Star Trek: Starbase 777

Visible through the glass doors and the raised bulkheads, this large, diamond-shaped room seemed to be some sort of laboratory. It was dimly lit and systematically arranged with equipment, symmetrical across the two sides. The room was as dimly lit as the rest but had a backglow which enveloped everything in a hazy, muted green - except from where the green emanated from. In the centre of the room were four containment tubes that stretched up to the ceiling, with powered bases to the bottom to keep them online and the cylindrical tanks themselves filled with some form of green preservation fluid. Though the liquid inside was viscous, now and again you could catch the shadow of a figure inside - and it looked like the liquid had began to drain. A handful of people in Section 31 uniforms were lain upon the floor, having been taken down by the stun grenade. Only four remained standing in total: two ready with their phasers but looking apprehensive, and two at the back behind some sort of holoshield, just... Watching.

"Cover. Now. We're their lab rats, it seems. Keep an eye on that tank." She said as she inspected the room and went straight for cover and shot towards one of the exposed officers.

Eshen held up the stun grenade, visually asking if he should throw it.

00:05

After he also took cover, that is.

"Not yet." She said to Eshen as she kept the pressure on the two exposed officers.

She ran for cover and shot another exposed officer.

He followed suit, staying low to avoid being shot at.

After having not been rped for an hour, Am’el swiftly followed, taking cover nearby.

C'Telle grinned and dove for cover, shooting at any exposed officers he saw.

It was incredibly theatrically that one of the scientists dove out of the way, continually moving back and forth between machinery to try to stay out of the way of being hit. The other did the opposite and fired a handful of shots back in the direction of the agents who were just through the dual doorway, but they had completely forgotten to move out of the way. They went down in an instant.

Allan was also definitely still here, and took cover, probably still holding Eshen's hand? If they were free of course. If not, he was just standing close to him.

Eshen had been holding Allan's hand again ever since he high-fived Derek. His other hand had a grenade in it. Love and war. Wow, the duality.

3

The front two tanks had almost drained completely. Whatever was inside of them wasn't large enough to be a person - it would have uncovered them by now - but as the liquid reached the bottom it instead revealed two large, hulking creatures. They were both quadrupedal, colossal beasts that took up the entire width of their tank. Orange-to-green scales coated their bodies, with six green eyes staring directly at the officers to the front of the room. Fins, like what you might see on a fish, ran the length of their back and down to the tail. Tufts of fur protruded here and there from cracked scales, and thick claws were extended from paws. The snarl that one of them gave made the beast look like it was grinning.

Symbolism fitting his character be damned, now would be a really good time for a stun grenade. He looked at Sam.

His face immediately went to a cringed expression. Dear god, those looked UGLY in his opinion. Voris looked as if he saw something unspeakably vile, or if someone smelled something rotten. A faint whimper of disgust escaped from his vocal chords.

4

"Throw it. And set phasers to maximum stun. Those creatures can not leave this facility." She said as she aimed at the last exposed officer and fired right as he changed cover.

Eshen threw the grenade, hoping it would stun them before he had to... "Kill them? Is that what you're asking?"

The last scientist dropped, having been caught just as they tried to move again. There was now a collection of eight scientists on the floor, sprawled there for people to trip over.

The stun grenade stopped in the middle of the room and exploded into a flash of pale orange light that reflected off of the casing of the tanks. It did nothing to the animals inside - other than piss them off. One shook off the remaining preservation fluid from its scales and then roared out some guttural call that could be heard despite being muffled by the tube's casing - and the other still stood there, grinning.

Keeping a grimaced expression, Voris didn't hesitate to set his phaser to maximum stun. He pointed his weapon at one of the creatures. "What the fuck are those??" His voice sounded strained.

Allan set his phaser to maximum stun as said. He didn't really have anything else to say because of course he didn't know what the fuck these were.

“They seem really angry.” They said, eyes wide. They set their phaser to maximum stun.

“What in the-“ She stuttered, increasing her phaser setting just under lethal.

The Romulans of the team could probably identify some of the traits of the hulking creatures. The green eyes and the scales belonged to a hatham, the fin to a Rihan sailback, the fur and the claws to a vivver cat, and the far too many teeth to a warrigul. This was one horrid hybrid of the creatures native to Mol'Rihan - or in the warrigul's case, to some of the planets in Romulan space in general.

7

"Oh well, I suppose it's an animal. I've hunted bigger for my dinner." Eshen set his phaser to max stun.

7

The casing of the tubes began to raise. As soon as it did, both of the hybrid creatures wormed their way beneath it as soon as the gap was large enough -- and once free, they pounced. The one on the left charged directly towards Eshen, almost as if it had identified him as the one who had thrown that weapon before. The one on the right turned and made a bee-line straight for Voris, lowering its head so it could charge directly into him. Maybe it didn't like blue, or maybe it knew he was repulsed by the two creatures. Either way -- this thing was barrelling straight towards him.

“I think we might need lethal for these ones, not sure.” She muttered, keeping a dead straight aim on one.

They blasted the one coming for Voris.

Allan instantly shot his phaser at the one coming for Eshen.

3

“Shit! Get out of the way!” She fired at the one directed at the Andorian.

Seeing the creature running at him, he immediately SCREECHED at the top of his lungs. It sounded like a goddamn kettle was gonna explode. He attempted to fire at the one charging at him, but missed.

Hell yeah! Fighting a big creature! This was what Klingons were built for! Aw, Allan was defending him, though. He dodge to the side and shot at the creature too, obviously, wishing he had his Bat'leth.

The attempts to fire at the two creatures were futile. The one heading towards Eshen snapped at the phaser beam, almost acting as though it was eating it, and continued on its course. It slid a little on the pristine flooring before correcting its course from where Eshen had dodged. The one headed towards Voris stopped, almost absorbing the phaser's energy - there was a glow of orange light between its scales as soon as it was hit. It looked at the Andorian again, let out a horrifying roar in response to the screech, and immediately pounced - knocking the medical officer clean off his feet. In the background, the two figures in Section 31 uniforms kept on watching.

“I think we might need to kill ‘em! This isn’t working!” They yelled, continuing to fire at them.

She kept her aim locked on the beast, continuing to fire. She increased the phaser setting, bordering on lethal now, and fired again.

"They eat phaser fire, try the continuous beam thing!" Eshen said, as he reached for the nearest armchair and tried to whack the beast over the head with it.

3

The force of him landing on the floor knocked the phaser out of his hand. Voris froze. Fuck. FUCK. Since he didn't have a weapon in his reach, he detached his prosthetic right leg. He slammed the leg at the beast.

They tried the continuous beam thing, aiming at the one attacking Voris.

Unfortunately there weren't any armchairs here, but there was a lot of heavy equipment. Apparently the list of available equipment also now included prosthetic legs. On Eshen's side, the creature staggered, stunned by whatever it had been hit with, and then pounced again. It stood upright and fell forwards, its giant paws coming to a stop on Eshen's shoulders. It looked the officer directly in the eyes with its six, and then roared. To Voris's side it snatched its head around and snapped out with that mouth of horrible fangs, taking the first hit from the prosthetic leg before deciding that was now its toy. The leg was chewed on for a moment before it was spat out, halting just briefly as the phaser connected with its side. It cried out in what seemed to be pain, but that only spurred it on - and a moment later, that colossal maw went straight for Voris's head.

3

The doctor let out another ungodly shriek, not even having enough time to detach his other leg. Voris did an attempt to dodge this, feeling as if his soul literally exploded out of his body.

“WHY ARE WE STUNNING THEM? IT’S NOT WORKING!” They screamed, throwing a piece of heavy equipment at the creature attacking Voris.

She increased her rifle to maximum power, fully lethal, as she fired a continual beam onto the beast attacking the poor doctor.

Eshen roared back, bitch! "bISuvtaHvIS bIHeghaj¹!" It sounded like a legit roar, too. The equipment had been vaguely armchair shaped; Eshen had no idea what it was for, but he was still holding it so he tried to swing it upwards and whack the beast in the belly! ¹May you die in battle! (Technically a toast, but he's using it as a threat here.) (edited)

3

Voris's creature was just about to slide its bottom jaw under the Andorian's head and bite when it was knocked to the side: firstly by C'Sara throwing the equipment and it colliding with its side, and secondly by Am'el hitting it with the phaserbolt at the maximum setting. It clamped its jaw down, howling in pain - but as it did so, it caught one of Voris's antennae between its teeth. As soon as it turned its head to the side, the antennae was torn from around half-way up the stem. To Eshen's side, the creature he was fighting actually blinked. For a moment it seemed to be confused, or perhaps even impressed - it may well have took that roar for something that could rival its own. The only thing that made it change its mind was as soon as it was hit in an upward motion, clocking it in the soft, unarmoured area of its abdomen. It - alike the other - howled out in pain before hauling itself straighter up onto its hind legs again and swiping downwards with all of its force, looking to bat Eshen to the ground. ...And in the background, the other two tanks had finished draining.

“Hey! Bastard! Over here!” They screamed, throwing more equipment at the one Eshen was fighting.

"may'wIj 'oH may'vam'e'!¹" Eshen yelled as he tried to deflect the blow using the armchair shaped thing. ¹This battle is my battle! (edited)

4

After seeing that whole ordeal with the one attacking Voris, yeah, Allan went ahead and set his phaser to maximum setting - lethal - which was something he'd honestly never done before or wanted to do, but he considered this a pretty necessary situation for it - and then froze for a moment. What if he missed? After all, he'd never shot a phaser on anything but stun before and he'd always been good with the aiming bit but what if he missed? What if it hit Eshen instead because of how close they were? And then he thought, wait no, that's stupid, this thing is fucking huge, and fired.

5

With Eshen holding the armchair-shaped object out in front of him he was still knocked back, but it was very possible that he could still regain his balance. The beast fell heavily back down onto its front legs and was immediately shot by Allan. Once again the gaps in its scales seemed to glow, but it still cringed in pain, front legs giving way. The one closest to Voris seemed temporarily stunned, but for how long was another manner.

[Comms] "I'm well aware that this isn't a good time, Away Team One -- but can anyone give me a rough estimate of those creatures' weight?"

[Comms] "Ummm, liiike... 300 pounds maybe?? 200? Defo in the 200-400 range, and that might not be the best answer but it's what I got."

4

"tlhoy!¹" Eshen said. Apparently he'd gone full Klingon mode, trying to regain his balance so he could bash this thing's head in with a not-armchair. ¹Too much! (edited)

5

[Comms] "One of you, find Lieutenant Sirek's medical kit and have two hyposprays ready. One of you needs to make it back to that replicator in the other room. Replicate two hypospray cartridges of theopizole cabosoline... 250ccs based on that weight. If you can manage to find somewhere to inject that, then it should knock them out."

6

The hybrid creature was not having a good time having its head bashed continually. It might have been too stunned to move it's entire body but it was still trying to move its head, snapping forward with that mouthful of horrible teeth.

4

They ran over to grab the hypos and bring them to the replicator.

*She continued to fire on the creatures, hoping to buy sometime for C’Sara to replicate the hypos

Eshen was a stronger, smarter and sexier hybrid and he was having a great time. Well, actually he was a bit worried about Allan being in a room with these things too, but he Surak'd it away and moved back to avoid the creature's snapping teeth before throwing the armchairn't at its head with all the strength he could muster! "Allan! Phaser! nuHlIj DawIvpu', vaj yISuv!¹" ¹You have chosen your weapon, so fight! (edited)

1

They quickly replicated the hypos. “Got the hypos! What now?” They shouted.

C'Sara was able to replicate the two cartridges, but no one had looked for the medical kit so they didn't have the hyposprays ready. Eshen's creature snapped out just as soon as the armchair was thrown, thinking that it could bite it and catch it in its teeth - but even this machinery was stronger than it, and multiple of those pointy fangs shattered.

“SOMEONE GET ME THE HYPOS! FROM THE MEDICAL KIT!” They shouted.

Eshen grabbed his phaser, set it to kill, and shot right down the creature's open maw.

5

4

5

She ran, quickly grabbing the hypospray and dashing to C’Sara.

A hole appeared in the back of the creature's head, near the base of its skull. It stopped snapping its fangs towards Eshen, blinked - and then dropped, huge body shuddering to a stop. In the background there was a low whine from the other hybrid as it saw the other fall... And then that whine turned into a deafening roar as it forced itself back to its feet, bracing itself to charge over to the one who had killed its brother.

The poor guy is currently stunned, the antennae for Andorians are extremely sensitive. Currently everything sounded... muted, muffled in a sense. He slowly lifted his head, hearing something of a "medical kit". Voris wasn't in any condition to move, taking off the sash and throwing the medical kit to C'Sara.

They loaded the hypospray with the cartridge and ran to shove it into the hybrid.

Eshen dove out the way. "Just toss it to me!" It was coming after him anyway, so he could easily get up close, in that it was going to be greatly assisting in closing the distance. (edited)

“Heads up!” C’Sara tossed the hypo to Eshen.

Eshen caught it, ran towards the creature and tried to dive under it so he could inject the hypo into its soft underbelly.

And that dive was perfect, enough to rival Tom Daley in an Olympic swimming pool. Sliding along the polished surface of the floor, Eshen managed to go directly under the beast and stab the hypospray upwards. It came clattering to a halt (having not crashed into anyone), teetered - and then collapsed sideways in an unconscious heap, sending shockwaves through the floor as it fell.

5

4

“Spectacular! Now, shall we go start placing bombs?” They shouted!

"Uuuueu..." His speech was incoherent, though he was still conscious. The pain might have caused him to be temporarily delirious, and the tip of the torn antenna looked... teal? He did attempt to get up but immediately flopped back down to the ground, thanks to the missing leg and antenna.

Eshen saw his life flash before his eyes as he realised how incredibly Not Good it would have been if the creature had fallen on him, but luckily it'd fallen to the side. He looked over to the scientists behind the holo. "Are you sufficiently cowed by that display? Surrendering would be smart. qanchoHpa' qoH, Hegh qoH.¹" Then he sat near Voris, rifled through his medical kit for a dermal regenerator, pointed it at his antennae and pressed the button, looking over him for other injuries as well. His mother was a doctor and he did well in first aid in the Academy, so he could at least make sure Voris was stable. "One second." ¹Fools die young.

5

They spotted Voris, and immediately ran to their side.

The two scientists had been watching all of the while - and one in particular, a Bolian judging by appearance, found Eshen's statement to be highly amusing. There was the click of an intercom turning on at the press of a button. "Why, I don't think there's any need for that," she stated, and gestured to where the other two containment tanks had drained. One was occupied by a figure, stood there in the middle.

5

"Shit." C'Telle, who had been there the whole time and wasn't getting attention from their roleplayer because they liked Elias more, ran over and crouched next to Voris. "That's, uhhh... not good." Gee, thanks for the observation.

“NOT THIS AGAIN!” They screamed, setting their phaser to highest stun. Whatever came out of those tanks, it wouldn’t be killing them.

There really was no need for the screaming. Nothing was coming out of the tank. It had remained firmly lowered, just like how the figure's head remained lowered as well - antennae twitching, but otherwise unmoving.

Allan turned his phaser back down to stun as well, for now. "...hello?"

Still somewhat dazed, he squinted at the figure. Huh. Voris just stayed laying down for now. "I caaaan't feel my leg.... hahaha.." Goddamn it.

“Uh… what the fuck?” They said.

"You don't have a leg." Voris' antennae healed (but still, you know, missing quite a bit) and him generally checked over, Eshen stood up and rolled his eyes at the scientists. "bInatlh.¹ What is this?" ¹You are contemptible. (edited)

There was no response from either of the scientists - once again just watching...

...But there was movement from the figure inside of the third tank. The indents, ridges, and protrusions to its face were distinctly Lethean, but the two pale antennae, typically seen on the Aenar, were not. A singular black, Betazoid eye was dull, almost unfocussed - but the figure's red Lethean eye was piercing. Slowly it looked between the group, taking them in one by one... And for each of the Starfleet officers gathered there, their perception of the room faded to a haze of black.

8

It was quiet in the biology lab - or genetics lab, as that was what it was really dedicated towards. There was the hum of the consoles and not much else at all. Eight Starfleet officers remained frozen in place, and two scientists, as they had done before, observed.

"Is there any indication of how they're getting on?" The first of the two questioned, having lowered the holofield so she could pace around the group of officers - quietly, quietly.

The second scientist hadn't looked around from his readings for the duration of the subjects being under the telepathic illusion. "I doubt we'll find purchase with the Andorian-Vulcan hybrid, nor with Caitian One. They're both too sceptical. You should be prepared to render them unconscious if they wake. The Vulcan-Klingon, Human One, and Romulan One are wavering. We've definitely got Caitian Two under: they're immersed."

"And how fares Kerutep?" The Bolian enquired, sparing a look to their telepathic weapon contained within the tank.

"His vitals are beginning to dip from exertion," he commented, tapping a thumb off of the edge of his console as he thought. "But he should be able to withstand it. If he can do the mindscape for six, then he can do it for eight who have no telepathic shields. The only two that would be of concern are the two half-Vulcans, but touch telepathy is nowhere near as strong as his capabilities."

"Besides," the Bolian stated, coming to a halt in front of the containment tank. "He won't fail us. He knows what the consequences are if he does."

6

6

3

"We've got three of them," one of the two scientists mused. He still hadn't moved from his position at the console screen, monitoring the progress of their telepathic weapon. The other scientist had returned to the back of the room, the holofield raised once more. "Caitian Two is completely in, no hesitation. Romulan One and Human Two are also now in -- they were still sceptical, but they've both consented to Kerutep. That's all he needs to keep them in the mindscape. From what I can gather, Caitian One and the Vulcan-Klingon are about to break out -- but it's fine, as long as we keep some of them under."

The scientist's prediction was correct. Both C'Sara and Eshen awoke at the same time, the haze clearing and bringing them back to reality. They were still here within the bio lab, surrounded by unconscious scientists, strange beasts -- and six of their colleagues, all unhearing, unseeing, and with completely blank expressions upon their faces. A voice continually crackled through the comms: 'away team one, please respond...'

“HELP! WE’RE BEING ATTACKED- BACKUP NOW! SOME OF US STILL DOWN- TELEPATH DOING WEIRD SHIT!” They shrieked into the comms.

Eshen woke the fuck up, swinging the Bat'leth he didn't have. "Qapla'! Wait. What?" He looked around at his surroundings, hoping to catch sight of Allan and Saren particularly.

“Eshen! We have to fight- we need to stop that guy in the tube! Now!” They screamed, shooting the third tank with their phaser, a continuous beam at full stun.

"Human One has also managed to break out," he informed, right as Allan also woke.

"Oh, I'm the insolent teenager here, huh!? Yeah, well, you-" he blinked and realized he was standing in the room again he'd been in before, in his uniform and- definitely not a teenager. He looked beside him to see everything else, including C'Sara and Eshen, who seemed to be awake as well. "Well, um." He looked at the other two who were awake, walking over to Eshen in the process. "At least I'm not in handcuffs anymore, but..." he looked at the tank. "Is shooting the tank going to do much?"

Walking over to Eshen? Nah, he wouldn't get the chance. Eshen immediately rushed over to Allan and hugged him tight, apparently prioritising that over the guy in the tank. "Thank Kah'less you're alright! I thought of you the whole time I was in there!"

2

“Better than nothing.” They grunted.

[Comms] "We have Team Two standing by to assist you, but if we send them in they can end up in the same telepathic trap as you did. You need to find a way to stop whoever is causing this."

[COMMS] “I’m shooting the tank this damn telepath is in.” They replied. They’d have to thank Real T’Shan for everything she did for them, later.

Allan was taken aback by the sudden hug and after having his hands cuffed in front of him for so long he forgot they could move for a brief second before he hugged Eshen back. "I," he wasn't sure what to say, really, there was a good bit going on and his mind was still coming away from whatever weird reality - mindscape - whatever that was. "I'm really glad you're alright too, I was - we can talk about it later," he said softly as he put his hands on Eshen's shoulders then to give him a small kiss, and then looked back at the tank. "Could we... tap the glass to try and distract it, maybe?"

“I’m shooting the damn glass, you’d think that’d distract it!” They grunted.

Eshen kissed back and kept his hands on Allan's waist for now, having no particular need to remove them, looking over at the tank. "I think we'd need to do more than tap that. If there's some kind of control panel you can hack and open the tank, Allan, one of us could just go in there and give them a good punch - that'd certainly be distracting. Or... I could try to mind meld with one of the unconscious people? My telepathy isn't going to be anywhere near as strong as his, but I could at least annoy him. Maybe I could even help the others out of their mindscapes. Same goes for Voris, if he wakes up."

1

"That... that could be worth a try, maybe you can try that while I look around for a panel?" He asked, already looking around the room while Eshen held him, his eyes looking between all the heavy machinery to see if there was any sort of thing that looked like it could be broken into and controlled. Most likely, though, that sort of thing was behind the screen the scientists were watching through. "I'm not too sure if there is one, but I can definitely look around."

The world faded back to normal for Saren - and shortly afterwards, for the others who had still been trapped in the mindscape. Still trapped inside of the tank, the antennae of the figure fell, and then his head lowered. In the background the two scientists simply stared. This wasn't supposed to have happened.

She groaned, muttering random Romulan words as she slowly came around. Her initial look was of confusion, why was she in a Starfleet uniform? Before it slowly dawn on her what had just happened.

The man came back to reality with a gasp. He whipped around, eyes wide, arms thrown up: "DO NOT TOUCH HIM!" he hollered, running in front of the tank like a goddamn lunatic. But this was urgent, and had made a promise to Kerutep: "Break the machine! Fuck those bitches up! We have more hostages! I'm so fucking pissed right now!"

6

Eshen nodded, kissed Allan again and then reluctantly parted from him, walking over to Voris. Time to solve a problem with a mind meld, Spock-style! He pressed his fingers to Voris' face in the designated points and began chanting, "My mind to - wait, no, you're awake, never mind." He looked up at Saren hollering. "Okay, so, Allan - keep looking for that console, maybe you can turn off the holo-field. And Saren? I'm glad you're awake, daelhen."

2

They stopped shooting at the tube and put their phaser down. “What the fuck is going on!” They shouted.

"Yup, still looking!" Allan said, still looking around the room for some sort of panel and moving some of the heavy equipment to look behind it for any sort of outlet - anything that could have any sort of electrical current behind it.

While C'Sara had been shooting at the tank it had seemed to crackle with energy, being dissipated by some form of coating or shielding. It hadn't broken through, though, and the containment tank remained standing. Luckily for Allan there was an entire lab of monitoring equipment and consoles for him to utilise. In the background the Jelna scientist had turned to his console, frantically trying to work out what had gone wrong -- and the Bolian looked very much like she was trying to plan an escape route.

Neat. So all the consoles weren't behind the holofield and he could just utilize one of these? Too easy. He went up to one of them and put in the security pass he'd edited earlier if needed, trying to see if there was access to the holofield from here.

This person didn't have access clearance to raise the holoshield, unfortunately. It was going to take a bit more than that to get through.

Damn, even with the raised clearance he'd put into the ID earlier? Shame. He pulled out the ID device again and looked for any higher clearances than the one he'd put on earlier- maybe there was something he'd missed.

There wasn't any option to raise the ID card higher than that. It was quite possible that the only two who were able to enact the holofield were the scientists behind him, directly using their console. But, considering how most of the equipment ran off of the same system... Perhaps he would be able to get in another way. It might just take a little more hacking, that was all.

Ah. Hacking, a.k.a. the thing that got him all the way here in the first place, and not to working for the Section, thank God for the Starfleet peeps who were there for him instead of having to go down darker routes like that were proposed to him in that illusion. "Okay, so.." he muttered, mostly to himself as he looked back at the scientists. Most likely, if they knew anything about what he was doing, they'd be competing with him trying to lock the system as he tried to enter it. He cracked his knuckles a bit and got to work searching for any openings he could find, and once he found one - he started editing code where he could, starting with simple, basic things such as bulkheads he'd gotten access to earlier - and working his way up from there, through editing their code to affect other things that affected other things that... hopefully, if he did this right, would affect this room and its power, or the holofield itself.

C'Telle hissed, still disoriented, and drew both phaser and knife, looking around wildly. He glared at the scientists. His fur prickled uncomfortably as he remembered the all too vivid telepathic experience. He went to stand next to C'Sara.

“It’s okay. We’re all good now. It happened to me too.” They told C’Telle. They wanted to hug him, but didn’t know if he wanted to.

Allan's line of working was correct. There was a flickering of the lights and all of a sudden the power cut off entirely - markedly, the holofield fell. It would have been hard to see had it not been for the remnants of that strange, luminous, green preservation fluid that had seeped out from some of the tanks when they were raised. The green splodges helped to light up the room.

As soon as the holofield raised, the Bolian booked it. It was an all-out sprint down the centre of the lab. She likely wasn't going to make it out with the Starfleet officers stood there, but she was sure as hell going to try.

Meanwhile, as soon as his console shut off, the Jelna scientist just raised his hands. He had gone from trying to fix whatever was interfering with the telepathic control to trying to erase his data so it wouldn't fall into Starfleet's hands. There was no chance of that now, though. He kept his hands raised and slowly turned around, offering the away team a sheepish grin. "Well - I guess this is it, huh?"

They whipped out their phaser and attempted to stun the Bolian.

Cue a Roblox oof noise: C'Sara's quick firing immediately connected with the Bolian and she fell, hitting the floor face-first.

5

*C'Telle glanced at C'Sara, giving her a nod of thanks and looking back at the scientists, looking angry and miserable. His eye flicked from the tank to the scientists, and he raised his phaser and aimed at the Jelna scientist, firing. Breathing techniques wouldn't work now; he had connected the dots and was mad.*

“Fuck yeah! You’re not going anywhere you heartless monster!” They shouted.

Welp, that was one way to do it. The Rigellian crumpled as well as soon as the phaserbeam hit, hitting the back of his head off the console when he fell, and then the front of his head upon the floor. Just for good measure.

Burning feelings kept clawing their way up his throat and into his limbs, blazing hot hot hot; Saren felt a twinge of satisfaction at the sight of the Bolian's and Jelna's falls. He went to tag them, then tapping into communications. [Comm] "Two to the brig, sir. Check the Jelna for concussion." after that, he circled back to the prisoner inside the tube, waiting.

"Damn, okay," Allan said as he rushed over to where the Jelna scientist had been at, taking the time to gently prop them up at least so they were sitting up against the nearest wall after C'Telle had stunned them, and was about to check them before Saren came over and he moved over to let him tag them before he looked at the console they had been at. Was the data they were trying to erase still open on the screen?

The screen had been shut off entirely, displaying nothing but black.

The Caitian lowered his phaser, panting, resisting the urge to spit on the scientists. How dare they. How dare they invade his mind, his memories, his feelings, his being, like that? He growled, feeling a mixture of anger, pain, and disgust. He shook his head to clear his mind and turned back to the others. "So what do we need to do next?"

"Plant the bombs. We're running behind a bit from this, I think." He looked towards the nearest exit. "Unless there's anything else we need to - oh! Tag and cuff everyone, like we've been doing so far." (edited)

"We're also taking him with us," he nodded towards the tube, stubborn glint in his eyes, sentences clipped. "And there are two more prisoners - his sons. That's not an experiment, that's a fucking person they've mutilated. I promised him. No one's left behind, remember?"

6

5

“I’ll plant a bomb, just tell me where.” They offered.

C'Telle's eye widened and he went over to stand beside Saren. "A person? God above." Even his voice was hushed.

[Comms] "There should be four wings off of this central laboratory structure. Facing forwards, one is diagonally to the right of the room at the front, and the other is diagonally to the left at the back. Place the devices to the back walls of both."

"Oh! Wait! I'm so sorry - yes, him as well. I promise I didn't forget, I'm still a bit groggy." He looked towards the lethean and smiled. "may'Daq jaHDI' SuvwI' juppu'Daj lonbe¹." ¹When a warrior goes into battle, he does not abandon his friends.

4

They went to the back wall of the wing diagonally to the right, and began placing the bomb.

"How..." He frowned and gestured vaguely to the creature. How had this been done, and how were they going to rescue it? Where would it go? What would it do? Too many uncertainties. He felt... sorry for it. His emotions were still very much a whirlwind after waking up from the telepathic trap. He expected to be angry at this thing, but... he wasn't. It was all very much unexpected to him. (edited)

"Saren, Allan, you keep trying to get him out of the tube, and the rest of us'll be off planting the bombs." He placed the bomb diagonally to the left.

He silently turned to see if he could help plant the bombs, trying not to think about the tank.

Those side rooms that they entered to place the explosive devices seemed to be individual sorts of treatment (or experimentation) rooms, all of which housing a biobed and equipment. In the centre of the room where the containment tubes are, two were still up. Considering how they had been controlled by the scientists before, then perhaps they could only be raised from the console to the back of the room.

"There's probably a switch or a button for this," he murmured hurriedly, still feeling... weird. Unhinged. Saren clenched his fists, willing himself to calm the hell down. He decided to check the tube itself - just in case.

"Actually - we only need two people for this," Eshen called as he set the bomb. "People other than Saren or Allan - C'Telle, investigate the possible captive site to the South; then, to the west captive site... Sam, sir, may I suggest you do it? Voris seems a bit indisposed."

C’Sara finished setting up the bomb, and went back to the others in the center of the room.

Allan took the security card from the Jelna scientist - it could be helpful later, maybe - and then realized the power was out when he looked back at the black screen. Right. "Turning the power back on might help," he said to Saren, and then he went back to the console and switched the power back on the same way he'd turned it off. (edited)

C'Telle gave Eshen a nod, tucking his knife away but keeping his phaser out. He was still on edge. Alert, he turned and headed off to investigate said area.

The power came back on just fine, and displayed upon the console screen was the data that the scientist was trying to erase. It seemed that he hadn't gotten anywhere with doing so.

Allan grinned once he saw the data judt open right there, forwarding the data over to both himself (always needed a backup of anything!) and Jericho/Starfleet/whatever address he knew to send it to, before closing out of the program and looking for the controls to the tube Kerutep was being held in. "Okay, be ready to catch them if they fall out," he said to Saren, and, of course, if he found the controls, opened up the tube.

The Lethean hadn't moved at all since he had released the others from the mindscape, concentrating on fighting the psionic pulse being sent through his brain which was pushing him to put everyone right back under that telepathic spell again. Antennae twitched upwards as the tank began to raise, and slowly he looked upwards as well, taking in the occupants of the room properly this time. It was strange to see them all in reality... And it was probably strange for them as well, seeing as how only minutes before he had been trying to trick them all.

"... Hey? You with us, Keru?" he asked carefully, taking a step closer and slowly lifting his arms up, ready to catch the man the moment he stumbles. If he stumbles.

1

"Sure thing, just keep me posted on what's going on over here." She said with a nod before she headed on West and towards the the possible captive sites.

Those mismatched eyes settled on Saren. Instead of worrying over what the others might do to him in retribution for the telepathic mindscapes, he instead offered the Romulan a toothy, rather skrunkly Lethean grin. "You really did it. You stopped them."

Eshen came back from setting the bomb. "Hey, loDnI'¹! I know you're not literally Klingon, but hey, you fought well in here." He tapped his temple. ¹Brother, in this context like a brother-in-arms. (edited)

Allan, seeing as Kerutep seemed to be okay, worked on the consoles once more, uploading more of the computer data - all of it, if possible, remembering how Jericho had said to secure any computer data they found if they could. "There's nothing we can't do, really," he smiled as he heard the others speak.

"Yeah. Yeah!" he jerked his head in a nod, then looked around. "Now we, hmm, need to get your kids out. We'll probably send all of you right to the ship after you all reunite, okay? To our team? They'll take care of you?"

He remained sitting upright. Voris seemed to have been focused on Kerutep mostly right now. The uncut antennae did a slight curl. "Hey, I'm not sure if I ever caught your name?" He was curious about Kerutep.

"Anything works, as long as I get to see them," he said with a very firm nod. He gestured towards the two areas that had previously been marked as possible holding rooms for the captives. "That one that your officer has gone to is where the children are. The other is for the adults. And its Kerutep --" he said to Voris, glancing over. "--You run very fast." (Except not now, considering how one of the man's prosthetic legs had been turned into a chew-toy.)

"Nice to meet you, Kerutep! Thanks for the fight, it was very cathartic. You should consider going into therapy." He looked over to Allan. "You got it?"

3

"Ah, so your name is - I see, sorry for being a bit of an 'insolent teenager' as you said it," he laughed a bit before he looked at the console to make sure all the data within it had finished uploading before standing up. "I think so?"

2

“Your illusion felt real. Sadly, I’m a skeptic.” They said, regarding Keru.

"Kerutep.... Unique name." He looked around the laboratory. "By chance is there a replicator nearby? I can program it to make a new prosthetic that functions so I can be properly mobile..." He then looked at the badly chewed up prosthetic. (edited)

"I wouldn't say you're a skeptic," he said while creeping a little closer to one of the hostage rooms to see if he could look in. Anything to see his boys. "Just smart."

The closest replicator was still the one in the foyer.

"Hm." He attemped to get up, immediately beginning to wobble on the chewed prosthetic. Voris' arms waved comically as he landed flat onto his ass. Whoops. Seems like the damage affected the prosthetic's ability to pick up his nerve impulses. The doctor sighed. "I usually... hate asking for help but. Could someone help me to the foyer?"

C’Sara went over to help, supporting Voris so they could get to the foyer.

He would give them a nod of appreciation as the two worked their way to the #deleted-channel.

She entered into the area, her eyes scanning the room as she had her hand over her phaser shoulder she need it.

Eshen waved. "Hi, Hanna! We ran into some issues, but we've planted the bombs; now we're just rescuing some captives and extracting some data."

"That. Data's extracted now, from these consoles at least," Allan confirmed as well, looking back to Kerutep. "I say we go see what's up where Voxellus went, yeah?" He said, also slowly making his way to that direction.

"Yup! We're all done in here; let's go investigate the west site, and Section Two can go investigate the South site! Kerutep, you too." He made his way to #deleted-channel.

Allan wasn't going to get far with that. From the room Samantha entered into there was a sudden stampede of feet: a swarm of at least fifteen children of varying ages legging it into the lab, shouting out in excitement as they did.

6

Eshen did not, in fact, make it into #deleted-channel as he was swept back in here by a tide of children.

[COMMS] "Attention @Team One, there's a group of kids going your way, don't get trampled."

Eshen had gotten trampled.

3

2

Welp, here they were! Allan had also, indeed, gotten trampled. C'est la vie.

2

Trampled together. Love wins!

6

5

"Stop being large!" One of the children who didn't even reach up to Eshen's midsection shouted as he got stuck trying to get around the Vulcan-Klingon's legs.

Eshen just laughed, picked up the child and put him behind him. "Go find your parents."

Sam walked back into the room, chuckling as she watched the children run around, leaning against the doorframe. "What a sight."

Soon the swarm of children was joined by a swarm of adults. In an instant the laboratory was engulfed in a cacophony of sound: excited squealing, yelling, crying. Parents and children scoured the room to find each other, running to cross the distance. Anyone who had been brought in without their family seemed to band together anyway. In the midst of it all was that towering figure of Kerutep, locked in the tightest embrace that you had ever seen, reunited with his two sons -- the three of them free.

9

8

9

8

9

8

9

8

"Eshen!" She called out over the noise the reunited families made. "Can you reconfigure the pattern enhancers to beam us back to the ship's transporter room? Take whoever you need with you."

"Nope! I'm terrible at coding, but I'll bring Allan with me!" Eshen took Allan's hand and went towards the foyer. (edited)

"Give me a sign when you're done. It's time we get these families home." She said with a grin as she crossed her arms and looked at the families again.

5

Allan, who had been getting up from the ground due to being Trampled by the Storm of Children, took Eshen's hand and went with him, laughing as he took a look back at the room full of joy. "Well - this is really good to see," he said, and he was glad he was able to smile so much throughout this all, to be honest. They were doing good work! This was what Starfleet did, after all - things like this is why he was with them, he thought, as he went with Eshen into the #deleted-channel .

4

2

Lorin walked in, looking around at the chaos.

She stayed back from the chaos, watching from beside the doorway as she searched that everything was still secure and safe.

It quickly became noisy, the crowd celebrating it's freedom - and Saren, with a melancholic sort of half-smile, decided to wait it out in foyer. The memories of his mindscape were still a little bit too fresh on his anxious, restless mind.

6

"Commander! Glad to see you're doing well! How're things going on your side?" She asked with a grin, giving the woman a wave.

Jack burst in, saddened after having to leave most of the stuff he gathered behind. Of course, he still pocketed some chips... and jewelry.... and that PADD from earlier... And much more within his uniform, but anyway. He looked around in a room filled with unfamiliar faces, when from all of a sudden- His brother! From another mother!! WAS HERE!!! He gasped and ran into the room, charging right towards Saren as he rapidly embraced him. "SAREN!!!-" And his dummy ass not yet realizing what had just happened to the poor Romulan man.

Elwyn watched as all the kids rushed to their parents, a very warm smile on her face as she still sippy sipped her very nice smoothie. Gotta make it last! As she saw some of the captives grouping together but who clearly weren’t related the android decided to head over to them and keep them company.

6

She walked with Elwyn, unsure of what to do. Elwyn was nice and she appreciated that.

With the new prosthetic, Voris was able to walk back to the laboratory without too much trouble. Though his balance was slightly off due to the antenna injury. "Oh jesus it got crowded." The doctor fell silent again. This was a bit too big of a crowd for his tastes, so he went to a corner.

She recognized the one who waved at her and offered her a short wave back before continuing to hold her stance by the door on the off chance a guard or some other creature might break up the merriment. “They went as planned I suppose. Lieutenant Dagis was very instructive and it helped us finish our set tasks. How was your mission thus far?”

The usually alert and present Romulan seemingly... didn't notice the loud, lanky, redheaded bullet flying into his arms. He gasped out in surprise, stumbling, but ultimately falling on his back, dragging Bright all the way with him. Dazed green eyes stared up at the human: "Jack? Where... where did you come from?.."

Jack yelped loudly and fell right on top of him, the air getting knocked out of his lungs as he rolled off his mutually acquired brother and laughed tiredly. "I was in the second group!... Ouch, that hurt- Are you okay??"

"Pretty successful. The transporter trap worked like a charm, but we did get a telepathic attack on our noses, so I'm gonna get that checked out when we get back." She chuckled for a moment before she continued. "And then we saved this lot, which has resulted in quite a sight."

"....." He didn't even stay in the room for a full minute before he decided it was WAY too crowded. Voris went back to the foyer.

He nodded belatedly, "Fine! Just, tired, that is all. Too much has happened." A half-lie - because worrying his friend would be unwise. Right? "I wanted to... go to the foyer, yeah. Didn't want to be in the middle of the celebration of these people."

Allan swiftly went about the room, altering the tags' frequencies of the (formerly, yay) captives, and assuming there weren't like, a hundred of them, he did it fairly quickly, altering one of Kerutep's sons' tags last and watching as his tricorder confirmed the frequency change. "Alright, that should be-" he looked over the room, trying to double check if he'd gotten everyone, "everyone, you'll be sent over to Operations where they're setting some accommodations up for now."

She nodded her head as she overlooked the group that was currently making a large portion of noises, “I can see that. We happened to come in contact with a few guards and overworked scientists, but nothing too difficult to handle.” She started to relax her stance a smidge, “I suppose we should be transported out shortly?”

"Two of mine are working on reconfiguring the pattern buffers as we speak. We'll be back in a minute or 10." She grinned at Hannah, leaning back slightly.

It was with trepidation that all of the rescued captives were beamed out -- and arrived successfully upon the Eventide.

[COMMS] "Alright, looks like a successful beam to me, anything else we need? If we've got any more data anywhere that needs out before the blow I can work on that?"

He watched as the rescued captives were transported to the Eventide, smiling as he watched them go. Getting up from the ground, he offered his hand to his troubled Romu-bro as he tilted his head. "You sure you alright?"

Elias had definitely walked in with everyone else, and they watched the hostages beaming to safety, beaming. * "Good. Everyone's safe." *They let out a long breath, wiping their forehead. They had been stressed, worrying about each team. Tired, they slid down against the wall into a sitting position and leaned back. God, this was tiring. It wasn't even the physical exertion--although that was part of it--the emotional strain, too. The constant alertness, fear, anger, punctuated by odd moments of relaxation, it was a lot.

C'Telle walked back into the main room, observing everyone. His fur seemed flatter and duller.

[Comms] The next transmission went through to both teams. "Away Team One, if you could please proceed through the pattern buffers to be beamed back to the first transporter room. Away Team Two, Operations will get a lock on you and beam you out to the second transporter room. Once you're there please start giving your equipment back to Operations and stay there for a debriefing -- someone will be down to speak with you shortly. Thank you all for your work today, and well done."

Lorin waited to be beamed up, fiddling with the poker chip in her pocket.

Elias let out a small cry of relief. "Yay! First away mission was a success! No one died! I'm so tired! Ughh!"

[Comms] “Well done, everyone. Thank you all so much.” Dagis added in after Jericho finished speaking, her transmission going to both teams as well.

"You got it, boss." Elias did a little salute, though Dagis couldn't see it, before slowly getting up and groaning. "And away we go."

Elwyn waited quite happily to be transported away, hoping her smoothie will be transported with her.

[Comms] "See you there, Giles. And well done today." She said with a sense of pride, waiting to be beamed back as well.

Saying goodbye to the base for the last time, the away teams were beamed out.