Star Trek: Starbase 777 - northern-cave-structure

The entrance of the cave stuck out against the scenery, rocks bare aside from some moss in cracks and crevices. It was dim inside, but it was clear that this was where they needed to be, as there was no mistaking this for a natural formation. At least upon entering the cave, they could walk shoulder to shoulder again, having the space and the smooth floor necessary. The inside of the cave, once one's eyes adjusted to the gloom, were clearly of Undine technological origin, further confirming that they were where they needed to be. That meant there was nothing left to do but to go in.

He arrived at the cave with everyone else. "Ergh, this humidity is going to be terrible for my hair. Everyone prepared?"

2

Vovvi's brows furrowed a little as she kept a hand on her phaser, keeping an eye out for traps, or figures moving in the shadow. "Ready as I'll ever be," she murmured, also not prepared for the devastating consequence of the humidity on her hair. And she'd spent so long braiding it, too..

1

As the team entered, he glanced over to the rest of the party. "I think we have bigger problems to worry about than your hair. Anyway, it looks perfectly fine to me." He moved forward to inspect the cave further, peering his telepathic sight into the depths of the man-made structure. "With any hope this should be the prisoner facility. Let's hope it's not too difficult to navigate." (edited)

3

There was only one way to go: Forward. And from up ahead, there were noises, muted and faint, but for the keen-eared Vulcanoids, it wouldn't be difficult to pick up on at all.

She lifted her head up, nose twitching a little as the sound processed. She tried to listen in, if she could, gesturing for everyone to keep quiet-- voices in a cave had a tendency to carry, after all..

Going along with the group, Elwyn remained entirely silent as she moved, trying to her best to not draw any attention to the group, the only sound being made by her soft footsteps and her powered up rifle. She usually loved caves, but this one was tainted with bad vibes.

T'she gripped the medical bag, ready to spring into action the moment they were able to do so. They listened into the noises, trying to figure out what they might be -- were they walking to the facility? Or to the belly of the beast?

Both, T'she. The chattering from ahead was indistinct, and remained so, despite people's best efforts to parse what was being said. Still, it couldn't be more clear that there were people up ahead, and there was no way that they wouldn't meet whoever was there.

Feeling combat ready, he raised his phaser, aiming down the corridor as he walked, ready to pull the trigger as soon as he saw an Undine.

Vovvi followed suit in raising her phaser, stepping carefully. This was making her anxious -- the walls of the cave felt like they were closing in. She swallowed her nerves and kept her aim steady.

The closer they got the more apparent the voices became, and as Eshen raised his phaser Elwyn raised their rifle, still set to stun as they prepared for what was about to come.

"-So we know there's people coming, but how many and when is up in the air. Our objective is to hold the fort and keep the prisoners safe." A gruff voice said from just up ahead around the bend. There were shuffling noises, and then a hiss.

"I hear something. Shut up and be ready."

"Who do you think you're talking to, asshole? I'm your superior officer!"

"I mean it! And I'll prove it, too!" With those words, the first Undine came around the bend, their hulking body looking cramped despite the corridor made to accommodate them. "Outsiders! I told you so!" they yelled at the other Undine, before launching themself at Eshen.

The security officer stepped forward, raising his rifle towards the undine. It was easy to tell by their outlines that these were the Bad Guys. ™️So swiftly, Ezran started blasting. Shooting towards the charging Undine in an attempt to protect Eshen. "Contact! Everyone down!"

As soon as he saw the tripedal figure of an Undine, he shot his phaser, then, with a surge of adrenaline, darted to the right and grabbed the Undine by its one back leg, intending to swing it around and use its momentum to just fucking throw it at the other Undine. How heavy was an Undine? Would his Vulkling strength be enough? We're about to find out!

Hearing and then seeing the Undine walk around the bend, Elwyn very quickly moved her finger onto the trigger and prepared to shoot, so as soon as it began charging at the team she did just that, opening fire with precision while attempting to not hit anyone else in the process as she moved away from the incoming charging enemy.

The enemy was launched easily... Well, okay, relatively easily. It flew into its counterpart, which stumbled and fell backwards under the weight and force of the entity he collided with.

"You are so useless," the second Undine complained, before yelling. "Backup needed!"

"Elements--" Vovvi grumbled under her breath, keeping herself steady the best she could, opening fire when the opportunity came and gone. She pressed forward. "There's more on the way. Keep your heads up."

T'she stiffened before they took a deep breath, remembering their training when they were younger. They may not be good with a phaser, but they did know how to kick some ass. "On it! Eshen, I am coming to help you out!" they said as they took their position next to their friend, ready to try and kick some undine.

“I heard them mention the prisoners so we must be close.” Elwyn said as she kept her phaser trained on the currently not stunned Undine that was stuck under their colleague. * “We should probably get into a better position before any more show up.” *They suggested. Without hesitation the android moved slightly closer towards the Undine Lieutenant to get a good shot before opening fire again from about ten feet away, attempting to stun them before they could stand up and attack.

He joined Elwyn in shooting down the second undine, making sure to neutralise the threats as quickly as possible, Undine typically took a signifant number of shots to take down, so it was important to work together. "Everyone should find cover, if more pour down this tunnel we'll be in trouble."

"I know what they said, I could hear it."

A shuffling sound, then pattering footsteps. "Wouldn't it be better to wait for them? Lay an ambush?"

"You have your orders, 9838. Get to it." In a few moments, the corridor was being crowded with bodies again. The lieutenant charged forward again, together with the ensign, while the larger commander hung back.

Having stunned the first two with absolute certainty, while Ezran was instructing everyone to get into cover Elwyn attempted to very quickly tag both of the Undine for transport as per the protocol for what to do with stunned or otherwise enemy combatants that they had been taught at the Academy, thinking they had slightly more time than they actually did before more would show up. It was while in the middle of tagging the second that the next Undine Lieutenant began charging towards the group. The android immediately dropped the tag as they turned and ran for the nearest cover the second they heard it coming. Bad idea, Elwyn, very bad idea.

These Undine were more prepared than the other two, and were ready to attack psionically. But when the Lieutenant reached for Elwyn's mind and realised there was nothing for him to invade, he stuck to a physical attack. As she turned away, the Undine dove after her, sinking devastatingly strong hands into her right arm and left shoulder.

3

The commander meanwhile hung back, reaching out psionically and telepathically screeching to everyone to disorient them. Easier for a strong telepath to withstand, perhaps, but most people who werent used to it would get very dizzy at best.

2

The Ensign launched itself at Ezran, having learned from the previous one's mistakes... sort of. The only lesson learned was "don't dive at the Klingon."

Feeling the Undine’s hands grab ahold of her arm and shoulder, the android felt no pain but her eyes widened nonetheless, the feeling of panic within her exponentially growing with every passing millisecond. Her natural reaction to break free kicking in, Elwyn immediately tried to do just that, struggling in any way possible to get out of the grip of her attacker as she let go of her rifle to try in vein to reach for her holstered phaser with either of her hands, thinking it easier to use a smaller weapon to aim for anything she could than to turn a rifle around.

The more Elwyn struggled, the more the Undine dug its hands in, the more her "flesh" began to bend and tear. As the Undine tore away from Elwyn, it pulled her arm with it, tearing it fluidly from her body as if it took no effort at all. "Huh. A robot, that makes sense," it said out loud as it watched coolant fluid drip down inert fingers onto the ground. It was momentarily befuddled, stopped dead in its tracks.

4

Vovvi turned and rapid-fired at the Undine that attacked Elwyn, heart hammering rapidly in her chest. The sight made her queasy at best. She rushed to her side once it'd pulled away, continuing the rapid onslaught of attacks. "Hold tight, Ensign, you're going to be okay..!!" She tried to shout over the noise.

The large aenar man took a couple shots towards the charging ensign before he dropped his phaser rifle down to his sling, getting ready to catch the tackle with his incredibly superior strength... That was before a massive wave of psionic energy all but knocked out his sight. His fancy telepathic vision going black as the lack of responding telepathic signals rendered him completely unaware. Only a single work left his mouth as the Undine made contact. "-Fuck."

T'she tried to rush towards Elwyn, their eyes widening. Even if they knew that the ensign was an android, they did not want to cause any more damage. They needed to cover the wound and stop the loss of any more essential fluid.

With the myriad of weapons pointing at them, shooting him without remorse, the Lieutenant went down.

"Let's see some real blood!" He headed toward the Undine that was tackling Ezran and tried to yoink it off, trying to grab it by one of the skinny parts of its two-part neck and throw it against the ground so he could stun it. (edited)

The smaller Undine went down easily, focussed on Ezran as it was and far less physically impressive than the other two. It screeched pathetically, but did little to avoid its fate.

As her right arm was ripped off Elwyn received what could only be described as a mental error message that something was very, very wrong. The feeling of the tension against it vanished and was instead replaced with no feelings at all, as bright purple coolant all but poured out of where the arm had been torn off. Looking over to see absolutely nothing she continued desperately to get out of the Undine’s grasp as her colleagues stepped in and opened fire, taking it down. As it collapsed she pulled herself away, using as much momentum as possible to get away from the Undine Lieutenant before collapsing under her own movement and unsteadiness, her one remaining arm reaching out in front of her to stop herself face planting the ground. It too was badly damaged at the shoulder, movement now limited, but it still functioned enough to stop her from completely falling forward, all the while purple liquid continued to escape onto the floor from both the arm and where it should be on her body. (TW for android gore) Where the arm once was now existed a look into the inner workings of the android, surrounded by combat armour. The artificial flesh was ripped like real skin, the alloy composite metal bone snapped at the shoulder joint, and bio-artificial ligaments and muscles had been torn clean through. The coolant fluid that also acted as a global lubricant was coming from numerous pipes that resembled veins, all designed to provide the artificial, yet in many ways Human-like body parts what they needed to function. And all the while Eshen fought off their other attacker Elwyn remained staring blankly at the floor, one hand supporting her up as she knelt, perfectly braided hair dangling downward over her shoulder as she desperately tried to calm down enough to very simply function. Unblinking, unbreathing, survival programming activating.

7

They tagged the Lieutenant, glancing back to T'she and Elwyn, quietly thankful they had a doctor on the team. Her attention was split between her and Ezran, who were both struggling hard to steady themselves. At the same time, Elwyn needed an engineer, not a doctor... She swore under her breath, diverting her attention to the commander and firing off.

3

T'she tried their hardest to really work with new materials, artificial materials. "I'm sorry I'm not an engineer, but... we need to stop the loss of fluids. Don't worry, you are in good hands." They spoke evenly as they tried to test out different methods of staunching the flow of cooling liquid.

5

The man just kinda, vaguely tried to sit himself up from where had been knocked down onto the floor, just... Sitting there blindly, hoping not to get shot. He could crawl around like Velma in Scooby Doo, but what good would that achieve? Hopefully the psionic attack would stop soon and he would regain his vision.

5

Totally being in the area the whole time, keeping herself low as to not be that much of a noticeable target as the fire fight ensued, Maya looked around to assess the situation, but seeing the damage Undine Lieutenant had caused against Elwyn very quickly set up what she needed to do. "Ensign!" the engineer shouted as she rushed over to the android, trying to look for the arm as she made her way there but knew there are more pressing damages that needed to be taken care of, all the while still recovering from the psionic disorientation coming from the Commander. * *When she reached them, she immediately sprung to assess the damages and plan out what to do before glancing up to Vovvi and T'she. "Focus on the others. I'll try to do what I can..." She hurriedly said as she took out her tools and began to work on stopping the fluid loss. Shuttle coolant leaks are one thing, this is almost completely different, and Maya felt the weight of her abilities being tested to their limits.

Knelt, left hand out in front of them to keep themself steady, losing millilitres of bright purple fluid by the second, Elwyn continued to blankly stare at the floor, unblinking, unbreathing, survival programming kicking in. One of the benefits of having a both caring and ever so slightly paranoid father/creator was that he had included a backup system in their programming, an override for when they were too emotionally overwhelmed to function in the hopes that it would keep them alive should something bad happen to them. It wasn’t activated by choice, instead it was entirely automatic and only done so in emergencies, and now was one as far as the android’s internal computer had determined. It was seamless and harmless, all it did was override their emotion processor’s inputs for long enough to determine a course of action. Oleander called it survival programming, but Elwyn called it their survival instincts. And those instincts told this Security officer to perform an internal diagnostic immediately, so that’s exactly what they did as they looked over at T’she, and then Maya. “How bad is it?” They asked, voice surprisingly calm despite the circumstances and the very large and growing pool of purple liquid on the floor. Despite how much they usually blinked, there was no blinking whatsoever occurring right now, instead Elwyn stared directly at the Engineer. It was, so say the least, quite bad. There was a whopping great hole where an arm should be, dangerously sharp metal alloy that had been snapped like a twig, and if it wasn’t for the fact they were an android it would look really quite gory indeed. “I know I’m losing a lot of coolant. You need to focus on that. Anything to plug the leaks will work. Crimp them, fill them with something, contamination doesn’t matter. I’ve already lost thirty-nine percent accounting for how much would’ve been in my arm. I can deactivate my pump but if I do I’ll lock up and go into emergency shutdown within minutes.”

4

"Very." Maya answered, not able to say any more than that since she was focused figuring out how exactly to approach stopping any more fluid from leaking as well as any other potential things she needed to take care of while they are here to hopefully mitigate further damages to more critical systems. She was in absolute panic, but knew she had to keep a hold of herself. "For any metallic piping I'll have to crimp and weld them shut for the time being. If your coolant flows through any flexible tubing, we'll have to tie them off like tourniquets to cut circulation. Shutting off your pump would help a lot and prevent pressure build up." Maya explained as she began dealing with the larger leaks first, glancing over to T'she when she mentioned the possible need to make tourniquets as she pulled out her tricorder. She never really expected to actually deal with a medical patient before, but here they are. Starfleet always has its way to throw people out of their element. "Before that, I need you to give me access to any diagnostic information you have so we could deal with any other problems aside from coolant loss while we wait for help."

4

Vara'l, having helped during the engagement,moved over with his phaser still raised as he looked put at their surroundings. Once he was close to them he positioned himself to cover the medic and the engineer and their patient without getting in the way,tricorder secured away and phaser rifle clasped two handed. A deep frown probably a fair old indication he'd ended up somewhat dizzy and currently worked off training,instinct and a former Borg's burned in control. If any Undine target poked its head out, the Romulan had resolved to and intended to open fire. His phaser held in the slight angled down pointed forward ready to fire position. One that wobbled slightly from time to time, especially as he tapped his combadge twice. "Lieutenant Commander tr'Hara to Eventide, away team three engaged by Undine counter-boarding force, Ensign Preston's down, injured" He paused. "Urgent Assistance required." (edited)

[COMMS] "Eventide to tr'Hara, unable to fulfill request for assistance. To beam you out of the Terrasphere the shields need to go down first. Stay safe and do what you can to fulfill your mission."

The Undine Commander that had been attacking Ezran psionically watched the entire scene go down, and lost its patience. It saw the tall Aenar sit down, out of commission, and decided to focus any physical attacks on one of the other people. Yes, that foolish Romulan who tried to call for assistance from above would do just fine. It charged at Vara'l, uncaring of the bodies of its comrades in its way, just wanting to get to an opponent and do some more damage.

These things really could just tank a shot like nobody's business, holy shit. She covered Ezran best she could while he recovered, just in case, continuing to fire off at the Commander as it charged at Vara'l.

"Understood r-" Vara'l stopped speaking as he calmly proceeded to fire phaser rifle shot after shot at the Undine from his firing position as he yelled. "Get the Ensign away from the contact!" And moved to draw the commanders charge off of any line that would have allowed it to move past, in the manner he'd been trained to when targeted while covering a wounded person, and attack the ensign.

Hearing Maya describe the badness of the damage as ‘very’ was far from reassuring, but it also wasn’t surprising considering what had apparently happened. Despite everything ongoing Elwyn tried her very best to remain focused on the Engineer and not on anything else, her survival programming still overriding her emotional processing so she could just very simply focus on the task at hand. “It’s all flexible.” She replied calmly. “If I shut my pump off I’ll become dead weight.” She then added, wanting to emphasise the circumstances the team now found themselves in. Eyes moving forward briefly, staring straight at the ground again, the android went through her incoming diagnostic data to see if anything else was wrong. “Forty-five percent of my coolant has now gone. I have a minor internal leak in my left shoulder, and for the sake of not wasting time on the details it’s been crushed badly but I can still move it because I did when I fell.” Looking back at Maya and T’she, two thought popped into the Security officer’s head, unable to focus on anything other than surviving and safety. “I’ve just had two thoughts, one idea. Thought one, don’t get my coolant in your eyes, it’s not a nice experience. Thought two, idea one, if I can’t pump my coolant I’ll shut down. If I get a blockage it’ll prevent flow and eventually burst. My arm has more piping in it. Can you use the piping in my missing arm to create a temporary connection between where the coolant is leaking from and the rest of the system to complete the circuit? I can deactivate my pump while you work so you can see what you’re doing.”

T'she nodded as they retrieved the missing arm. Even if they had little experience in the surgical suite, and even less working with androids, they supposed that the basics were the same. They were reconnecting an artery, just... not in the traditional sense. "Understood Ensign, we can get that done for you. I doubt it will be the most stable connection, but it should get you through the rest of this mission. Lieutenant Umali, do you have any equipment that would be useful for forcing a connection in the piping? I... do not think my suture skills will assist."

The Undine Commander slashed at Vara'l, knocking the phaser out of his hands and clawing at his face. It was getting more sluggish, but phasers set to stun would not bring this Commander down easily. It certainly was a lot hardier than the other two kinds of Undine had been, though that wasn't too difficult. (edited)

Vara'l angled himself at the last moment to take the strike on his metal marred side of the head and his armour as he turned their wrenching his phaser rifle away into more momentum as he snatched for the chance to better angle himself to the slashing. Thanks to this, what faced the clawing at his face was implanted borg tech and metal plate potmarked skin and a Romulan who while being forced back with the charge tried to bring his armoured Undine facing arm up to protect more vulnerable parts of his face. Given the fact he was being slashed at he also started to growl in agonising pain as he attempted to back peddle and get his armoured arms up to protect his face from the onslaught. Fighting back could come later,right now he needed to protect himself from further harm.

T'she started working on a bypass -- or rather a reconnection -- of the piping, using their knowledge of organic life to help them through this. They were using their own equipment to meld piping to piping, looking for places to reattach the circuit with little interruption. Throughout the whole process, they remained remarkably calm -- though the growl of Vara'l kept them on edge. There was another patient.

"You've all got some nerve to show up here uninvited to destroy our living space," the Undine said as it swiped at Vara'l again, claws glancing off the armour before it changed tactics and started punching him, landing heavy. disorienting blows that drove the Romulan backwards.

"You turned up to ours first this time,Undine." The Romulan responded as he allowed himself to give grounds as he angled himself so he recieved hits on armour plate. As he bled and was driven backward he snatched any opportunity he could to loose blows of his own in response. After a bit of this he then attempted open up the distance between them as he attempted to gain room to snatch his hand phaser from its holster.

Suddenly, Eshen charged in to take a crack at landing a heavy, disorienting blow of his own, with his phaser first, and then, if the Undine looked staggered at all, with his very own fist. "We're just retrieving your guests - they've overstayed their welcome, wouldn't you say?" He'd been momentarily distracted by what was happening with Elwyn, but considering there was already a doctor and an engineer on the scene, he'd taken a moment to breathe and focus on the fight, where he was more useful. Pew-pew, POW! (edited)

2

Watching T’she and Maya get to work trying to stop her from losing any more fluid, still unblinking and instead just staring at them, there was a brief moment as her attention was drawn to what the Undine was doing, attacking her team ruthlessly just like the previous one attacked her. Blinking twice in quick succession and then glancing back at the people trying to help her, before once again glancing at the ongoing attack and blinking twice more, Elwyn very calmly spoke. “One moment please.” She said to the Medical and Engineering officers as she forced herself upright, kneeling but no longer using her ‘good’ left arm for support, as she reached around to rather awkwardly grab her phaser from its holster from across her body. Switching it from heavy stun to kill, the ambidextrous android aimed at Vara’l’s attacker from her knelt position in a pool of her own bright purple coolant and fired just mere moments after Eshen’s own attack, hoping it would do some good.

With the Undine Commander pre-occupied and his telepathic sight no longer being interrupted by the waves of telepathic energy, he stood up slowly and retrieved his phased rifle from the sling. Glancing around for any changes in threat level... Seeing Eshen and Vara'l taking on the one remaining Undine, he felt confident in their ability and instead moved forward to secure the hallway further ahead in case more Undine reinforcements decided to come in aid of their comrades.

Up ahead, the hallway opened up into a larger room, filled with four large structures up to about waist height... Well, Ezran's waist, not Elwyn's. Ezran went currently unnoticed as two forms were hunched over one of the structures, and though it was impossible to make out what they were doing, at least they weren't paying attention to him.

The Undine Commander, meanwhile, fell over. It wasn't dead, not by a long shot, but the many phaser hits and the sucker punch from Eshen took it out, for the time being.

With the commander now down,Vara'l pulled his hand phaser and set it to kill as he covered the downed commander. "..Its down" He commented in a half question as he idly mentally checked how he felt while he wasnt...overwhelmed by pain as he attempted to work out how bad his injuries were. As he did so he continued to cover the commander and..made his way over to his rifle,he intended to retrieve it.

"I have what we need for now, yes." Maya answered T'she as she pulled out a small container of heavy duty adhesive to force better connection and seals between the piping and their respective connections and a laser welder to speed up the hardening process, aside from that, she had most of what she needed in her belt for this. *"We don't have time to re-attach the arm right now. Shoulder's snapped and joint's shattered. we have to redirect coolant flow. " *The engineer added as she took hold of the piping and quickly began melding connections, focusing on what she felt to be major coolant lines first before reinforcing the melds T'she made and guiding her to where to make the connections. For areas where some of the pipes are too short, Maya grabbed the severed arm and only cut off what she needed to reconnect the tubes. In her mind, to keep herself calm from the pressure since this was her first time dealing with an actual patient, she just imagined this as redirecting power flow in a grid. Although most of her focus was on Elwyn, as the fire fight ensued she couldn't help but glance over to briefly check what's going on and felt her heart drop when the Undine commander attacked Vara'l, then Eshen. "Lieutenant T'she, go help the others! I'll do what I can here. Thank you for the help."

T'she simply nodded and turned to Vara'l, running up to him with their bag in hand, ready to do whatever they could. "Lieutenant Commander, I implore you to stay back for a moment. Face wounds can get a little... nasty... if you excuse the colloquial term for it. Though it shouldn't take me too long to heal." They commented quietly before they reached for something to clean off the blood.

A good chunk of the team injured, Vovvi straightened herself out, letting out a soft sigh. As T'she and Maya tended to them, she moved to Ezran, glancing up at him to double check if he was alright before following along beside him, switching her phaser to kill-- seeing as stun wasn't doing much.

Vara'l grunted softly as he glanced to the other and said. "My implants took a lot of the Impact Lieutenant." He informed them before he then continued. "...And I dont think it's dead, can you work on me while I keep it covered?" He asked simply then as he noted that amongst the gashes and other damage that caused him to bleed.. something had started to give way implant wise. Hearing again probably, damned easy to break thing. Felt like other dents and damage had been inflicted to. "..Its beginning to feel a tad unpleasant." He idly proceeded to switch his now retrieved phaser rifle to kill as he then softly added. "I can stay as still as possible."

"Understood. I will work as quickly as I can. This... should not hurt that much." They spoke evenly, using their best bedside manner as they dabbed an alcohol wipe across the wounds on Vara'l's face, their gloved hands (with fresh gloves, of course) were surprisingly gentle and fast. With the wounds cleaned, they started to carefully suture up the wounds that required it, avoiding any area that would require more tender and specific care. This was just emergency field medicine after all. "You are a Liberated Borg Romulan, correct? If so I have some medicine that should help with the pain -- at least somewhat." They pulled a small tablet and some water out of their bag and offered it over. "It should not impact your ability to function."

The shot taken, the Undine downed, Elwyn lowered herself down to a less upright kneeling position to help Maya do what she needed to do, phaser still in her and and still set to kill just in case, but now pointed at the floor for safety and with her finger off the trigger. Looking back over at the Engineer, the android once again blinked twice before a soft, small weary smile appeared on her face. "You're doing great. I'm gonna deactivate my pump now before I lose any more coolant while you finalise your repairs. You'll have about three minutes before I won't be able to move anymore. The right side of my body has already started seizing up, but I'll still be able to hear you and restart it when you're ready." She said softly, before briefly closing her eyes and then reopening them. "You've got this."

Vara'l grunted softly as the wounds were cleaned and worked on. "The lacerations that didnt impact implant..are admittedly already quite uncomfortable, that's not that bad compared." it probably would be noticed as the other cleaned the ones and closed things, that the line of the claws could be followed with the help of the channels slashed into implanted metal in places. It might also be noticed that it took him a moment longer than normal to respond to that. "I am indeed..and I'll accept whatever you have.." He confirmed, slightly tense as he wondered briefly what this medication was before he proceeded to accept the water one handed before he slung his Phaser rifle for a moment, downed the tablet with the water and then offered the water back as he resumed aiming the rifle. "..Thank you." Vara'l idly then observed after a moment. "I suspect I shall need to see someone who specialises in Borg implants after this." The comment something that followed his having noticed that their work had happened to include some work near his ear. Something which concerned him a tad as he considered some of his less durable implants that happened to have a home round there. "..Anyone got a tricorder reading on the Undine, they out cold or just..stunned?" He asked as he remained mostly still for the medical Lieutenant.

"Are we clear?" The man slowly moved back towards the rest of the group. Calling out quietly to the rest of the group. "There's also two more up ahead, they haven't been alerted yet. If we co-ordinate and move quickly, we can get past them and hopefully get to the prisoners." He paused to look down at Elwyn, who he had only just realised was missing an arm, having missed the assault during his dazed state. "Oh- Ensign... Fuck, are you going to be alright?"

Maya briefly paused on her repairs to allow Elwyn to lower herself, taking this time to see what work she had left to do before quickly jumping back to it. Reattach minor coolant lines, inspect for any further leaks, reinforce the connections she's made thus far, deal with the leak on her left shoulder, and hope to whatever's out there that she did her job right since this would either be a really big boost to her confidence as an engineer, or a very heavy blow against it... especially with the current circumstances as she overheard the others in the distance. Maya was breathing heavily as she worked on Elwyn's repairs and felt her hands start to tremble as she handled the smaller pipes. It is one thing to deal with a major problem on a starship or station, but dealing with what is essentially someone's life on your hands is something else entirely. All her thoughts stopped for a brief moment when she heard Elwyn say that she was doing great and turned over to face her. "Okay... don't make me cry dude..." Maya half jokingly said with a weary chuckle and a soft smile back "Thank you..." The engineer softly added before she took another deep breath and resumed her work, filled with renewed determination. "She'll be alright Commander! We'll catch up with you!"

Vovvi let out a little breath of relief at the confirmation Elwyn was going to be just fine and Vara'l was already preparing to receive treatment. She wasn't too keen on the idea of going forward with just the two of them, maybe three if Eshen tagged along, but dragging along the injured also seemed dicey. She had full faith in T'she and Maya, though. "Take your time. We'll cover you."

Walking further into the cave revealed the same room Ezran had noticed before. The Undine seemed frantic, messing with something as they argued, only this time, the people approaching were noticed.

"We surrender! Let us go and we'll let you take them." As soon as the Commander saw the away team, he jumped in front of the other Undine, who looked smaller and more fragile. He seemed to be offering up the hostages in exchange for not being hurt or killed.

The more Maya worked the less the leaks dripped, one slowly fading after the other. It wasn’t very practical to deal with the minor leak in the android’s left shoulder all things considered, what with an entire body plus the combat armour being in the way, but it wasn’t long before the majority of the leaking had actually stopped. Elwyn’s pump being stopped though, there was only one way to find out if the repairs had actually worked and were viable, and that would be to re-activate it. “How’s it going?” They asked Maya quietly, the expression on the Security officer’s face seeming tired more than anything, but it was entirely emotional, the survival programming overriding the emotion processor causing quite the clash in their head. “I can hear less dripping now. I’d look but, well, I’d rather not.”

Vovvi raised an eyebrow at how fast the Commander hopped up, glancing around the room. "Right, then," she said, nodding, not letting go of her phaser just in case. It was the right thing to do, after all. She glanced over the hostages -- were they restrained in any way that the Undine would need to release them, or could she take care of it herself?

The hostages, or what could be assumed to be the hostages, were in four large cryopods that were displayed in the room. They seemed to be locked; every pod had a screen with what looked to be the name of the occupant in Federation Standard and Undine. From left to right, they were Maria Sanchez-Torres, Torvas, Issara t'Aanikh, and Farkas Andor. There didn't seem to be an obvious locking mechanism, but knowing the Undine, there would probably be some such in order to keep the prisoners in their places, and it would have to be unlocked before they could be retrieved.

Vovvi glanced over carefully, then raised her phaser a bit higher. Her expression didn't shift. "Go on and let them out," she said, gesturing vaguely to the cryopods. "All four, please and thank you. Slowly, no funny business. I accept your surrender on that condition."

"Better." Maya answered as she finished up rerouting the coolant lines in her right arm and shoulder by waving her laser welder over the adhesive to speed up the curing process. "The dripping's coming from your left shoulder, I'll get to that in a little bit." She added. Once her work on Elwyn's right arm had finished, she moved on to her left shoulder, which was a significantly easier fix since it seemed that the damages were not that deep. "Alright... try activating your pump now." She let out a sigh of relief once her work was done, hoping everything had set enough to be stable. "Wait Commander!" Maya turned over to Vovvi as she overheard the Undine Commander give terms of surrender. This would most probably be the last chance she would get to ask this. "Ask them if they could give us the blueprints and schematics of the Terrasphere!"

Vovvi willed everything inside her not to roll her eyes to the ceiling. Not Maya's fault, she was just...tired by this point, and a little worn out. "We can see if we can get them, but the hostages are our biggest priority," she said gently as she could.

"We need to figure out how to open these pods safely. Perhaps that is what we should be asking them. But... I can try and give these pods a quick examination." They added as they walked over to one, checking for a control panel and comparing it to anything that they had seen before in their medical work.

"I can hear you, you know," the commander said, covering the ensign with its body as it backed into a wall, trying to get as far away from any potential phaser fire. "I can open the pods. I can give you schematics. I don't care. As long as you promise to let me and my officer go." It all sounded a bit pathetic, to be honest. One had to wonder what kind of humanoid disguise this coward normally chose to wear.

Her gaze softened just a touch, hardly noticable. "Of course. We'll take the schematics and the pods open, and you're free to go." she said, lowering her phaser as if to seal the deal. Still kept it at her side and at the ready. "...No additives from the peanut gallery, please and thank you."

Looking over at their left shoulder as Maya moved around to try and fix it, Elwyn re-activated their pump but at a reduced level as they looked back over to the right, wanting to gradually build the pressure up so as to not burst any of the Engineering or Medical officers’ hard work. Slowly but surely it became apparent that as long as the pressure was kept at about three quarters of what it normally was at the leaking had stopped. At least from where their right arm was meant to be, anyway. The left one looked like some bad cuts and minor internal bleeding, and what flesh could be seen through the armour appeared to be cut open. “I think the repairs have worked.” They said softly. “My pump is almost at full pressure, but I’m keeping it a little lower just to be on the safe side. As soon as you’ve done the left we should get going.”

The Undine did as it was asked, and went along the different pods. They weren't opened yet, but one by one, the locking mechanisms on the pods audibly snapped open. Then, the Undine motioned for the ensign, and moved towards a crevice in the far wall. "I will retrieve the schematics. Come find me when you're done, and I will give them to you." And with those words, it disappeared into the wall, the other Undine following right after it.

"Lieutenant T'she, could you lend me a hand with scanning over the hostages and making sure they're alright?" Vovvi moved to start getting the pods open, though waited for the doctor's input to get them out and safely.

"Nice! Thank you!" Maya shouted to the Undine Commander, ever polite and very happy to know she would have her hands on the schematics of this place as she moved on to shift her focus back to Elwyn left shoulder and nodded to the heads up of the pump being partially activated, repeating the procedure of replacing damaged lines with that from Elwyn's other arm and sealing all the connections with adhesive with curing it with the heat of her welder. Luckily this was much easier to handle than her other arm and would only take a minute or two. "Alright that should do it! Try to slowly bring it to full pressure." The last finishing touch after that would be to weld the other cuts in her armor closed once all the leaking has stop, won't be pretty since it was a quick job, but will suffice in providing protection to her internal components in that side.

T'she walked towards the first prisoner, medical tricorder at the ready, scanning over to make sure they were safe to move.

As Maya told her to bring the pressure back up to full Elwyn did just that, the leaks seemingly controlled and repaired for now. "Has it worked? I think it's worked, I'm not losing any more pressure." The android said, sounding really quite relieved as she blinked once more, the first normal blink she had done since everything first began going pear shaped.

As the first pod opened, the limp body of Maria Isabela Sanchez-Torres came into view, thin and pale. She was a short woman, her skin tan but grey-ish, her hair blonde with grey streaks running through it. She was floating in an ice cold fluid that was desperately viscous, in order to deprive her of everything but the sensation of the cold. She was alive, and medically speaking, she'd be fine eventually, but there was no speaking to her current mental state until they pulled her out of the pod, and out of her stasis.

Seeing that she was at least able to be pulled out of stasis, T'she did just that, reaching into the cold with freshly gloved hands and pulling the Captain out of the pod as gently as they could.

Vovvi moved down carefully, fighting the urge to wince at the idea of being so freezing. "D' you think she'll wake up?" she murmured, glancing her over. Poor thing, no telling just how long she'd been frozen...

Maria opened her eyes slowly as she was removed from stasis. She didn't seem to be very awake, the cold having gotten to her, and then, all at once, her eyes became wild, skittishly jumping around to take in her surroundings. She brought a hand up to her face, her hair, her neck, and gripped the collar of her shirt, staring with scared eyes but clenching her jaw as if refusing to open her mouth. She was alive, at least, and at least somewhat aware.

"We are not Undine. We are with the Federation. My name is T'she, I'm a nurse, we are going to get you out of here." T'she spoke evenly as they looked at her, eyes calm. "You will be safe."

Ah. That was an answer, wasn't it? "Good morning, Captain. My name is Vovvi," she greeted carefully, somewhat...awkwardly, admittedly, backing off so the Captain didn't feel so closed in and raising her hands in a show of surrender. "It's alright, you're alright."

Slowly, Maria's jaw untensed. Her brow furrowed, though, and she frowned as she collected her voice, which came out as a whisper. "Undine?" she questioned helplessly, "what are you talking about? Who are you? Where am I?"

"It... is difficult to explain. But we are Federation. We are here to help and get you out of here." They continued, trying their hardest to seem welcoming and calm, despite their growing discomfort with the situation.

Vovvi stood back up. She felt bad for not providing further comfort, but there was a job to do. "Lieutenant, I think she's still disoriented. Let's give her some space and get everyone else out," she said, popping open the next pod to let T'she scan them. (edited)

"Yeah! I think it worked!" Maya said with a smile as she offered to help Elwyn up just in case, very much more than happy that the repairs actually held up better than she had initially expected.

They simply nodded and moved to the next pod in order to scan it, completing the same steps that they did last time. Scan, and if they were able to be moved, taking them out of stasis.

Torvas was a tall and lithe Vulcan, their long blue hair floating in the viscous fluid. They seemed especially pale, and their heartbeat was weak, but steady. When they were pulled out of the liquid, they came to a lot slower than Maria had, but once they did get with the program, their eyes were a lot clearer than Maria's had been, less wild and more resigned. "This one is new," they mumbled, shivering from the cold.

"Morning," Vovvi greeted, running through the same motions. "I'm Vovvi, this is T'she. We're with the Federation, we're going to get you home safe and sound as we can. I wish I had something warm to offer you both, but.."

"This one is really new..." Torvas didn't seem convinced, but they sat up on their own, their eyes scanning the environment. When their eyes landed on Maria, they did a double take, and their eyes saddened visibly.

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Maria in turn was staring at Torvas with wide eyes, her knuckles white from how hard she was clenching her hands in her collar. "Vas... they said you were dead. They said you were all dead..." It seemed, through Maria's desperate whispering, that they knew each other.

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Accepting the offer to be helped up with her one existent hand, Elwyn slowly stood up, having been knelt in a pool of her own bright purple coolant for however long now. Giving a weary but appreciative smile to Maya, the android went and picked up her rifle that she’d dropped, slinging it over her back before turning and stopping suddenly. Looking down, she saw her arm, ripped off, ont the ground, covered in coolant. Staring at it for probably way too long, she slowly crouched down to pick it up, wanting to take it with her so it could be re-attached later, only to stop her hand millimetres before touching it, tears suddenly welling up in her eyes. “I can’t…” She all but whispered, before looking over at Maya again, her emotional processor finally starting to win its ongoing battle with her survival programming. “…I can’t touch it. I just.. I can’t.”

...Best to give them a moment. Vovvi nodded quietly to T'she and moved to open up the next pod -- Issara t'Aanikh, by the label. She internally thanked her Universal Translator. Standard spelling was damn confusing.

Issara, too, was stable enough to be pulled out of the pod; in fact, it was paramount that they did so as soon as possible, because she was almost critically underfed, and while she was alive, she was desperately underweight and wouldn't be able to hold herself up. Indeed, the skeletal Romulan leaned heavily on Vovvi as she was pulled out, and while her heterochromic eyes opened immediately, her head lolled to the side. She didn't speak, and if it wasn't for the slightest rise and fall of her shoulders, she'd have made for a convincing corpse.

"Easy, easy," Vovvi murmured, letting herself act like a crutch and steadying her hold on Issara. Even if she wasn't a doctor, it wasn't hard to tell that the Riov was in pretty bad condition. They really needed to get these shields down ASAP and get these people to sickbay. "I've got you, you're alright. Can you communicate at all?"

Issa looked up at Vovvi, her eyelids fluttering as she tried to process spoken word. She was at least aware enough to realise where sounds came from, but that seemed to be about where it ended. It wasn't clear whether she couldn't speak, or just didn't want to, but either way, it didn't seem like she was doing well at all.

Vovvi thought for a second, unsure of how to communicate that Issara was safe since she didn't seem to be processing her words very well. She fixed her arms around her, humming a little lullaby -- something her mother had taught her in Rihannsu, but the melody alone would do for now-- as she carefully lowered Issara to the ground and propped her up against the cave wall to keep her stable. Hopefully, that would serve as enough of a sign she was safe with her. In the meantime, she opened the last pod.

The last prisoner, Farkas Andor, was by far the healthiest of the four. He also woke up far quicker, and came out swinging. The Bajoran man, tall and only mildly underfed, launched an ineffective fist at Vovvi's face. "I'm not falling for it! You bastards can try whatever, I'm not falling for your tricks!" Whoever he was angry at, he seemed convinced that team three was part of said group.

Vovvi remained relatively unflinching as the fist flew past her, taking a step back and raising her hands in surrender. "Good morning to you too." Everyone seemed so disoriented... Just what had they all been through? She could only imagine... "Stand down, soldier. I'm not going to hurt you. We're with the Federation, we're going to get you home safe."

"I'm no fuckin' soldier, and you lot know that as well as I do. Federation my ass. Yesterday the story was that the Federation had fallen, just like everything else! Whatever bullshit you're trying this time, it won't work." Andor was pissed, and in any other case, him being able to stand up and walk without too much effort would have been a good sign! But this candidate seemed to be looking for trouble, eyeing the way out that was blocked off by the rest of the team suspiciously, and pacing as he looked between it and the other crevice in the wall. He seemed like he wanted to run, or punch again, or both.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Vovvi t'Rei'nak, from Starbase 777. If I was trying to trick you, play some elaborate long con, don't you think I would at least keep the story consistent?" Vovvi took another step away from the prisoners, just to be safe. "That doesn't seem very logical to me. I don't expect you to trust me completely. I wouldn't ask that of you after all that you've been through. I just ask that you don't hurt anyone else here, and stay nearby so we can beam you to safety when the time comes. I can move further away if you'd prefer that."

Andor visibly stuttered at the idea that that a good lie was one that was kept straight, because it made sense. He pointed at Vovvi, ready to give her a piece of his mind, before thinking better of it and simply clenching his fists in rage. Then he went back to pacing like an animal in a zoo, clearly unsure of what to do next.

Confident that the area was relatively secure, and the prisoners were underway in being rescued, he quickly doubled back down the cave to check on the status of the Elwyn repair and rescue situation.

"Right, then." Vovvi nodded in quiet appreciation she didn't get her face punched in, now addressing all of the prisoners. "We still need to get the shields down in order to beam you all to safety. If you don't mind, I'm going to tag you so we can do that ASAP when the time comes. Your safety is our priority." She moved to do just that. "Now, let's get these shields down and get the hell out of here."

Once Ezran came back to check on Elwyn it became quite apparent that their emotions were very much so getting the better of them, tears now streaming down their face as their horrific experience started being processed in their head. Seeing their own arm ripped off, on the ground, was genuinely horrifying to the android, and if they could feel unwell from seeing it they probably would do. Several minutes passed as the two Security officers and the Engineer talked, before the Ensign eventually calmed down enough to push onward, Ezran having offered to carry their arm for them. Reuniting with the others, and now the prisoners? Huh. Elwyn looked around the environment and couldn’t help but feel bad for the people they had come to rescue, handheld phaser still in their left hand so they could help defend their team if needed.

The crevice in the wall looked to be a tunnel deeper into the cave system. It could be said the end was in sight -- get down the shields, rescue the prisoners, go back home. At the same time, it could be going into the mouth of the beast. The jagged and glitching cave systems certainly resembled teeth. Nonetheless, wounded or otherwise, the away team wandered in deeper..