Star Trek: Starbase 777

She peeked around the corner to see who and what was in here, staying quiet and keeping low to avoid immediate detection.

C’Sara was right behind her. They had gotten a lot of anger out of their system. They were at least a little calmer now.

There wasn't any sign of movement from within the room. Between shelves of what looked like weapons - although it was difficult to tell in the dim lighting - everything was still.

[Comms] "There should be four agents within this room," he advised, although the appearance of the room stated otherwise.

They were on guard now. But, they didn’t want to get court-martialed, so they only had their phaser out.

She pulled a stun nade from her belt and held it up for her squad to see before activating it and throwing it into the room. At the same time she turned her head away. "Nade!-" She said quietly. Seeing it was a stun and not a plasma grenade, the weapons in the room shouldn't react.

In Saren's humble opinion, everything here screamed "it's a trap!". He hunched his shoulders, listening and, weirdly enough, feeling, for anything that could set off his rampant overparanoid mind.

There was some sort of strange whirring noise, almost robotic, but very fast... And only a second later, that grenade seemed to be hit directly back out of the armoury and into the corridor again.

6

"Bad nade!!" She called out as she covered her eyes and ears to soften the blow as much as possible.

They covered their eyes and ears too.

Ah. Nope. *Nope, his mind repeated, as Saren turned and - smart stupidity and protective instinct winning over everything else - went to grab and shield his closest teammate with his body, meanwhile squeezing his own eyes shut and covering his ears with his palms. Oh, this is gonna s u c k.*

5

The blow was disorienting, but not as bad as it could have been. Whatever had hit the grenade back had hit it hard enough that it rolled mid-way up the corridor instead of being directly beside the officers.

She groaned slightly before she pressed her earpiece. "Jericho, we just got our own nade lobbed back to ourselves. What can you see?"

[Comms] "Still those four dots upon the map. There are two just back from the centre - maybe hiding behind something? - and two to what looks like the back corners. They haven't moved at all."

C'Telle let out a small growl of frustration. His ears lay flat uncomfortably, and he crouched, shaking his head to get rid of the slight dizziness that hit him when the grenade went off.

"C'Sara, Saren, shoot a wide beam in the back corners. C'Sara, take right, Saren left." She said as she took cover behind the doorframe.

C’Sara took the right, firing the wide beam as requested.

He flinched through the ringing in his sensitive ears, cursing whoever decided to play ping-pong with them to the lowest of Romulan hells. Still, he did as instructed - and off the beam went, to the left, twin to the one shot by the Caitian officer, a vindictive "fuck you too" to the armoury room from a very disgruntled ensign.

As soon as the two started firing into the room, a barrage of return-fire was thrown back in their direction -- but not from the ground, from the ceiling. Two agents were hanging upside-down from the roof, bat-like, having used their combat-suit's boots to magnetise to the ceiling instead of the floor. There they had been able to watch the movement of the officers from a vantage point, and had been waiting for the best opportunity to shoot back.

They dove out of the way.

"The fucking ceiling? Seriously? Stupid-" He stumbled to the side and fired his phaser, shooting in between words. "damn-" He shot again. "-Section 31!" One last shot. For luck! "Come on down here and fight instead of hanging there like [insert Caitian derogatory term]!"

4

He went for the dodge - not his first time avoiding such things- somehow having the time to be just slightly jealous for those boots. Angling his now set-to-stun phaser up and hoping and maybe even praying that he won't get hit when he peeks out, the Romulan added to C'Telle's fire with his own shots, aiming at the limbs of their opponents. Fucking evil Spiderman wannabies.

5

It wasn't the two on the ceiling who responded to C'Telle's yelling. Instead there was a colossal crash, complete with shelves and items clattering to the floor, and a hulking machine started driving out from behind the shelves (that it had just crushed) and going for the doorway where it would only just fit through. With mechanical arms and the barrels of different sorts of weapons atop it, it was like some giant sentry on a continuous track.

7

5

"WHAT THE FUCK I TAKE IT BACK." He scrambled backwards, shooting at the machine and making sure his team did the same. The hell?

4

She lifted her rifle and aimed at the machine, setting her rifle to a setting that would cut right through the metal and putting it at a wide angle so that she could cut the entire thing in half with a single shot. And then she simply pulled the trigger.

In a single beam the machine was cut in half. It teetered and very nearly fell over... But with those wide, heavy tracks, the two halves kept pushing forwards, each half seemingly powered on either side so there wouldn't be an issue with it splitting in two. Rumbling onwards it headed out of the doorway and into the corridor, actively searching for targets. The four Section 31 guards remained inside of the armoury.

“Uh.. well.. okay then. What now?” They asked.

"Perhaps we should split up. Some of us can deal with whatever the hell that is, and the rest can take care of the guards."

“I’ll be happy to take care of the guards.”

He started to back off, eyes trained on the... thing... in front of them. Even split in hald, it still was going... "We need to try and... separate it from it's legs," he said in a tone one would use in a biology classroom while explaining how to dissect a frog, if the frog was also actively trying to murder them. "Take care of the agents. I will try to..." He took his own rifle, setting it to the same setting that Sam did, and aimed it at the left side, just above the tracks. Fire!

C’Sara turned to the guards, firing their phaser at them.

When Saren fired, C'Telle turned and shot into the room, firing at the guards.

It was a similar situation to before, with the guards' EV suits nullifying most of the phaser's charge. Three of the agents - the two on the ceiling and one on the ground - returned fire, but the fourth was too busy trying to watch the sentry going down the hallway.

“Permission to mess them up? These phasers aren’t doing anything.” They called.

The Caitian pulled out his knife again and bared his teeth. "Bodyslamming is always an option."

“I know, but I want to be promoted, not courtmartialed.” They replied.

[Comms] "Do what you need to in order to stop them, but preferably without going feral, thank you..."

1

“Thanks, sir!” They called, before leaping up and pummeling the guy on the ceiling.

"Aye sir." They grinned and leaped at the fourth guard, trying first to simply get control of him.

The magnetised boots of the agent on the ceiling seemed to have been damaged from the sustained phaser-fire. It didn't take much for them to be dragged down from the roof, and soon they were enveloped in hand-to-hand combat with C'Sara, throwing punches towards the Caitian. The fourth guard called out a "hey, I'm not even shooting at you!" before trying to squirm out of C'Telle's grasp, and the other two abandoned their weapons due to the proximity of them and the Starfleet officers. It was also time for hand-to-hand combat for them.

C’Sara started pummeling him again, using their knife but not doing anything lethal. Boy, they wished they could do a neck pinch.

"Can it." He punched the guard and attempte to ziptie his hands, holding down the guard with his knees while he worked.

'Pummelling' was not a very good word to use considering it was very hard to pummel someone in a combat suit. Guard OneC'Sara was attempting to fight stood there taking the majority of the blows, giving opportunity for Guard Two to sneak up and snatch out a hand, grabbing C'Sara by the back of the collar and hauling them away. On the other side of the room, Guard Four didn't resist as he was tied up, not wanting to fight... But on the ceiling, Guard Three crept closer, ready to release their boots' magnetic lock and pounce on C'Telle from above.

They hissed, wheeling around to the other guard. “A LITTLE HELP HERE?” They shouted.

He growled, whirling around towards C'Sara. "GIVE ME A SECO-" He hadn't seen the 3rd guard. (edited)

C’Sara stabbed one of their attackers, praying it wouldn’t kill them. They looked for an opportunity to knock the attacker out.

Guard One went down, the knife piercing through the softer part of their EV suit around the abdomen. Guard Two, however, was large and burly. They hoisted C'Sara up and spun them around, tilting their head as they regarded the Caitian. You could practically hear the smile in their voice. "You would make a good agent. So feisty. Won't you think of joining us?" On the other side of the room (amidst the myriad of weaponry and devices,) Guard Three pushed off from the ceiling and leapt straight towards C'Telle, crashing into them and sending them both flying into the weapons and equipment with a resounding clatter.

“FUCK NO!” They shouted, and kicked the guard in the head with all their might.

00:00

“I am LOYAL to STARFLEET, and STARFLEET ONLY!” They added.

C'Telle snarled and yelped in surprise, landing with a horrible thud. He coughed, managing to get out some words. "If you talk to them like that again-" He turned and went full cat on guard 3, latching on and pummeling them with his back legs. He snarled and his clawed at the guard and drew his knife to stab them. He also scrabbled at the pile of weapons, grabbing onto a random one, just in case. (edited)

It wasn't easy to kick Guard Two in the face considering how C'Sara would have to find the leverage to swing their up and kick them, but somehow, they managed. The black face-plate of the guard's helmet splintered, earning a snarl from whoever was within. They staggered backwards, knocked off balance, and dropped the Caitian. Guard Three was not having a good time across the way, claws digging through the soft part of the EV suit and a knife soon finding purchase as well. C'Telle had also managed to grab hold of a small device; circular at the bottom, with some sorts of unfolding metal prongs on the top.

C'Telle scrabbled back, panting, satisfied with the damage he had done. He observed the device he now clutched in his hand as it dug into his palm. "What-" It was unfamiliar to him. He looked for some kind of clue as to how to use it, to maybe use on the guard attacking C'Sara.

She started scratching the guard, looking for weak points in the armor.

He peeked in, first hearing the commotion inside. Seeing one of the guards stumble blindly, he decided to get ahold of his knife, duck down, and fucking b o l t, aiming to get a good stab at one of the agent's leg, just above the ankle - not a killing blow, but walking or standing would be a trouble.

Guard Two toppled; it was hard not to when you were being clawed at viciously by some feral Caitian. It seemed they were both in the same sort of situation now - both being scratched endlessly. With Saren's help, it wasn't too long until the two were on the floor, aimlessly punching or kicking out to try to get the two away but not finding much purchase.

“Hope that’s tame enough for Starfleet, don’t wanna be court-martialed.” They said, pinning the guard.

C'Telle attempted to use his handheld device and "aimed" it at the third guard, hoping it would incapacitate them. Maybe it needed.tp be placed on the body? He wasn't sure, and right now wasn't the most ideal time to take time and figure it out.

Guard Two was now pinned and wasn't going anywhere, able to be tied up. When C'Telle aimed the small weapon in the direction of Guard Three, the metal prongs at the top snapped open. A wave of green light began to spiral up from the device, and on the ground, the guard caught sight and began to cower. "No, no, please God no," they stated, frantically scrabbling backwards while a brighter beam shot upwards from between the first two that were still spiralling. "Please, not like this please not like this, oh God oh God oh God-"

7

3

“STOP, STOP!” They shouted. They quickly tied the pinned guard up and tackled the cowering guard.

The beam shot upwards to the ceiling, now swirling out into spiral shapes that encompassed the whole room.

"Get the FUCK off of me!" The guard yelled, frantically trying to shove C'Sara off. It wasn't due to them wanting to fight, now: it was down to desperation. "We're all dead! We're all fucking dead!"

“SHIT! C’TELLE, STOP! GET THE FUCK OUT!” They roared.

00:24

They jumped up, dashing out of the room.

C'Telle stumbled back in horror and stared at what he had activated. "What the fuck- I-" He frantically scrambled out of the room, dropping the device. His heart pounded and his stomach sank. What the hell had he just done?

They remembered the tied-up guy. “HELP, GET ALL THE TIED UP PEOPLE OUT!” They shouted.

[Comms] "Team One, are you all alright? What's going on down there?"

3

He yelled into the earpiece, dragging people out. He was shaking, and part of him was on autopilot. Shit, had he gone too far this time? "I swear to God I didn't know what it was. I swear, i- i..." He trailed off and was uncharacteristically nervous. He stumbled over his words and his hands shook as he dragged people put. All he knew was that he had fucked up.

"It'll probably be just fine," he replied to C'Telle with an almost light-hearted tone, flipping the knife. "It's not like... we..." He trailed off, eyes trained on the little device held in the massive Caitian paw. Widening. No. No way. No fucking way. "Fucking. Run." He bolted after the two, grabbing one of the agents - who just happened to be the number Four - up into his arms, running as fast as he could, as far away as he could. "Later, holy fuck, l a t e r," he panted in reply to the inquiry, mind still reeling because that was... it was Romulan, it was--

6

3

He stood frozen, staring at the device. It was almost... hypnotizing. No, stop. Get it together. He backed away and set t on the ground, breathing heavily. "What... what is that? What did I do?" A new tone entered his voice for the first time in a while: panic. Why was everyone acting like this? He dragged one of the agents along with him as he ran.

This part of the away team - and their Section 31 prisoners - managed to get out just in time. The device detonated into a shower of what looked like glitter, or shimmering rain... Except that had anyone been in its vicinity, it would have rapidly began to alter their own DNA, effectively turning them to stone.

6

C'Telle stumbled and fell to the ground, staring in horrified wonder at the sudden light show. What the hell... He blinked, struggling to find words. "What... what..." Was all he managed to say.

[Comms] "Away Team One, scans indicate the use of biogenic weapons in your vicinity. Please report in. Are you all alright?"

He glanced around. "I... I think so. I set something off..." Shame crept into his voice and he sounded small. "It let off this green light..." He was still shaken, and his sentences were disjointed.

The green shimmer was haunting to watch. He breathed, in and out, eyes trained on the particles drifting down, down, down, until dissipating into nothingness. He breathed in through the nose, out through the mouth, closing his eyes. Calm. Calm. Calm... Then, he turned towards one of the agents, green eyes burrowing two identical holes into their skull. "You motherfuckers..." his lips jerked up into a smirk, that soon bloomed into a full-on snarl, emotions he tried to desperately keep in check coiling up into cold fury. He grabbed them by their shirtfront, and pressed the unfortunate soul against the wall, voice rising up in volume until it was a hoarse, enraged scream: "You fucking morons! Where did you get that?! HOW in the everloving FUCK did you get your filthy little arms on the pulse?!"

6

C'Telle stared in shock, barely able to breathe. He spoke into his earpiece again when he could. "We barely managed to get out of the blast. I'm sorry, sir, it's my fault." *Who was this and what had they done with C'Telle?"

“One of the Section 31 agents dropped it.” They added.

It was Guard Four who Saren had hoisted up by the breastplate of their EV suit. You could practically feel him trembling even through the armour. "Please," he stated, voice shaking, "I don't know. I don't know. I just helped to build the turret bot, I don't know about the rest... Please. Please, just send us to your jail, the brig or- or whatever it is. Please. Please. I just want to go home..."

7

C'Telle remained on the ground, watching in shock and confusion at Saren and the agent's behavior. His fear manifested into irrational anger. "Can someone tell me what the hell it is already?" His voice cracked.

4

3

[Comms] "Away Team One, please confirm: are you all present and accounted for?"

"Yes, yes we are, damn it! Now what the fuck did I do?" His voice rose in pitch and his fur floofed up. (edited)

They stood close to C’Telle hoping to offer some comfort.

[Comms] "Well I do apologise for confirming that you're all still alive, Ensign, considering that you very nearly weren't. That weapon you activated? That contained thalaron technology: a biogenic cascade pulse. It's incompatible with any form of organic being, it alters their DNA. You may well have triggered it by accident, but if you hadn't gotten out of its vicinity? None of you would be alive right now."

4

“Let’s.. set the bomb, now.” They said.

He went quiet, mulling over everything Jericho had just said. He stared at the ground, unseeing, realizing how close he had come to killing everyone. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse and small. "I... I'm sorry." Oh God, it was like the military all over again. Shut up, shut up, shut up. Not now, not now. He felt the same shame and guilt that he had felt whenever he failed his old sergeant. "...I'm... sorry, sir, I didn't mean to talk to you in that way." He was quiet and too rattled to be confident and stubborn like he usually was. All that fighting energy was gone.

4

4

Eshen walked in, looking around to assess the situation. He assessed it to be Not Very Good.

7

8

Following from behind Eshen, Voris had an even MORE tired look. At some point he's going to be too tired and appear to be sleep walking at this rate.

4

"You don't know what you were toying with, you absolute fuckwits." He snarled that out, guttural and almost hateful, yet lowered the trembling body back onto the ground gently, even though the intense anger that the Romulan was feeling was almost palpable. Detachedly he pressed the badge. [Comms] "Confirmed. We ran out from it's radius. Sir, this needs to be investigated. These people should not have access to such technology. I'm..." he trailed of, voice hoarse from yelling, unsure what else he should say. "Should we tag the agents? To beam them out to." He glanced towards C'Telle, unsure if he should offer comfort. Should he, in the state that he was in?.. "We're alive. That's the part that matters, and no one blames you for not knowing... about such things. Maybe it's for the better, to be unburdened by the knowledge that such horrible weapons exist. Come on, there's still work to do. Let's recollect ourselves. Now, excuse me..." He turned away, stepping down the corridor. There he found a wall clean enough, and gave it a hearty punch, letting all the anger and adrenaline out. "Shit."

[Comms] There was a decent pause before the next transmission. "The base's shields are down. Tag the agents and beam them out. Then you'll have to place the second device. But be careful: there's no way of knowing just how long residual thalaron radiation might linger in that room. Borrow the suits of one of those Section 31 agents if you have to. Just -- be careful. Please."

C'Telle stood up, blinking a few times. Logically, he felt obliged to... talk to Saren. Saren was the one who needed to be checked on. But.. he didn't know how. He stood, hesitating, before bending down and tagging one of the agents.

“I’ll place the bomb real quick.” They said.

Eshen winced. "Will do, Jericho. So, guys... good news! We got the lift working! So we can look for those hostages, then get out of here."

6

He nodded. "Good." Was all he said. They said it wasn't his fault, but he felt like it was. He felt like it was his fault that Saren was upset, that all this shit was going on. Fuck. Later. He would think about this later. Right now he had a job to do. He tagged the rest of the agents, and stood back up.

They started to place the bomb where they were supposed to place it.

After a brief stareoff with some invisible dot on the floor, he returned to the group, looking less murderous, more... slightly tired. "I'm fine," he said before anyone asked, a statement of "no I don't want to talk about this now", giving the second part of their team an acknowledging nod. "Everything's ready?" A very quick jump back into action there, Morvar.

4

C'Sara had hopefully done as Giles had suggested and at least donned some form of protective equipment before going into the biohazard zone. It didn't take long for the second explosive device to be correctly placed, and the Section 31 agents - plus the ones from earlier - were all transported to the brig. The away team were now free to gather themselves and prepare before travelling to the lower level.

“We’re good. So, where to next?” They asked, walking out of the armory.

01:25

They took the protective suit they had been wearing off (they did not want to be mutated, thank you)

5

"We're going to the turbolift. Let's stick together for now and move as a group, okay?" He started walking towards #left-turbolift-entrance.

They followed Eshen.

He followed Eshen quietly.

For a moment, his gaze lingered on the room they left behind, but the scientist soon turned away and followed the group to the turbolift.

Sticking with his group, he headed to the turbolift after everyone else.