Insider Knowledge
Posted on 05 Mar 2021 @ 6:11pm by Commander Thaddeus Zayne & Ptolemy Cumberland
Mission:
M1 - Emergence
Location: Habitat Ring
Timeline: Concurrent to A Trap, Sprung
1837 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure
He was going to miss these corridors. There was something about them that made him feel at home, something he’d not had in a very, very long time. It was strange though. He wasn’t even meant to be here, he’d come to Obsidian Command for an Intelligence briefly over eighteen months ago. A meeting that had been interrupted by the aperture that had formed, drawing the station into the void. He’d been part of the evacuation, planning and ultimately part of the skeleton crew that had stayed behind on the station to make sure everyone else got off. As much as he’d wanted to run with everyone else, he couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that he had nothing to lose but himself. No wife or kids to get home to, so why make someone else stay behind when he could fill that role. He’d accepted that staying behind meant he might not ever get home, but he’d done it anyway. Maybe that was why he’d come to think of this place as home - because he’d accepted it would be his final resting place.
It was a home he was going to have to say goodbye to in a couple of days. He was due back at Falkirk to the duty station he’d left behind eighteen months ago and he was a little loathe to do it. He wasn’t looking forward to an inbox neglected for that long. Not to mention, Catus XI was a giant snowball. He wasn’t looking forward to that aspect being a thing again. He kind of liked the steady temperature of a starbase, though it was nice to have some natural light in his day now and again.
Thaddeus was a creature of habit most days, starting his duty rotation early and usually sticking around well past the end of that shift. It was just his natural inclination, especially after being so long as one of only eight available persons who could help keep things running. Today, though, he’d indulged his own interests and spent the morning practicing with one of his Jiu-Jitsu programs. The holodecks were down, but Thad had come across an interesting mobile emitter of sorts that could create a single sparring partner so he could practice in his quarters. It was a much needed exertion, even if it made him the better part of forty-five minutes late for the start of the Alpha shift. Given that he wasn’t actually part of the crew, he felt at least partially justified in running late. He really doubted Captain DeHavilland would give him a hard time about it. At this point in the game there wasn’t a whole lot more he could do.
His feet naturally carried him to the Jeffries Tube access making it so he had to consciously turn himself away towards the turbolift. The lifts hadn’t been functional in his time in the void so it’d just become second nature for him to climb his way up a few decks to meet Chief Barmeadow and a few others. They always started their day in the lower utility ring and then Barmeadow would shepherd enough power into the lift systems to take them to the upper utility ring where they spent the rest of the day. Thad was still getting used to having enough power on the station to ride the lift where he wanted. It had been a stark reminder of how easily you took for granted the little things.
“Command and Control,” he ordered the lift as the doors hissed closed. The lift thrummed and then started upwards.
Thad leaned back against the rear wall of the lift, looking down with his hands clasped over his folded over his chest, preparing his mind for the first task of the day, when the lift stopped suddenly. The overhead lights flickered for a moment and then went dark, leaving him alone in the absolute darkness of the lift. He stood there stoically for a moment, staring at where the elevator doors should have been, waiting for the power to cycle back on, but nothing happened. Heaving a resigned sigh, he unfolded his arms and carefully moved forward towards the control panel - at least where he suspected it was. Groping with his hands he found the exterior plate and got his fingers into the gap and pried it off, expecting to see the greenish glow of the isolinear chips behind it, but the glow that met him was faint. That could only mean that main power was offline, and that all they had left was the residual charge.
He moved quickly to the doors, taking the panel with him and wedged it into the gap, using it as s fulcrum to wedge the doors open before he lost the light of the chips. They were already fading fast. With an almighty grunt of effort he managed the doors apart far enough that he could get his hands around the edge and pull. He got his boot in after pulling it a little more and pried the door open enough that he exposed a gap at the bottom just tall enough that he could shimmy through to the deck below. The gap above was only just visible.
Thad dropped onto his bottom and turned over, sliding his feet through and then letting the gray plating do the rest. He landed on his feet and stumbled backwards slightly, but didn’t fall over. Not that anyone would have been able to see, this end of the corridor was completely black but to his right about thirty yards one of the emergency lights was illuminated. He hurried that way, making for the emergency panel on the wall near it and taking out one of the handheld torches. He flicked it on and it bathed the nearby area in brilliant white light. He swung it around to see how far he’d gone and saw he was on the level below the lower utility ring. This was the senior officer resident deck, a place he hadn’t frequented. He’d been assigned a room in guest quarters, just below the Civilian Promenade and hadn’t bothered to upgrade.
He turned the light down the nearest corridor and started walking, pointing his light along the base of the wall to his right, watching the markings on the bulkheads for one that indicated it was a junction box. As he walked, the bulkhead to the right became clear viewport and he paused there to look out. It looked just like space always did, nothing out of the ordinary. Just as he started to turn away, one of the stations fighters swept rapidly past in formation with two others. Not a split second later he watched in horror as a Warbird de-cloaked in the distance. The boarding craft that spilled out were unmistakable and he just stared in complete disbelief. There was literally nothing he could do. He felt them find their mark above and below his position, grateful that they had figured nothing of value to be in the habitat ring. His grateful thought had jinxed it. A trio followed the first wave and this time one found its mark maybe two decks below. It was hard to tell from his angle, but judging by the fact that he could see the tail end of the craft from the window against the hull, and that the impact had nearly jolted him off his feet. They were close.
As if the universe needed to remind Thaddeus just who was in charge here, the emergency lighting flicked to red which meant only one thing. Loss of atmosphere.
“Shit!” He exclaimed to no one and spun on the spot, waving his flashlight all around. He found the marker on the bulkhead thirty yards down the corridor and set off at a dead sprint, making the turn as fast as he could. He rounded the corner just as a man stepped out of a residential unit, himself looking around frantically. A child stumbled and fell to the ground behind him in her own custom-sized EVA suit. “This way!” Thad yelled, waving the blonde-haired man on to follow.
The stranger grabbed the child in the suit and ran after Zayne, her bulk proving to be more of a hinderance than he expected.
Thaddeus got to the emergency EVA station for this sector of the residential deck first and pulled the lever behind the wall panel to open the station, thankful that this kind of station had its own power source. He pulled the first EVA suit down off the wall, a minimalistic emergency suit nowhere near as functional as the standard Fleet variety. The second man trotted over, heaving for breath, and Thad handed him the suit reaching for another for himself. The two of them quickly pulled their suits on, Thad finishing well before the other man had gotten his second foot into the suit, borne of years of practice.
The skinny, blonde-haired man was gasping for air now as he tried to get his suit on over his arms. Thad tried to help him, but the man was getting frantic and the little girl in the tiny EVA suit was tugging at his leg, scared herself and crying for him. He looked like he was going to suffocate under the weight of it all, not just for lack of air. Growling with frustration, Thad kicked the man’s knees from behind so that he hit the floor on his knees and then yanked the suit up from the back and then slammed the helmet down on it, activating the flow of air. The man’s arms were pinned at his side, and the arms of the suit hanging limp and useless, but he was breathing, taking long ragged breaths to catch his breath. The little girl clutched him from the side, crying.
Thad stepped around then and helped the man to his feet, “Sorry,” he said.
“No bloody apology needed. Saved my life,” the man breathed in answer. His breathing steadying somewhat. “Wife tried to convince me to get one when we got hers…” he heaved, looking down at his little girl. “Not going to let me live it down now.”
Zayne smirked. “Come on, let’s get those arms in place and get out of the corridor. Stations under attack, and being boarded. We don’t want to be found.”
“Too right,” the man nodded, letting Thaddeus hold him upright so he could wiggle his body around in the suit and get his arms through. Once he did he bent down and picked up the little girl, soothing her as best he could. “I’m Ptolemy, this is Ada,” he said as Thad waved for him to follow.
“Thaddeus Zayne,” he answered. “Come on, I know spot where they’ll never find us.”
