in the air for Darius. Someone had needed to say it. They were all losing their grip, even those who hadn't been...what did the egghead call it? 'Touched'? He sauntered over next to Caradec and spoke to the man in a low voice. Not that it made any difference in privacy. "Don't worry about it, L-T. We're all shaken up. Lost our second pilot in the Jefferies tubes trying to escape. Haven't seen him since. Funny coincidence we found you." Lamar poked the fellow red-collared man's arm with his fingertip in an awkward display. "You're real, right?"

Rafe looked over at Darius, obviously frustrated, "Yeah, I'm real! Sorry, not sorry for wanting to drop the weirdos I'm with. Rafe started separating himself from Lia and Mulder. "What did she mean by superfluous? And Mulder clearly said 'Take', right?!? He's got his hat on backwards if he thinks he's going to take me anywhere", Rafe said, looking at Mulder. If eyes could have been phasers, Mulder and Lia would have been dead already. Rafe felt the back of his neck as if massaging it or stretching, just below the collar. It was still there, in place, ready for use if need be.

"I don't know," was Darius' only answer accompanied by a frustrated head shake. Trust issues with the facility's scientists aside, the eggheads obviously possessed more knowledge of whatever form of phenomena they were all experiencing. He looked over his shoulder back to their own scientist. "What do you make of them, ensign?"

Ullswater glanced from Darius to the scientists and back. As she spoke she stayed quiet too, the fear that had been creeping into her as the conversation had played out clearly present in her tone of voice "They're going to kill us Darius. I can see the bloodthirst in their eyes." she shot a look in the direction of her other colleagues from Galileo, announcing her position "They were part of what happened here, and we're 'superfluous.' They say we shouldn't be afraid but I haven't seen a thing in this station that it wouldn't pay to be a little afraid of..." she turned her focus to the scientists, challenging them to contradict her "I don't see why they should be any different."

Rafe turned towards the commander. "Commander, may I have my phaser back? I promise not to shoot anyone that doesn't deserve it." In his mind, there were definitely two who deserved it at this point!

The blue-collared scientist's words hardened Lamar's resolve. They reinforced his perceptions of what was really happening despite the semi-formal diplomacy they were now engaging with. "Yeah...I don't trust them either." He glanced to Caradec who was asking for his weapon back. How convenient that someone would take it from him at such a perilous juncture. "XO, the lieutenant needs his weapon back...we all need weapons."

"You want me to give the weapon back to the man that nearly just blew us all up with it?" Blake looked to Darius with an expression that said 'are you bloody serious?'. "No. I'm not convinced you're entirely fit for duty at the moment, Lieutenant Caradec. You can have it back when I think you are, or if there's an emergency. Now, what we need, Chief, is to stay focussed on the task in hand."

"Ok, Commander. Or anything. I promise to not shoot anyone OR ANYTHING without provocation!" Rafe had had enough of this Commander already. She hasn't seen as much as he had. It felt like you were in a dark room, completely dark, and the walls were closing in around you, but you couldn't see it. But you could feel it. The air was so much closer, heavier. If someone didn't start showing some freaking leadership around here as far as actually DOING something towards getting out, then he was going to... Well, he didn't know what he was going to do.

Darius shifted his eyes between Ullswater and Caradec. "Look, we've seen them. Me and the ensign. We've been...there -- wherever this station went," he explained to the new junior lieutenant with solidarity. He dropped his voice to a whisper then pulled them in close. "The XO hasn't seen what we have. She doesn't know."

Only minutes ago Ullswater had been prepared for the end, prophesying the doom of the mission, but after what Blake had said, and now seeing she had an ally in Darius, she was finally coming to her senses. Something needed to be done. "None of the rest realise how bad it is going to be." She leaned in to the conspiratorial huddle and shuddered as another wave of imagined heat washed over her. Her words were urgent and pained. "Something might need to be done."

"We need to take the old one -- the egghead with the gray hair. I think he was in charge," whispered Darius. "He said something about transporters and falling into the darkness if we don't get it right. He knows more than he's telling us." Lamar rubbed his forehead with his knuckles. "We have to get back to the shuttles...I'm not going out like this."

Caradec nodded, looking at Mulder. He turned to Darius, "Neither am I, Lamar. Neither am I. I'll keep an eye on Mulder, I promise you. If he makes a wrong move, so much as twitches his nose in the wrong direction, he's toast, weapon or not."

"I can hear your murder thoughts," Lia said loudly from across the room, looking at the battered tricorder in her hand rather than the group, trying to get information up on it. "They're so loud. You're so loud. We've been here too long, you don't need to murder us. They'll take us all now, then none of us need to worry..." she tilted her head, looking up and then around, slowly, listening, feeling, rolling her shoulder awkwardly with the way the hairs on the back of her neck went up. "We've missed our chance, Mulder...he's here..."

Mulder's eyes widened and for a moment he actually looked genuinely scared. He took a gentle hold of her, taking a step back with her. "We have to get out of here," he said, in a hushed whisper to the people in the room. "We're out of time."

"Commander, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GIVE ME MY WEAPON!!!", Rafe yelled at her. He didn't care what she thought at this point. He could feel them closer. Call it a 6th sense or whatever. But with Mulder speaking forth the freaking Apocalypse, he was about to send the commander into dirt nap mode. Yet, just when he started to turn towards Darius for his weapon...

The lights flickered and a high pitched whine cut through the air like fingernails on a chalk board. The already cold room turned an icier shade of pale as a shadow lengthened against the far wall. A scraping, dragging noise echoed around them, but it was impossible to tell where it was coming from. Footsteps thundered around them until the considerable weight launched itself at the group.

It looked like a man, or what was left of one. His black hair was overgrown, adding to the wildness of the ripped clothes and savage scars and wounds across his skin. He had a long, curved rusted blade where his lower left arm used to be and he used it to slash at the part Vulcan science officer he'd thrown to the ground. He was up and gone before even he could tell if he'd wounded her, jumping and clambering up over the broken walkways above them, disappearing from sight.

"What the hell was that?" Donald said barely catching a glimpse of what the creature was that attacked one of the group.

Then the scuttling started. Lower to the ground, smallish...things that had once been living creatures, at least fifteen of them, now lumps of flesh, as if they'd been turned inside out. Somehow, they still managed to stagger at them, on stumps of bone and tissue, razor teeth surviving that started to grind and snap as they got close enough to legs and arms of the crew.

"Aahh crap, here we go again." Amanda pushed herself back up the wall to a standing position as the scuttling sound began and her targetter registered the group of disembodied limbs charging their way.

Pulling her phaser Allyndra fired at the things on the floor. "Well are you all simply going to stand there?" She tried to keep her voice in command but the emotion was still there. She tried her wings but again she couldn't do more than chicken hop. She wanted to chase after whatever had gone upward.

Successive short bursts of phaser fire rang out through the room. Darius stepped next to the doctor and joined her in the defensive barrage. Each entity his weapon impacted became momentarily stunned but then soon morphed its burnt fleshy shape to present a new, similar yet uncharred form. "Get to the shuttles!" he yelled.

Vansen looked over at the others, taking a deeper breath. He looked over at the two scientists, then Blake, then Andrews before he tightened his jaw. "Where is the transporter," he asked, his voice quiet. If they were in some sort of different reality, the shuttles might not be there. He felt an itch in the back of his neck, a heaviness, and reached for his bag, pulling a hypo out to press against his own neck, the world coming into sharp focus again. And the huge creature that seemed to be laughing at them.

"Two rooms down, one level up," Mulder said, looking at him. He flinched with each shot of the phaser, his foot kicking at one of the creatures that came closer, with clear disdain. "Commander, it's the best chance of getting out of here. Quil knows all, we just need to get the transporter up and running. They need to go now, get it started up...and you can get her and your people back to our world."

Blake nodded firmly, breathing hard as she fired at a lump of dripping flesh that was trying to snap at her leg. It was a hail Mary, but right now, any plan was better than running around in all nine circles of hell. "Mulder lead the way to the transporter! Team follow him out! Warraquim, Turell, take point...Darius, we'll bring up the rear. Move!"

Rafe ran his fingers through his hair and to the back of his head. With a startled look on his face he felt an appendage attached near the base of his skull. He pulled at it. "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh", Rafe exclaimed! It came loose with a ferocious tearing sound, with a slow trickle of blood flowing. He looked at what was in his hand. It looked like part of finger, up to the second digit. He threw it away from him as they started moving. He could feel his heart rate begin to normalize.

"Sorry, Commander", Rafe spoke evenly, even calmly, much less hurried and seemingly more coherent. "I didn't realize that thing was in my head." Rafe looked directly at Blake while grabbing her shoulder, "I'm with you, mam...all the way. My apologies for temporarily going insane."

Blake yanked his phaser free, tossing it in his direction. "This counts as an emergency..." she frowned, kicking at a set of teeth trying to sink into her knee, grimacing as her stomach turned with it. "Get moving!"

Rifle raised Amanda stacked up at the exit waiting for Mulder to get to her and lead the team out. "Which way we going doc?"

Mulder took a hold of Lia, looking over at the large Creature. He saw the smirk, taking a deeper breath. "Follow me," he said to them and started to run, knowing the layout. Around them, the walls seemed to pulse with life, something cold and dark that tugged at their senses. Behind him he heard the scrape of the weapon from the Creature. He opened a door leading to some stairs, turning and looking at the others. "Up there, second floor to the left."

Quickly flashing her light and sweeping her targeter up and down the shaft Amanda slung her rifle and somewhat painfully and much slower than she liked started to climb.

Right behind Turell, Ullswater was climbing the stairs as fast as she could, she didn't need anyone to tell her to run at this point. The moment the creatures had appeared she'd felt the heat again. Her throat became dry, her skin started to dry out and crack. Climbing these stairs was a battle against the pain of it all but her fear propelled her onward.

Vansen followed as well, looking over at Andrews. He climbed the stairs with a sense of dread, but able to see everything...cracks in the bulkhead, the individual seams...his own heart beat, his breath. He followed all the way into the room, which seemed like a lab...but he recognised the transporter pad. "Andrews, you start seeing about the wiring and if you can draw power in here. I'll do the checks, see if I can fit...more people in one transfer."

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Donald said as he caught up to the others, he saw the transporter and its operator console and quickly slipped down onto the deck beside it; toolkit landing with a thud. He opened the panel up and immediately saw a problem. “We’re missing a few chips.”

Mulder looked around the room, staying in the hallway. He gave Lia a small smile and a nod. "Make sure it is done right," he said, his voice surprisingly gentle. "I never did trust the techies."

Rafe quickly cleared the debris off of the transporter and then took station in the hallway with Mulder. While the back of his neck stung, he was still going to keep the old man under close surveillance as well as watch the corridor for the creatures. This was a moment in which he could not fail. His empty holster showed his resolve, the phaser in his hand, his breathing now normal and smooth...waiting.

Alongside Commander Blake at the stern of the formation, the chief warrant officer hastily followed the rest of the team up through the tight opening with consecutive steps on the vertical ladder. He closed the hatch behind them then set his phaser to an increased level and welded a portion of the seal closed. His teeth grit against each other while anxiety and trepidation threatened to overwhelm his sensibilities. "Last stand, XO?"

"Last? I don't know about you, Chief, but I have no intention of dying in the cold and dark like this," Blake assured, her rifle lifted, covering him as he secured their escape route. She glanced up at the sound of echoing movement above and around them, her breath catching as she glanced to Darius. "Let's get moving..."

Allyndra waited with the others wondering how it would take and how long they had. *And I'm supposed to keep the rest calm.* The thought went through her head. She had given herself a healing stimulant hoping between that and her natural regenerative abilities. Her wings would repair soon enough. She had noted she had gone from nothing to a chicken-style flutter hop. It would certainly help her own gathering fear of being enclosed.

Lia worked to hook her tricorder back up to the panel, sliding five chips into place. The hand of her arm free of a sling moved quickly, preparing the specialised routines and work arounds they'd developed through months of research on the project. It was a mess of subroutines, patches and work arounds to anyone who not familiar with the project, but for Lia and Mulder, it was a network of arteries that were as familiar as the freckles on the back of her hand.

Vansen looked over at Lia before back at what he was doing. "I got a flag on the Heisenberg Compensator. Ullswater, take over the diagnostic. Donald, I'll give you a hand, it looks like there's been a powersurge that's fried half of the components..." he moved onto the floor, kneeling, to see the open panel. He could already see, just from knowing how it should look, what wasn't right. Even so, he reached into his bag for his tricorder, to scan the Heisenberg compensator. The Energizer coils also looked dodgy, but he knew that an Engineer could sort that out quickly. He sighed and reached to do some repairs, shaking his head. "What happened here to mess you up so much, sweetheart..."

“They certainly messed it up good and proper.” Donald replied not taking his eyes off his work till he saw Lia slip several isolinear chips back into the panel. “That’s the chip problem solved, I need a length of ODN conduit, some A7 and J24 relays… and a hyperspanner, two would be better.”

"Err..." Vansen looked around before he scooted on his knees to pull out the emergency repair kit. "Okay, I got a hyperspanner, singular, got some relays...no A7, but the A7 is just an A2 with an extra bit...we don't need it to last longer than a few cycles..." he offered it over, looking at him. "I guess we make do, Donald...and hope."

Lia grabbed the side of the console as she felt the darkness approach, holding her breath as she instinctively half crouched behind the panel. "He's found us..." she warned, redoubling her efforts on the preparation.

There was a clash of metal as a panel fell from above and hit the deck. It was followed by the thud of boots as the long haired wildman jumped down. The team member of the classified project once known as Aguni swung the rusted blade that was now his arm, using it with a scrape of metal on metal to get enough leverage to launch forward, heading for the group of officers trying to get the transporter up and running.

Blake fired at the surprisingly fast assailant, her jaw clenching as he dove out of the way of the energy beam with uncanny timing and reflexes. It was enough to draw his attention though, and he turned to face the rest of the team instead, momentarily distracted from the team trying to fix the transporter. He clambered up the wall bounding along it with all fours, defying gravity as he gained speed for an attack. "Keep him busy!" Blake called to the remaining team alongside her, firing at the imposing figure getting closer and managing to dodge each streak of fire.

Rafe ran inside the transporter room from the corridor seeing the quickly moving wraith with the gangling weapon, setting for another strike, while dodging each round of fire. He quickly raised his phaser, steadying his stance, letting out half a breath, and squeezed off his shot. He didn't think it saw him yet due to being distracted. And that is the only reason he thought his shot was true. Unbeknownst to the Commander, Rafe had changed his setting to kill and narrowed the beam as much as possible. The energy beam nailed the creature in the lower torso, eliciting a blood curdling screech which seemed to resonate with several harmonic frequencies, making the sound almost unbearable. It only slowed him down but perhaps enough to allow the others to hit him also.

Rafe went to his knees due to the agonizing sound. He shouted with everything he had, "Fire, everyone! Fire!!!"

Allyndra turned at the sound, grimacing at the sound. Just in time, she saw the thing take one shot to the midsection. She still could not fly but she fluttered enough and fired in a sweep catching the thing in what might be its head. The thing took a pause. "Again!"

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]

Marcus Mulder
Cold Station 31
[PNPC Rice]

Lia Quil
Cold Station 31
[PNPC Blake]

LTJG Rafe Caradec
Conn Officer
Cold Station 31

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