Star Trek: Starbase 777

Gathered around Liza were the surviving Breld employees, long having since turned over tables and chairs to barricade the entrance and exit from the canteen.

“Thank you.” She murmured to Liza, before looking around, “…how many do you have here?”

He said nothing, simply looking around for any wounded or ill.

Blegh swept in as the away team followed suit. “I’d appreciate some answers,” she said, clearing her throat. “What exactly is that thing out there?”

Immediate assessment, was there anyone obviously injured? He eyed the remaining employees. After a moment, he did voice that query. "...Are any of your people injured?"

William entered, alongside the others. He ended up standing beside Suun, trying to determine just how many people were here in this room with them.

Paco walked in, scanning everything and everywhere to see if there was any signs of the metal creature, now modified to find whatever metal it's made of instead of a lifesign

“‘Bout 15’s all that’s left. Wasn’t expectin’ y’all to roll up…” Liza folded her arms over her chest.

As soon as the away team had entered, immediately the door was barricaded once more. An injured employee, clad in similar hazmat gear like Silas, piped up, “But you sent a distress signal, right boss?” (edited)

Dead silence. Liza turned to Blegh with a sneer, “I ain’t gotta tell you shit.”

Well.. at least she was still alive. She’d decided that sticking right next to Suun and William was the move from now on, and so she was right next to them as they walked in.

Daso walked in, shes still here dont worry

thank goodness. Paco thought Daso was dead, Jim

“Fifteen. Out of…?” She prompted, recalling the shredded bodies, and their recently deceased guide.

Liza shrugged. What a great boss.

She didnt die, she was in the bathroom or something

"Well given there was no signal received and the last guy was also surprised by a lack of it.." Looked at the employees and shut up, probably not the right place or moment for that.

“Hm. You owe us answers.” She stepped back, glancing towards Blegh, “Are we going to get them, or will we all die together?”

These people really knew how to try her patience. If she wasn’t a Starfleet officer, she might’ve gotten physical with this woman. But she didn’t. She took a deep breath and stepped towards the door, keen on keeping watch and giving herself some space to decompress (as much as possible). Diplomacy wasn’t her strong suit.

Wow, this "Liza" character really wasn't the best person ever, were they? William folded his arms over his chest, just scanning between the different individuals while letting the others do the talking. (edited)

Despite also being a Starfleet officer, she was still down to punch someone.

Liza kept a sneer on her face and huffed, “We’d have been long gone if y’all hadn’t activated the lockdown,” From the looks of their surroundings, it didn’t seem like the employees were mounting an offensive.

The employees were mostly human, and mostly silent. Their gazes lingered on the away team, and bounced to Liza when she spoke.

Ehlai knew that it was not his place to speak. Even if he was a command cadet, he was not in the diplomatic track. If someone asked him to, however, he would say something.

*If Paco wasn't a starfleet officer, he would've been very sad, but also, definitely not here in this very situation, which would be a slight improvement for morale but not character development. Unfortunately, he only punches things that he believes would keep him locked down here, like that screen from the beginning. *

“We weren’t aware there were people down here. What is it out there that’s picking people apart?” She spoke, louder this time.

"And how many are there? Is there more than one?" William asked, keeping his arms crossed. (edited)

“I couldn’t tell ya, I imagine they’re using the replicator by now,” Liza spat at William.

4

The fucking replicator? “They’re… they’re multiplying. They’re making copies of themselves.” She felt the colour drain from her face.

He noticed the injured employee and asked them if they'd like their injuries attended to. He also decided he was going to unionise all her employees after he fixed them. They probably didn't even have dental.

5

Was the one that grabbed Silas even the same one that broke Blegh’s arm…?

5

He aproached some of the lieutenant commanders and lowered his voice "Sirs seems probable she knows more, but purposefully avoided sending out a distress call in lieu of secrecy" That was probably obvious by now, but same page and all that.

William's expression turned into a frown, looking towards Suun for a moment. He then turned his head back towards Liza. "Have you fought them? We've used phasers to some effect, but is there something else that works better?"

Vesta felt like she was back in the fucking Borg cube. She brought her hand up to her neck instinctively.

“That. That shouldnt be how that works. The replicators can’t make living beings. That makes no sense. If they can replicate using a replicator, then they arent organic lifeforms.” She said, thinking as she went

"If you have some information — it would be useful for all of us, no?" Five offered gently. "Either we're cleaning up each other's bodies or we're all dying down here. So..." He gave a vague gesture. "Call it a temporary alliance?.."

"...tell us or we'll feed you to the thing?" Paco said as he turned over to Holly as if he was asking if that was an appropriate thing to say, or a threat that could actually work? He wasn't going to say that to Liza, as much as he wanted to. unless he was permitted to.

Whispering “What the hell, Paco.”

Storm grey eyes snapped to Paco then. Focused as he frowned slightly. "Lieutenant Umali." He snapped simply, sharply. Disapproval writ large as he gazed at them. "No matter our purposes, we are still Starfleet."

Liza tightened her folded arms before finally, “Fine! Fuck! They’re some goddamn androids we grabbed from the Delta Quadrant, thought we could retool ‘em into some mining androids, or some shit, big here we are!” She waved her arms around, before pointing accusatorially at the away team, “If y’all hadn’t have rolled up on Listone, I wouldn’t be stuck down here, and have to work with you!”

3

…they weren’t making weapons at all, they were stupid enough to try and turn weapons into mindless drones!

7

“I’m an engineer and i think that’s one of the stupidest possible things you could have done. With all due respect. Why did you think that was a good idea?!” She said, getting more frustrated.

"Understood, sir." Paco promtply said to Vara'l. "Oh, I was right. they were automated units."

Oh, so they were stupid. Nice.

“And so was I. They wouldn’t be able to replicate if they were organic.” She said, still glaring at the morons in front of her.

“It wasn’t my fuckin’ idea, now was it?” She stepped up into Daso’s face, “The company demands, and I answer, because I’m a loyal fuckin’ cog in the goddamn machine. I don’t give a damn about your engineering opinion!”

"We won't get anywhere fighting," Five called out, shaking his head. "We all made stupid decisions. We're down here together. So let's not—— rip each other's throats out in the process, alright? Why don't we just all take a breath, tend to our wounded, and try to hatch a plan?"

"Why won't you're androids show in our tricorders? i doubt you intentionally made miners that had stealth capacities the tal shiar would envy" But most importantly if they knew why that was they may be able to counter it.

“Get. Out. Of. My. Face. Thank you. Is there any possible way, any emergency shutoff, go get them to turn off? did you make any failsafes?”

William remained silent for a moment. Arguing with this individual wasn't going to get anyone anywhere, and may only just create further animosity. He instead tried to cool down the situation, raising his arms in a gesture to try to get everyone to cool off. "Come on, now." William said, to generally everyone. "We've made the bed and we're laying in it." He turned towards Liza. "Now, what can we do to get out? I think our engineers said the lockdown protocol can be overridden in engineering, right?" (edited)

"You do not need to be a loyal cog..." He whispered... more to himself than anything. Even if he understood where Liza was coming from. He was a loyal cog in the machine once.

"You could've used... normal androids??? And not the killer automatons that fought identical automatons centuries after the species that made them went extinct... also how do we turn them off?" Paco asked before he turned over to Vokk "Because they're constructs, Vokk. Machines don't have lifesigns..."

"See, this is what happens if you don't unionise," he said to the injured employee as he treated them.

Vara'l slightly smiled at Umali then. "We're going to get through this, Lieutenant." A pause followed as he looked to the others then back to them as they proceeded to speak some more. Vara'l then looked to Liza then and listened to the conversation between Liza and William!

Liza stared into Daso’s eyes with fire, before spitting on her boots, and turning to William, “Lockdown controls are in the office. Replicator’s in engineering.”

The injured worker mumbled a, “Tell me about it…” to Dmitri.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a long sigh. This was ridiculous. She watched William, knowing he had it handled.

"All right..." William said, letting out a deep exhale as things were getting a little... rough around the edges. "And where would the office be?"

"I'm confident we will, Sir." Paco said with a nod. "Are there any more security booby traps along the way to that office? like the one in the entrance to this bunker?"

Dmitri seemed to have it covered, so Dakom just hovered awkwardly nearby while everyone else argued. At least these two fine people weren't arguing. Yet.

Whispering “If I wasn’t in Starfleet, and you weren’t a civilian, I would have broken your nose by now. But I havent. Because that’s unprofessional and goes against everything I stand for as a Starfleet Officer. But don’t be fooled into thinking I cant.”

5

20:34

“But thats bad diplomacy”

Vesta honestly couldn’t care what these people were doing, or why they were doing it. It didn’t particularly matter, what mattered was getting out of here, which, other than the murderous robots being around, seemed easy enough.

Whispering "Daso, what the fuck?"

Liza scoffed in Daso’s direction before continuing to speak to William, “West hallway.”

"Good," Five exhaled, shoulders dropping. "Thank you. Do you have information about the androids? Schematics you analyzed. Any weaknesses. Anything at all is helpful."

Shrugged and started to fiddle with the tricorder again, this time looking for anything an android may give off, electrical, artificial energy, non standard computer waves and so on.

Whispering “Well you said you would feed them to it earlier!!!”

Vara'l turned to Lieutenant Daso and started to approach them then. Did so before he moved to get between them and the Breld people. "Lieutenant." He dropped his voice then and softly stated. "That's not helping."

Whispering "I said that like a question. That's different."

One of the engineers spoke, “Schematics would be in the engineering lab…uh…and I would recommend going there first…we don’t want to risk setting loose an invasive species into this quadrant, if we open the lockdown first.”

6

William turned towards Aatha and came very close to saying something unprofessional, but bit his tongue. Not only were they the same rank - which made things complicated - and he also wanted to keep all his attention on Liza. Maybe someone else would handle it. "West hallway, thank you." William nodded towards Liza. "And that's also in the direction of engineering, correct?"

“Apologies, Lieutenant Commander. That was out of line.”

"West corridor, yes sir." Paco confirmed with a nod

Liza’s gaze lingered on William for a moment, “…I think.”

She didn’t know?

5

“It wasnt very Starfleet of me.” She says, visibly apologetic

William nodded along as both Paco and Liza provided their answers. Or at least, with Liza, her... non-answer? He then stepped back a little bit to let the superior officers take the lead, who might be better at coming up with a plan. "Thank you." He said to Liza, then to Paco, as he stepped back. (edited)

"you think??" Paco asked, seriously considering calling Eventide again to confirm.

“Wait. What do you mean you ‘think’. Its your base, shouldn’t you know where engineering is?” She asked, confused and a little suspicious

“This place is a maze, I can’t recall everything off my goddamn head!” Liza spat.

“Easy, both of you!” She exclaimed, “That’s enough to go off of for now.”

Five directed their focus to William, grateful for the fellow level head. "So we go to the engineering lab, find the schematics and information about the androids, shut it all down, and we get out of here. That sounds reasonable to me."

"This is a high stress situation Lieutenant." The CTO allowed then as his eyes remained fixed on the Lieutenant. "But, especially given past encounters with Breld, it'd behoove us to exercise more tact." He stated simply then before he moved off and looked to the others. "I agree, engineering lab sounds like a reasonable next destination."

“Yes Sir. Sorry Sir. I think the pressure is getting to me.”

"Yes sir." *Paco said promptly as he nodded to Suun. *

People she was really appreciating now: everyone who was shitting up. And also Vara’l. “We should call the Eventide to confirm.”

He did not have it covered. There were 15 people here. He would have asked Dakom to help him wave regenerators at people at some point.

“Dmitri, is there anything I can do to help?”

20:42

She asked, turning to him

"On it, sir." Paco said with a thumbs up (edited)

In which case that's definitely what Dakom was doing, yep. He also took the liberty of answering himself, because he was getting tired of this. "You could be quiet, maybe..." he groused under his breath.

2

“Okay, fine. Is there anything that needs immediate repairs?” She asked, turning to the civilians

"Actually, if someone could tell me if there's a replicator in here, that would be great," Dmitri said, currently preoccupied with the mentioned waving of regenerators.

And, somehow, this time it was not Marze who ended up face to face with someone. Maybe because she had been too occupied watching Aatha. Was she unprofessional? Yep. Was Marze starting to like her though? Definitely. (edited)

1

Vara'l smoothly and swiftly signed and spoke acknowledgement to Vesta. "I agree, Lieutenant." He confirmed before he spoke to Daso. "I understand, try to work through it if you can." He'd then proceeded to leave Daso to their business and tapped his combadge.

“This is my first away mission, hell of a first mission.” she said, looking around for a replicator

Omg there’s a replicator.

7

Maybe Paco should start saying more inappropriate things, that should help. At the same time, that sounds like a horrible idea if he said those things out loud. Maybe not, that doesn't sound like a good idea in hindsight. "Welcome to 777." Paco, who has been on many away missions, said to Daso with a thumbs up. "you're doing great."

“Hey, found the replicator!” She said, excited for the first time that mission.

”Started off strong then!” Marze moved in closer to the engineer to watch her work. “777’s trials by fire keep going strong.”

"Good. Does anyone recall my idea from earlier? About the EMP?" The implication was that someone should make one.

"Better this than prison..." Paco quietly said in agreement to Marze... 'I'M NOT GOING BACK TO SOLITARY' (insert echo effect here)

"Don't worry sir is my first away mission too, really i arrived to station like week or two ago" He said showing some empathy, but he kept working.

Looking over to dmitri “On it!”

"Are you sure about—" Five gestured vaguely to their and Vara'l's implants, flexing metallic fingers (under the gloves, but even so). "How can we ensure it's contained, I mean?"

Surprisingly, or maybe not, Dakom was much nicer to the Breld employees as he checked up on them. It was a stark contrast to his usual demeanor—or at least the one most of his peers were presented with. Yay for bedside manner!

“Is there some scrap metal you can hold in front of you to act as a sort of Faraday cage?” she asked, eyes lighting up as shes finally in her element

Vara'l also frowned a bit at the EMP statement. "I'm reliant enough on my implants that if a EMP affects me I'm going to go down." The Romulan xB stated simply then before he added. "I'm not sure that'd work as a Faraday cage, Lieutenant."

Paco quietly continued scanning and looking around.... was there someone missing from the gorup?

William also chimed in after Vara'l. "I could be wrong, but an EMP may also lock us in this bunker, right?"

"Most of my limbs are made up of metal, Lieutenant," she answered patiently. "I'm not fond of the idea of my life relying on how well scrap metal blocks the blast, respectfully.."

“Ah. Fair enough. New idea time!” she said, looking guiltily at them, realizing her mistake.

"It is possible to make focused emp's, but not with what we likely have" And even getting near the creatures would be a risk, simpler to use phasers.

"I was envisioning a small device," he said as he fixed someone's broken nose, "Sort of a grenade. Just something to throw at them and run away, not kill every robot in here."

William listened to Dmitri intently. Not a bad idea, in his head - though he was no engineer. Was something like that feasible? He turned towards whoever would end up speaking next.

“Oh! ohohohohoh!!!!!! I got this! I’ve made something like this before! Sure I used it for something stupid, but thats possible and not terribly hard, but it could take time.” She explained, waving her hands around in excitement

"Paco is not fond of the possibility of being stuck here." Paco immediately said after William raised the chance EMP would lock them here. Then Paco kept his lip shut because he wasn't an engineer and didnt have any more ideas to contribute to stopping the scary thing. He just continued with his scans, occasionally punching a wall in secret, though not as hard as he did to the screen

“Well I’m not gonna aim it at you, its more like a grenade than a bomb.” she said

Having now noticed the fact they lacked a Blegh, Vara'l looked around then frowned and following that, walked outside. Did so as he issued a parsing observation. "Given the risk of locking us in and the risk to two away team officers, I'd personally prefer anything that reduces the likelihood of having to cut our way out or either myself or Lieutenant Five of Eight experiencing a re-run of the blackout incident." With that parting observation, he headed out to join Blegh.

"Do we have access to the materials we need via replicator?" they wondered aloud— and, wait, what? "Vara'l, where—?" but he was gone, and Five was rooted to the spot. Their brows furrowed, but they said nothing.

“While the idea had merit, if the commander says no, then thats it. We can think of something else.” she said, determined to make something work

"Maybe we could recalibrate the phasers against the specific metal composition of the enemy sir!" He offered towards Vara'l "Is not a trumph card but it may save us if it comes to that."

Dakom paused in whatever he was doing to glance down at his off hand, flexing the fingers like he needed to make sure it was, in fact, still working. A moment. Then he shook it off and went back to finishing up taking care of this employee.

William nodded. Maybe the risk of using an EMP was too great, considering that some of the present officers were at least partially robotic, and the fact that using even a limited EMP may carry unintended consequences for the whole bunker. But hell, what did he know about engineering, anyways? For now, he listened to the others speak and would offer his two cents, when applicable.

“That idea has merit. I think it could work. We could literally never use these phasers again, though. They would blow a hole through a person, Be careful with them.” She said, a glint of excitement in their eye (edited)

"I... Think you are all vastly over-estimating the size and power of this EMP, but alright." It wasn't like he was the tech guy, so maybe any EMP was a bad EMP?

Vara'l briefly poked his head back in mid heading out and responded to five. "Five, I'm heading out to check on Commander Tollum." He explained then before he added. "Good idea, Ensign." And properly disappeared out this time.

“Even a slight decrease in power to their implants and limbs could be catastrophic.” she explained “its just out of caution.”

“Alright. Whos going to engineering?” She asked, looking around. “I just want to see if i’m needed. If not, I’ll keep working on a weapon to counter the androids.” She said, evenly.

“You would be of more use there. Our supply of engineers is relatively small, this time around.” She nodded to Daso, “I’ll accompany you.”

“Thanks, Suun. Should I set my phaser to kill?” She asked, looking directly at Suun.

17:10

“Not sure it would do much.” She muttered

“I don’t know how much that will do. We’ve shot the robots before, and it proceeded to snap Lt. Commander Tollum’s arm like a twig.” She stated, concerned.

2

Holly glanced from person to person, watching whoever spoke in that moment. She had tagged along silently for a while now, waiting to be useful.

"Suun"?? Timi's head whipped around to Daso, hoping he misheard that. He wasn't particularly attached to rank structures, but he was attached to giving people the respect they deserved, and Suun had certainly been worthy of respect.

1

“Lieutenant Commander.” She said, correcting herself.

It was appreciated, but in this moment, she didn’t mind just her name. Of course, that was an inside thought. “Thank you. Who else is headed to the engineering bay?”

“And I know that EMPs are off limits, and phasers don’t do much, but what about regular weapons, no electricity.” She said, trying to think of something, anything, to counter the androids.

Some of the survivors grumbled and spoke amongst themselves, squirreling away from the away team. The injured stuck with Dmitri and Dakom, but it was clear that the rest of the survivors were split down the middle on whether to trust Starfleet or not.

"Am I needed anywhere?" William asked, simply. He was certainly no engineer, and wasn't equipped with a weapon. As such, that probably made him more of a liability than an asset, if the group comes under attack from the Breld-designed... things again.

Holly's attention shifted to the survivors for a moment, mentally mapping out where they scattered.

“As cool as lasers are, no android is completely immune to a metal pipe to the face.” She said, for once not being funny.

"Yes let's apply the plan now" There was a edge of irritation in his voice now, but he kept focused.

It had been a while since Sak spoke. Maybe the first time he uttered a word after entering the Canteen. "If phasers aren't enough to hurt this thing, then what's to say that normal weapons will do anything? Not to be a pessimist, but that phaser blew a hole through it. It didn't stop. I'm not sure about this. The EMP is still the best shot at it, for me that is."

Liza led a contingent of Breld loyalists, it seemed: Bureaucrats and the few blue collar workers who were downtrodden into loyalty. The rest were made up of workers and engineers, the ones who had offered help to the away team in the first place.

“If we can figure out where their main circuit board or power supply we can figure out where to aim.” She said. “Oh i’m sorry, Ensign. I’m trying to find some way to combat the murder androids.”

“Our best shot at an EMP would be engineering, would it not?” She raised a brow, “With access to everything, we’ll make it a lot quicker.”

"Maybe it depends on where we hit them," Holly suggested, "Forgive me if I'm wrong but shouldn't these things have ... a core of some kind?"

"Maybe we should be aiming for the head?" William stated, half-jokingly. "I guess that'd make the most sense, right?"

“Yes. Thats. Literally what I just said, but yes, Lt Commander. There has to be a power supply somewhere.” She said, mildly annoyed at the lack of people listening to the things she’s saying.

"Might as well design a metal scalpel of some kind," she added to William's suggestion with a wry smile, "Cut the fuckers up."

He didn't really care about rank. He would prefer everyone just call him doctor. "Ask what's-her-face for the blueprints," he said, addressing whoever was listening.

Paco didn't really say anything much, still deciding whether it be best for him to go or stay. In one hand, he wouldn't be able to be much help here, on the other hand he was unarmed and there was a large possibility that 'punching the ever living shit out of it' won't be effective. Still in thought, but erring on the side of volunteering to join the party to the Engineering lab, Paco leaned by the door they came from, also trying to listen in and scan for anything that might be going on from the other side. Tricorder set to detect the Pralor metal the android apparently was made of.

"Whatever we decide..." William started adding, motioning towards the door. "... we need to act fast. If these things do have access to the replicators, and it's replicating itself, then we've only got so much time."

“Alright.” She let out a sharp breath, “Blueprints, then we take a team into engineering and find a way to get an EMP out or, if that fails, we just… in Lt. Cdr. McGrath’s words, cut the fuckers up. Does that sound reasonable?”

3

"Sounds like a plan." Holly nodded. She was likely going to have to join the team in engineering, seeing as she was someone with a rifle.

Sak nodded at Cdr. Suun's plan. "Alright. But we should act fast, as said perfectly by Lieutenant McIntyre." He pointed to William. "Who should go and who should stay here?"

“It’s outside.” She straightened her spine, having just received a message from Blegh, “In the eastern corridor. We need to act fast, and hopefully shut it down while she’s still in one piece.”

"And the rest of us will stay here, sir?" William genuinely asked, adding to Suun's statement. "With the rest of the Breld survivors?"

"One of us science should go with them at the very minimum" Just in case, they needed something outside the mechanics.

“Yes. We should try to keep our teams even, but unless anyone objects, I propose we take a handful of each division west, to the engineering bay and leave the others to keep the survivors safe from whatever’s outside.” She stressed, “Yes? No? Questions?”

"Does that mean I still get to punch it?" Paco asked, still trying to see if he could hear anything from the other side of the door until he got a reply from Eventide. "I'll go. I'm the most senior of the three of us, and I'm not letting two ensigns out there... Also, sirs, Eventide confirms Engineering Lab is at the western corridor. Vents are dense, but run through a nearby hill, awaiting schematics from Eventide."

Holly perked up at the mention of the thing being outside. "Yes," she responded to Suun, "I'm staying if nobody else volunteers." Keeping civilians safe was in her job description after all.

William nodded. The plan seemed feasible - of course, those without phasers like himself would need to find some other way to get armed. Probably by using some of the materials laying around the canteen, maybe some loose metal or something?

“Okay. I can make an EMP out of whatever we find in engineering, they arent hard. The only thing is keeping the androids off of me while im building.” she said

"I'll stay. As I'm not a surgeon, I'm not qualified to cut things up." Besides, he had workers to unionise.

“We need people with rifles on us, then. Front and back of the group.” She replied, “Hopefully it can buy us enough time. I can provide an extra pair of hands for you, Lieutenant Daso.”

"Uh we should focus on helping blegh now, time, urgency and so on" He bite his finger some...unsure wether to stay or go

“Thank you, sir.” She said, looking relieved at the help.

Holly sighed. So much for staying. "Fine." She waved her rifle a little in defeat, "Let's move then."

“…do we go out the east way, then? We could take her with us.” She asked, chewing on the inside of her cheek in thought. The thought of an officer being behind made her sick, but she knew Blegh was a smart woman.

"May I borrow a scalpel then?" Paco asked Dmitri, mostly out of curiosity if there was any spare scalpel. What effectivity would that have against a metallic android is yet to be seen, but very likely not that effective to no effect at all.

"Can't hurt." Could very possibly hurt a lot, but taking Blegh with them seemed like a good plan.

“you know what would be great right now? A taser. It could fry the circuits. If the EMP idea doesn’t work out, it wouldnt be difficult.” she said, thinking out loud.

"I'm going with you sir!, just in case" He took a deep breath again and joined the formation.

As the others kept discussing tactics, Marze felt the lack of a presence… right! Her boss! Where was she? Didn’t take long for her to realize though. Outside, obviously. Shit. And then Marze was on the move.

William looked over towards Holly, shooting her a smile. "Try not to die, okay?" He said, intending to stay here with the other survivors due to his limited combat experience. The statement was intended as a joke, and internally he believed everyone would come back - but the thought that Holly, Suun, and whoever else left may not return still lingered in his head. This was his first away mission in quite some time, after all - what a fantastic reintroduction.

Her eyes only barely caught a glimpse of Marze as she strode off, but Suun pulled her thoughts away. She had to focus. “We know which way the engineering bay is. What do we need for the EMP?”

"Lieutenant!" Holly called after Marze. Who the hell did she think she was just running off like that? "I'll do my best," she told William with a little smile back before she hurried to retrieve Marze.

"I just said it would be best for you to stay, Ensign, but okay." Paco quietly said to himself, partially defeated, but oh well, this may be a learning experience. The more the merrier, and also a smaller formation would be best.

"What part of 'not a surgeon' did you miss? I don't just have scalpels on me." Scalpels were not part of a general first aid kit. If they were to need scalpels, that would be a job for a replicator.

"My bad. sorry." Paco thought all doctors have scalpels on them, and needles.

She didn’t listen to Holly’s protest. She was out before anyone could intercept her.

3

"Oh my god, why do we even bother with plans if nobody follows them?" Holly groaned. She was now at the front of the engineering team formation with Suun.

“Ill need a few screws, something to house it in, a replicator, a power source, some wire, and something to detonate it with.” She listed

“That’s doable. How quickly can we do it?” She asked, “Given how much time it’ll take to just get there, I hope it’s less than expected.”

"I told two ensigns to stay and once is joining. I consider this a learning experience." Paco said, unarmed and right behind Holly in the front "a 9-volt battery and a couple wires? or the electric starter button in lighters?" he further suggested to Daso. He did not know much engineering, but he was a cousin of one and watched 'how it's made'.

2

After thing for a moment, she said “Hm. Maybe 15 minutes?”

"We can keep those things away for 15 minutes, I'm sure." That wasn't too long, right?

“…alright.” She exhaled through her nose, trying her absolute hardest to appear calm, “We’ll get moving once everybody is ready.”

She laughed quietly “Probably something a bit more powerful than a nine volt.”

17:40

Looking at Suun “Ready when you are.”

Generally Timi was in favour of going out to protect one of your own, but- well, he couldn't agree with Marze's actions there. He motioned at Aoife to follow the group, but unholstered his own rifle and followed after her slightly ahead of the group to catch up to her.

1

"A car battery and some jumper cables?" Those are like, 12 volts right? Probably more if they can start a car? Paco zoned out the moment Maya talks about car engines. He just likes sitting in cars and sniffing new car smell. "Ready as I'll ever be, Commander..." (edited)

“Oh? I guess we’re going now?” She said, after watching Timi move out

17:43

“I could probably do something with that, but i doubt we’ll find it here.” she said

"Maybe let the engineers do the engineering, Lieutenant." Holly then nodded at Suun, silently confirming she was ready to go.

“I suppose so. The others can… either catch up or stay back.” She muttered, “We’ll know where to go. Everyone, stay quiet and move quickly.”

“Yes sir.” She said, following after Suun.

There is a SLAM against the door. Then another. Then another.

She froze, arm shooting out in some attempt to stop the people behind her. “…rifles.” She whispered, before speaking louder, “RIFLES.”

"It's outside! Things are outside." Paco whisper yelled reported the obvious as he pulled his dukes and tricorder up.

"EEk... that doesn't sound like is going away!! someone help them please!" Still he ddn't exit, he would only be another target.

Instinctively, Holly turned towards the door and aimed to shoot, just in case whatever was outside managed to break in. It didn't sound too good for Blegh and Marze out there ...

Hearing the commotion at the door, William's first instinct was to cut back. Facing the door, he had his back towards the rest of the room for some time - spending this time searching for something he could use as a weapon.

The wood buckled. The barricades of lunch tables and chairs could only do so much to stop this thing.

A crack formed in the door, and through it could be seen the half-face of the APU, and the aftermath of it fighting Blegh and Marze. “You Are In A Restricted Area.” It slammed its entire body against the door once again. …and it had a phaser rifle.

3

“Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!” She freaked out but tried to keep calm “Is there any other way out of here?”

"Ensign Vokk, behind me!" Paco ordered as he moved out of the way of the people who are actually armed for them to get clear shots. He was also going to use himself as a meat shield because what's more traumtic than dead bodies of a stranger is of one you actually work with "Prophets!"

ARE YOU FUCKING JOKING. She whipped out her phaser, hand trembling only a little bit as she looked around. Was there another exit? A large vent?

She stood in front of Ensign William, he stood no chance unarmed.

There’s a vent!

All the conversations going at once was overwhelming, the words flew past her on her visor. That was all thrown out the window as the APU appeared in the door. She raised her phaser and attempted a shot at it, they had proof that it didn’t do much, if anything, but it was better than nothing.

"Well shit, it's armed!" Holly gasped, though not losing her aim. But if she shot, would it just end in a firefight in close quarters?

"fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck" Paco quickly turned around and began scanning for a vent and any possible route through the vents away from this because following the others turned out to be a bad, terrible idea and he needed to make an escape plan YESTERDAY! "Ensign, follow me!" Paco said as he ran to the nearest vent and pulled its grates off

Vesta’s phaser slammed against the APU’s head, causing it to stagger slightly, falling back toward Blegh and Marze.

She hesitated, before looking back towards her co-workers. Fuuuuuck. “Cover me.” She muttered, about to try and get to the both of them.

“Aim for the head!” She yelled, seeing the stagger. “Thats the weak spot!”

:"Everyone, go!" Holly yelled over the shots when she noticed a few people heading towards a vent. She herself began shooting at the APU's head as well.

Didn't have to be told twice he skittered behind the lieutenant, why, why please be alive by the end of this He said as he ran behind Umali, even if it was an enclosed space they had the good sense to reman crouched and make no sounds to atract it's attention, while looking around for sak.

"Everybody else to the vents, lets go! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" Paco ordered to everyone else who wasn't going to be involved in any of the fighting as he went in head first to the vent. Claustrophobia be damned, he wasn't staying here for this shit! He pulled out his tricorder and went on to finding some route they could take to the engineering lab, or at least, a safe space!

She took shot after shot at its head, hitting more than she missed.

Clambering through the vents would lead the away team to the #bf-west-corridor !

The APU, pelted with phaser fire, fell back into the #bf-east-corridor …

Now what? Stay to help out in the corridor? Go to follow the others into the vents? "Let's split up, the people in the vents need someone with a weapon as well," she suggested to Vesta and Daso.

Daso is in the vents

2

Hearing the comments about a vent, William turned around towards Paco - who seemed to have found one. He first got into a position between Paco and the thing as he undid the vent, acting as at least some kind of last-line-of-defense in case things went south. As soon as the vent was open, though, the APU was thrown out of the room. He looked around a little bewildered, not sure where exactly he'd go. Guess it's into the vents with him, too!

After a quick deliberation, Holly decided to follow the others into the vents. Vara'l was out there after all, he'd know what to do to help them best.

“I’m not leaving them!” She signed. She was almost physically incapable of leaving behind her crewmates, especially not that the threat seemed to be down. She opened the door.

Suun moved carefully, in an attempt to not jostle the ACSO who currently hung unconscious in her hands. She searched out one of the medical officers, in hopes of gently placing her in their care.

3

“Here.” She signed to Vara’l, showing him the vent that the other had taken. “If we’re going to go help them, time is of the essence.”

Vara'l followed Vesta in after a bit and looked over the indicated vent. He frowned a bit, nodded and signed. "Aye." Paused and then mused as he signed. "We've got wounded however, one unconscious." His jaw worked a bit. "We need to see to them if we can" He started to sign then before his expression darkened slightly, fully aware of what might happen if they were forced to retreat. "But if it comes to it, we may need to get the wounded out through the vent and try to link up with the team and then see to injuries."

She had entered along, having recovered her rifle from Timi. She sat next to the area where Suun would settle Blegh, riffle propped on her thigh and finger from her non dominant, but still in one piece hand, over the trigger, pointing towards the door.

Jayri was dragged in, stumbling along as she clutched her tricorder. "Alright. Um, I have something. A file from the U.S.S. Voyager. Not sure if it's useful 'ere, but it seems these things were designed for a war, and they simply never stopped. Maybe there's a way to command them to...? I'm not entirely sure." (edited)

“Convey that to the team in engineering.” She nodded, “Good work.” She placed Blegh down fully, on an empty table, sitting next to it and finally letting herself catch her breath.

She nodded her head, tapping her commbadge.

After Jayri spoke, Sak spoke up. " Thats great! Do we know how Voyager stopped them...or any blueprints of how they were made..?" (edited)

There was movement in the corridor…

5

Timi was posted up by the door to the east corridor, aiming for the approximate height of the APUs so the minute one came into his sight, he'd be able to take his shot. He had his rifle set to the highest kill setting, his body steadied against the doorframe so he'd be able to apply constant pressure regardless of any recoil. "I have a second rifle and a pistol," he beamed to the others without asking, not reading their minds in return and therefore figuring it was fine for now. "Anyone with a steady, non-injured hand can join me.*

"I didn't get too much from my-" She stopped abruptly as she heard the movement. "I'll have one." She responded to Timi.

She hesitated— she didn’t really want to leave Tollum’s side, but she was a steady hand at the moment. “I can as well.”

Sak looked up at Timi, then Jayri and then Suun. "Well, I guess that leaves me to stay here, and take care of the injured. Don't worry, if have rudimentary medical knowledge, i think i can handle them." He assured them all.

"No, you will not." Having been in here the whole time or something, he rushed to attend to Blegh and Marze. The latter would only need a quick osteo regen, which he did, but Blegh was a more complex case. "What happened?" (edited)

Vara'l moved to the entrance with Timi then, the telepathic message only blinked at as well. He'd indicated Timi had blanket permission to do that this mission so well. Oh well. He just adopted a position to aid in keeping the door covered as he stated. "I have a hand phaser is someone wants it." Rifle gripped in both hands.

“One of the things, it— it got to both of them. I think Marze’s ribs are injured, and Blegh went unconscious when I got there.” She told Dmitri.

A robotic voice echoed from the hallway, “You Are In A Restricted Area.”

3

Sak smiled sheepishly. "Maybe it's better for the medics to handle it after all." As the APU spoke, Sak asked Vara'l for the hand phaser. "Sir, may I get the hand phaser?"

Vara'l shifted position slightly and raised his phaser rifle as he readied to fire. "We've got incoming." He tapped his com badge then as he offered the Ensign his hand phaser one handed. "Here you go, Ensign.*

Timi handed off his pistol without looking away from where he was aiming, a steady deftness ot his movements. He'd gotten the memo about the restricted area, really. No need to continue telling him about it. At the first glint of metal, he'd shoot. (edited)

Another curse, muttered in El-Aurian beneath her breath, as she went to retrieve her own weapon with a soft greeting. “Doing alright?” She turned to Timi. (edited)

Sak took the hand phaser from Vara'l and gripped it tightly pointing at the door. "Thanks, sir. Let's just hope that there's only one APU."

There was a glint of metal in the doorway, Timi. A flash, quick and quiet.

No sense hesitating, then. Timi pulled the trigger, the blast also lighting up the hallway somewhat so as to reveal more units.

Many, many more were behind the APU that fell.

She fired, phaser up to kill, as she aimed for the heads alongside the others.

She looked at Dmitri. ”Just, focus on the commander, I’m fine!” No she wasn’t, though Klingons and Romulans were very resistant species.

Vara'l fired at that quick and quiet flash of metal as he joined his fire with Timi. There was and remained no point to well not fire. As he spotted more he just continued to fire steadily, aimed shots for the head or central mass at high kill. They needed to protect the wounded "Set to kill and fire."

As Timi started blasting the hallway, Sak decided, 'Fuck it, we ball.' And started blasting forwards in the hallway. However, he didn't anticipate the number of APU's. "Holy-! How many are those!" At Vara'l instructions, Sak hurriedly set his phaser to kill and resumed fire.

“More than we’d like to face!” She exclaimed, eyes wide as she continued shooting.

"We're definitely gonna die," someone in Liza's camp said, too loud to have been intended as a whisper. "We're all screwed, and we're gonna die here, locked into a stupid fuckin' bunker. I got a wife and kids, man."

"Shut your damn trap," Liza hissed, pacing slightly. She was clearly stressed, but thinking hard at the same time. "You're all so goddamn loud, I cain't hear myself think. Just shut up."

Vesta joined the group and began shooting at the APUs, her phaser was set to kill, so she was being very careful.

He prepared a hypospray to wake Blegh up; he would have liked to do a proper examination of her condition, but they didn't have time. He applied the hypospray, then osteoregen'd the rest of Marze's broken bones. "You'll both need to book follow-up appointments after this."

Jayri focused up and fired at the APU’s, watching her breathing as she steadied herself.

Suddenly, as fire continued to rain down on the APUs, there was some kind of…buzzing that thrummed through all of them. A few fell from the phaser fire of the away team, but they weren’t attacking anymore. They stood still.

She froze, hands stilled over the trigger. “…wait, the team in engineering—“

Ehlai steadied himself, he might not have had a phaser rifle -- but he did have a good aim. But... it seemed he did not need to use it at all.

The APUs moved from being frozen in place to standing at attention, like an eerie field of terracotta soldiers.

Though Sak didn't stop shooting, his shooting did slow a little bit, until he finally stopped as the APU's stood still. The cogs in his brain started spinning rapidly. "What....what happened? Why are they standing still?"

She let out a shocked, strangled laugh. “They did it. Those bastards did it.”

Vara'l lowered his phaser rifle then and frowned a bit. "They did it indeed." He then cocked his head at the com message. "Shutdown command was 'we surrender'?" The Romulan mused then before he allowed himself a slight relieved sigh.

She looked to Marze and Blegh at the table, and then to the others. “Is everyone alright? Other than… a reasonable amount of shock?”

As Paco's voice came through the com badge. Sak's mouth coiled into a smile as he touched his com badge to answer.

Ehlai nodded, "I will be fine. I am just shocked... but I suppose that is normal given the situation?" he still seemed unsure of himself, but he was surprisingly steady.

“Very normal. You did well, cadet.” She assured him.

Was it a shutdown command, or simply the right thing to say to trigger a war machine's sense of restraint? Unproven, as far as Timi was concerned, and frankly, the distinction mattered enough that he didn't lower his rifle, though he'd stopped shooting the same as everyone else. "Now get us out of here," he signed one-handed, to anyone who might understand him.

Well, now he wished he'd waited five more seconds to give Blegh that hypo. Ah, well. He took a good look at her pupils and other features to determine if she had a concussion, since he still wasn't sure what had happened. "If anyone else needs medical care, please talk to Dakom or get in the queue."

Her breathing was better and her hand now could hold objects again, though the areas where the treatment had been applied were still sore and her fingers still felt a bit restricted. The machines had stopped, Blegh was about to wake up and the situation seemed under control. She lowered her riffle and sighed. “Damn, I wish I had at least gotten one. How is the commander doc?”

Vara'l nodded once then at Timi's signed statement before he mused. "Now we need to deal with the lockdown, get Eventide and report back." The Romulan mused then before he added. "And.. lets keep those APU things watched but avoid hostile movement." Grey eyes watched the mass of them carefully. "Just in case." He then tapped his combadge.

As everyone lowered their phasers and rifles, Sak sat down on the ground with the phaser in his left hand and the fanny pack on the ground next to him and started chuckling a bit. "Well, the worst should probably be over, yes? Anyone have some water left over?" Sak looked over to Marze. "Are you okay over there, lieutenant?"

All she wanted was to sink to the floor and take a fantastic nap, but Suun knew better. That was for when she got home. She moved to approach Dmitri and the other two, eyebrows raised. “…that was brave. And stupid. But I’m sure you’ve heard it from Lt. Cdr. Kestrel, so I’ll leave it be.” She told Marze.

Vara'l frowned a bit then as he looked to Timi and signed, a bit Leery about speaking when the APU's happened to be there. "I don't know how long it'll be that they stay frozen, we can't be sure how that worked." He then looked to the others and asked verbally. "The wounded able to be moved, if needed?"

"How far along is the EMP?" Timi signed to Vara'l, hoping he'd ask for him. "I want them all incapacitated as soon as possible."

“Hey Doctor!” She said, looking at Dmitri. “I have some injured officers for you!”

"Good Day sirs." Paco greeted as he entered the canteen alongside the others who were injured "We have returned."

"We have returned with spoils from battle—" Holly announced as the group entered the canteen, "Jesus Christ, y'all look bad. We've brought you some patients."

"Just exhausted, I think. Keep her horizontal while I attend to other people. You're my assistant now." He looked at Vara'l. "I would prefer they not be moved, but if we have to, we have to." He gestured at the various people who needed medical attention to come to him and Dakom.

Vara'l nodded once and tapped his com badge as he signed. "Asking now." And started to inquire about that over the com before, as the others returned he moved up to Paco and asked. "Do you know how far along that EMP is?" The xB inquired then before he glanced to Dmitri, nodded once and stated. "We'll try to avoid that."

As the group for engineering lab came back, Sak stood up again and surveyed the number of people and who they were. He wanted to see who got hurt. "Well, that's what happens when you fight robot killers whose only kill command is we surrender." He joked to Holly.

Replying to Timi “It’s done, I just don’t know where and where to use it. Theres a lot of APUs and Im not sure the range of this EMP will cover all of them.”

"Hey guys..." He said falling back from the same vent cause he wasn't in the mood to walk all that "So what's the plan sir? we find the locks or.. the other android thing" Thing being the master controls.

Entering into the canteen with the rest of the Engineering Lab crew, William held his broken right wrist in his left hand. Underneath his right arm, he held the arm of an APU that had been ripped off by Paco, given to Vokk, and subsequently given to William. He looked shyly around the room, trying to find where the doctors may be. (edited)

"Tell me about it, I gave that command," Holly grinned at Sak, "EMP is constructed, we're about to go looking for the control station."

Sak looked as they brought a few APU parts with them.' "The spoils of war?"

"Recover, maybe finish that EMP, and head back to the lab ASAP. We don't know how long the APUs would stay like that, or if stating that "We surrender" again would work a second time."* Paco explained to Vokk and the others.* "Also, we're not cavemen. We have technology to open those locks." Paco said as he held up the head of one of the APUs. "Yes, Ensign. Spoils of war." (edited)

"Exactly. Just like my late Klingon boyfriend intended," Holly nodded. She had taken an APU finger with her on the way out.

"I guess." William responded to Sak. Not that this was an APU he had destroyed - in fact, it felt a little weird carrying around something he wasn't responsible for destroying - but he wouldn't deny the "gift" from Vokk, right?

“Welcome back.” She greeted the others, “Good work, all of you.”

“Like I said earlier in the shuttle bay, I’m good at lock picking. Also, the EMP is done.” She said, looking at everyone.

"Sweet." Paco said to Daso with a thumbs up from his hurt hand to the news of the EMP being finished. "Now just a matter of going back to the lab before the APUs snap out of their frozen state."

"Set the EMP off. We are not safe as long as any of them can still move." It was signed to Vara'l again, but he'd take anyone who could read it at this point. He was not going to wait for them all to find the best spot, there was an army outside. He could deal with any stragglers if need be.

Just didn't want to see an APU ever again to be completely honest.. but didn't wanna ruin the upbeat either "Okay, uh liutenant we can set it right now.. but maybe we can set it to go off once we are clear"

Vara'l looked over to Timi and stated then. "It's done, they're coming in." Just as Daso mentioned that and he mused. "Well, that's the question also answered." He allowed himself another long exhale as he considered his implants and mused that this may be unpleasant for him. That thought clear as he then turned and looked to the APU legion then back to Vara'l and nodded. "We need to set that EMP off and end the lockdown, as Commander Kestrel says, we're not safe if any of them can still move."

William leaned up against a nearby wall, content with letting the others discuss the issue at hand. As opposed to his "issue at hand", eh? Get it? Since he's got a broken wrist? Anyways, he then glided down the side of the wall until he sat on the floor, releasing the APU arm - which was under his own arm - onto the the floor as well. He'd need just a moment to recuperate. (edited)

2

“So, are we setting it off in the control room?” She asked

Despite it all, Vesta smiled at the two commanders as they conversed in SSL. She was glad that she could at least understand their plan before the others could.

"That sounds about right," Holly responded to Daso, "That gives us the highest chances of success, I think."

"My hand hurts..." He would participate in the SSL conversation, but one hand was occupied and the other was hurt. He was content with reading for now. "Do we set off the EMP before they start moving or at the first sign they start moving?"

“Yknow what? When we get back on station, I’m gonna learn SSL.” She said, looking at the commanders “Alright, now we gotta find the control room.”

She looked to William, brow pinched in concern, as any more talk of the mission at hand would have her much more intense than she’d like to be. The others were handling it just fine, and she saw a friend with an injury to check on. “What happened?”

"Now. You set it off now." Was he being unclear? Set that shit off!

"Someone translate, please," Holly raised her eyebrows. She was probably going to have to learn the basics of SSL as well.

Vara'l looked to Timi then then to the others. "I'd set it off here." He stated as he signed. "Amongst them, as we head to the control room or wherever the lockdown can be lifted at." The Romulan mused then as he looked to Timi then, he reckoned the other commander. Then nodded as he realised the other was in support of now. "Set it off now." He stated verbally and in SSL then even as he mentally prepared himself for how he may well be affected as an xB. The numbers weren't something that lied here. Too many APU's, this needed dealing with.

"Now. Set it off now." Paco translated for Holly.

William shot a smile up to Suun as she approached. Lifting up his broken right wrist with his left hand, his pained smile brightened slightly. "A lot of APUs in engineering. One of them got the jump on me." He replied. "Seems they didn't like that I stole a wrench from a Breld toolkit." (edited)

Now having gotten two translations, she felt a little stupid. "Thanks." That didn't mean she agreed. They needed to set it off near the control panel.

"I see you're getting mileage out of my EMP suggestion," he said, as he worked on the injured. "If this works, I expect full credit. If it doesn't work, it was Paco's idea."

4

"Sush! don't say the B-word. They got angrier when I said it." Paco quietly said to William, nudging him with the APU arm.

2

“Ouch.” She winced, “Horrible things, aren’t they? Come have a seat over here, Dmitri’s working away on the others right now.”

"...what?" Paco just stared at Dmitri. The fuck did he do???

Let out the first genuine laugh of the day at dmitri, hehe man, his perception of dmitri thus far was funny doctor guy "But if it works daso defintely deserves her laurels, tis is her brain child."

William gave a little chuckle with Paco's nudge. Ah right - yeah, they're in the room with the Breld survivors. William might have to be a little careful with his words. And with Suun's suggestion, he nodded. He started standing up, grabbing the APU arm with one hand and tucking it under his right arm. "I think I'll take you up on that." He replied to Suun, before asking a question. "How were things with you?"

“Just fine.” She replied, almost automatically, before glancing to Marze and Blegh, wringing her hands, “…it’s fine now, at least.”

"If this doesn't work, it's Daso's idea. If it works, she made the thing so she get's credit for that part of the idea." Paco said before he turned to William. "I'm serious, they got really pissed off at me when I said the B word." He then realized how he phrased that a little bit later and chuckled to himself. He would spell it instead, but maybe the APUs are able to spell as well? that would be bad if he spelled Breld.

“Dlerb.” She said, laughing to herself. (edited)

As the EMP went off, the entire facility went dark before the emergency lights blinked back on once more. Anyone with a cybernetic implant would feel a sudden ringing in their ears, before their bodies came back into working order. In any case, the APUs did seem to fall to the ground after the pulse rocketed through the bunker.

“Fucking nailed it.” She said, putting her arm out for a high five.

"They're dead, Jim." Paco said as he watched the standing army of APUs turn to a laying down pathetically army of APUs. Paco reached over to high five Daso with his hurt hand, he wasn't going to leave her hanging. "Nice work!"

Making it over to Dmitri, William leaned against one of the walls of the canteen again, albeit choosing not to sit this time. He caught that Suun looked towards Marze and Blegh, also looking over towards them for a moment, before turning his attention back to Suun. "That's good to- nngh... hear." William said, a jolt of pain traveling up his right arm for a moment. He couldn't help but wonder if the others were doing okay as well, especially with Marze and Blegh. "Is everybody else okay?" He then turned towards Paco for a moment, nodding quickly. "Hey, I'm gonna stay on the safe side. No B words from me."

Vara'l briefly looked very distant as the EMP fritzed his implants and caused his hearing implants produce that ringing. Once things returned to working order he coughed, frowned then recovered. He then gestured to the exit. "Now we need to see to the lockdown." *

The surviving Breld employees began to celebrate quietly between themselves, eager to get out of here alongside the away team.

“For the most part, it seems…” She looked towards Vara’l, before glancing back at William, “Broken bones, maybe concussions, nothing worse than that.”

Addressing the Breld “Does anyone know where the control room is? The faster we get there the faster we can get out of here.”

William let out a sigh of relief. He rested his head on the back of the wall. "Hell of a first away mission." He replied. Was this what he should come to expect on 777? Upon hearing about the EMP, and that the lockdown was the next target, he lifted his head up again. Thank fuck, they'd be going home soon.

“This was your first, huh?” She sighed, “I’m sorry it turned out so intense, then. Let’s hope our next one is calmer.”

“Uh- The back hallway, it’s back there. Door should be easy to get through, I think?” The employee offered, “I’m not too sure if the lockdown affected that door or not.”

"No kidding. First in a long time." He replied. "Something like five, maybe ten years. But hey, it all worked out, right?"

Grey eyes eventually levelled themselves at Lieutenant Commander Zalan for a moment. "I'm fine." He mouthed simply then before he turned to look to the employee. "Can you lead us there?" He asked the employee before he added. "We can get through the door if needed, I'm sure."

“Vents still work even if the doors don’t.” She said, as she faced the crew. (edited)

"My ears are tingling weird, and i so need to see a councellor now" He looked down at an android... "If it did i'm going to skitter up the surface vent and ask for beam up!" It was a joke, but man was he tired enough to consider it.

She nodded to Vara’l, before turning back to William. “It’s done, at least. The survivors will be better off with a deactivation code, and the EMP.” She muttered, rubbing her face, “I hope you don’t mind me staying here with you. I’d much rather linger in case the doctors need anything.”

Holly was a little exhausted from the fight, but would tag along with the team again, she figured. Who knew what else this place had in store.

William's expression changed briefly to one of semi-shock. "Are you kidding me? Of course not." He replied to Suun's decision to stay. "It's funny - I mean, this isn't the first time we've met after an 'incident'." He continued, referring to the holodeck escapade. What was that, two months ago?

“Hmm, you’re right.” She chuckled, “We need to meet up in a normal context for once. Perhaps with the others we chatted with in the shuttlebay, once Blegh and Marze are well.”

2

"Hey i want to socialize too! i'm way better at that than running for my life" He said he was then... literarly lying on the floor and looking up. (edited)

3

“You’re welcome to join us, Vokk. Do you want a seat, or are you…” She gestured to him down on the floor, “…comfortable down there?”

"God, you have no idea how down I'd be for that." William remarked. He chuckled slightly, but a pain shooting up his arm interrupted the laugh. William winced, looking down at his broken wrist. "Damn, where's the doctor again?" (edited)

Holly glanced down at Vokk laying there. "You good down there? Flattened Ferengi?" She offered him a little smile.

“Sounds fun to me.” She smiled. “Nothing brings people together like a traumatic experience!”

Sorry, Paco, he needed a random person for his joke. He waved at William. "He's right here."

3

"The floor is the comfiest floor in the galaxy, they should make floors out of floor" Yeah he was a bit exhauted mostly emotionally, but he would live and make it the galaxies problem.

3

"That's nice ensign... I'm going back out to find the control room after my hand's sorted." Paco said with a smile before turning to Dimitri when he pointed to him as the doctor. "I prescribe amputation. We got a new hand and wrist for you right here." Paco answered for William as he waved the APU arm

"I might join you," Holly admitted. Although she ran the risk of falling asleep if she did. Perhaps she would stay behind after all.

An employee stepped up to Vara’l, prepared to lead the group to the office, before…

“I’ll take y’all there. It’s my office,” Liza spoke.

4

“If you don’t mind staying behind while the others head to their office, you’re absolutely welcome.” She exhaled, nodding, “I’ll let Lt. Cdr. tr’Hara handle that.”

"I can get behind that." William said to Vokk, though he decided to keep standing. He shifted his attention over to Suun again. "You should've seen what we were doing earlier, Suun - Vokk, the lieutenant commander, and I. We ended up doing this wacky wild west holodeck escapade, even after that other one trapped us all in it." William chuckled slightly. "Guess Holly got jealous she wasn't here for that one, so we had to make one for ourselves."

2

"Nice" Paco said to Liza as he used the APU hand do a thumbs up for him.

“My arm hurts from getting grabbed and slammed by that APU, I should sit down for a bit.” She said as she took a seat, staying quiet for a while.

Timi was firmly staying put as well, if only to make sure there'd be no surviving APUs who'd gotten the bright idea to finish their work.

Ehlai planned on going with the group that was going to the office. After all, he wanted to be helpful... somehow.

“Gods, I wish i’d seen it for myself. I’m glad the program is all good now!” She laughed, “Perhaps I’ll give it a run once I’ve had a proper sleep after this.”

Liza stood with her hands in her pockets beside Vara’l, a sneer still evident on her face.

Vara'l looked at the other carefully then and considered them for a moment. Did so then...nodded at that. "Alright." He confirmed before he looked around. "Can some of the un-wounded people follow me please." The Romulan requested then before he added. "Wounded remain here with some guards." He looked to Timi then. Vara'l then signed. "You good to pick some people and keep the door covered?" He asked. "I'm going to see to the lockdown."

"I volunteer for guard duty," Holly announced. She was staying right there after all of that.

“I’ll… help guard as well. Unless I’m extremely needed, I’d like to sit for a moment.” She laughed softly, mostly at herself.

William would've given a little salute to Vara'l, had he not had a broken wrist. You don't need to tell William twice - he'd gladly stay right here. "No kidding." He replied to Suun. "I think you'd be welcome to join us on another little holodeck adventure, whether it's western-themed or not. Barring, we don't all get trapped in it again."

"I punched one of the APUs in the face. It felt good... until it didn't feel good..." Paco said as he prepared himself to follow Vara'l and group. His hand wasn't that hurt, not a broken wrist, but still some pain from punching a hard thing very hard that would probably go away in a while. "I'll join you, sir." He said, tricorder in one hand and APU arm and head on the other.

"Hey Suun, can you ride a horse? I taught these two on the holodeck," Holly chuckled, gesturing to Vokk and William. That holodeck adventure had been so much fun indeed – for the most part, at least.

“Somewhat. But I imagine I could use the practice, my last time was during the holodeck craziness— nearly slipped off, if I’m being honest.” She replied.

" 'Taught' is definitely a word." William laughed. "I had to get my horse towed by you all the way back to town!"

It seemed people would start setting up a cover for the door as the others headed out. Her orders were to stay, which was enervating enough, and she wondered if any of the seniors present would reprimand her if she took her riffle to stand with the ones guarding the entrance. Her hand felt better now and was functional, her breathing was also lighter and the murder machines were down. She rose slowly, riffle in hand, as if still contemplating and waiting to see if anyone would realize her intention and say anything.

2

1

“If y’all’re going then we oughta get a damn move-on. I’d prefer to not be locked in this hell hole any longer, mkay?” Liza spat.

"But you stayed on! ... Until you didn't," Holly grinned at William, "But nothing beats out Vokk's glitter guns, huh?" At that she glanced down at the Floor-Ferengi again.

“Lieutenant G’khar?” She moved to stand, one brow raised in a curious gesture. She wasn’t planning to go, was she?

"Marze! I defeated an enemy in hand to hand combat and taken its head as a trophy!" Paco proudly said to Marze as he showed the APU head, that little bit brightened up his spirits.

Vara'l looked to Marze and frowned slightly. He then looked to the doctor and back to them. Considered. Then decided that that was for others to deal with and if Marze reckoned she was okay to guard the door then well. Okay. At least, as far as he was concerned. "Anyone coming to deal with the lockdown, with me." The xB re-stated then as he decided to do as he'd moved to do and elected to leave matters in the room for Lieutenant Commander Kestrel to address. "Lets get moving." With that, he started toward the doorway.

"I am coming, do not worry," He said -- albeit quietly. Ehlai wanted to get going, and get out of there.

"I wish real life problems could be fixed with glitterzookas....note to self invent the glitterzooka" He looked as the klingon passed by, but you know what he just an ensign.

"Aye, Sir. coming." Paco promptly said with a nod as he prepared his tricorder.

With Vara’l’s order, Liza began to lead the group out into the #bf-east-corridor

”What…” She was ready to argue her case with the Commander. Not about going, that was a lost battle, but about at least being part of the current defense team. Paco, however, chose that exact moment to call her attention. “Little man! I knew you had some fire in you!”

"Ah, yeah..." William grinned, looking down towards the floored Ferengi. "Maybe our holodecks aren't exactly the most realistic." William, however, pondered for a moment. He looked towards the group as they began departing for the offices to shut off the lockdown. A thought entered his mind, and he turned towards the others remaining in the room. "Say, though, you all want to try something for that halloween party that's coming up? That one in the event hall? William asked.

"Halloween party?" Holly raised her eyebrows, "Define 'try' and 'something', I haven't been to one of those in forever."

2

"I fought it with the arms I ripped from one of its comrades! It was glorious!" Paco said to Marze. "I'll tell you more over bloodwine when we get back!" he added before following the Vara'l and the others to the east corridor. (edited)

”That we will little man!” Consider Marze’s warrior spirits properly lifted. Good job Paco!

She kept an eye on Marze, saying nothing. Whatever she was thinking, she was sure Timi would put a quick stop to it of it was unreasonable. “Like what?” She turned towards William. (edited)

"I call dibs on vampire!" He muttered out, yeah halloween sounded nice, candy, and watching horror movies, and dressing up "Are you okay now william?."

"I dunno..." William thought to himself. He wasn't entirely sure of the activities at the event - he had heard something about a haunted house, as well as pumpkin painting, but William didn't know much aside from that. "Group costumes, maybe?" He smiled, shrugging innnocently. He then looked towards Vokk, giving a so-so expression. (edited)

“Last year, I believe I was an owl. What you all wish to dress up as, I will gladly tag along.” She grinned.

"I'd join a group costume," Holly grinned, giving a little shrug, "I would have just dressed up as a scarecrow or something otherwise."

"Great!" William exclaimed, almost having his right arm shoot up before he remembered the broken wrist. He grasped it, trying not to shake it so much as to let the pain return. "I guess, though, the hard part's gonna be figuring out what we'll wear. But, given everything..." He looked around the room a little bit. "... we could probably figure that out later." (edited)

“Mm… absolutely. Could do something literary, maybe.” She hummed, “I’m not sure.”

"We could also dress up as a band. Or an era," Holly suggested, "But you're right, we still have time to figure that out once we get back. Invitation accepted, though."

"Could also do a show. Or a movie. Something like that." William replied. Hearing that the two others were eager for this, though, was pretty nice. If all else failed, he'd shoot them a message and see if anybody had ideas at a later date. It shouldn't be too hard to replicate costumes after all, right? William flexed his wrist a little bit, making a circular gesture with it now that he had full motion again (because I think I missed that it got healed).

“Please do message me if you have an idea.” She nodded, “I know it will be fun, whatever we choose.”

"We're also still due a Romulan pastry date," Holly commented in Suun's direction before she finally gave into her impulses and went to lay on the floor beside Vokk, her back cracking back into place properly at the momentary relief.

“We are!” She sat up, “Gods, it slipped my mind. I’m terribly sorry.”

"No worries at all, you've had your hands full ... and I was being shot on the holodeck," Holly chuckled. Oh, the floor was lovely.

With Holly taking some floor time, William also used the the wall against his back to slide to the ground. He used the wall to keep himself seated upright, though. "Will do." William responded to Suun, then couldn't resist a little chuckle at Holly's holodeck comment.

"So are away missions usually like this?" He said lying there with holly "I was hoping for a bit more surverying alien plants" He wasn't rambo sue him, still he knew this came with the job, starfleet was after all a defence force... force and all "I hope we can go over the research here, foolish as it was to use it."

“Usually… only at this level occasionally, though.” She told Vokk, “Today was hard. All of you did admirably.”

No post missed, you can just assume that if Dmitri called William over to help him, he wouldn't have then just, like, decided not to for a laff. That would probably break some kind of ethical code. In fact, he'd probably tended to everyone to the best of his ability by now. More complex problems that he couldn't immediately solve would have to wait until they got everyone to an actual medbay with other doctors. "It might be me. I'm two for two on unexpectedly dangerous missions right now."

2

"I wouldn't know, this was my first one," Holly sighed, "I have to say, shooting robots is a lot easier on the psyche than shooting people, though, thank you to these people for that at least."

“Oh, I’ve heard about that one…” She said, “I’ve been in starfleet for… what, fourty, fifty years? It’s always something.”

The lights came back on!

"Fifty years? How old are Y -" Oh, the lights.

"That's not logical sir, you're presence cannot alter matter and probability to that degree!, if anything we would just have a tellarite with a concussion and another overwhelmed medic" He was back to his calmer self, now that the situation was calmer, he was a man of peace, becoming a warrior may take a while.

“Huh! Good on them.” She looked up, before checking her comms. “Someone get Lt. Cdr. Kestrel over there, please!” She called, ignoring Dmitri’s question entirely. Haha loser.

3

Since there had been no objections, Marze made her way towards Timi and the others guarding the door. Riffle in hand, she stopped next to him without a word. Then the lights came back up. “Well, I guess thats our cue. They probably managed to get the systems up.”

"Ah god..." William responded to Holly's comment. "I can't believe that I almost forgo-" With the lights coming back on, William was filled with a somewhat rejuvenated spirit. Of course, in an instant, some worry poured over him. The robots probably weren't reactivated, but he didn't know that for a fact, so he wallowed in the fear a little bit.

Timi sighed at the comms message. He signed at Suun that he'd got the message, and to keep watch. He'd head to the office to take a look.

She nodded to him, shooting him a smile. “We’ll be moving as soon as he’s done. Do we have everyone, other than those in the office?”

As soon as the lights turned on, Holly was back on her feet. Enough rest, apparently.

"UGHHH but i just hit nirvana" Still he starts to force himself off the ground... atleast they could leave, trees, please let there be trees. "Wait do we still have to walk to the shuttles?."

"I think so." William replied to Suun, standing up now. Of course, there were probably a ton of Breld survivors in this room with them, too. That should be an interesting group for Starfleet to question. (edited)

“Good. Our trip home should be uneventful.” Fuuuuuuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck she wanted to go take a nap.

"It was a pleasure shooting robots with y'all, I hope we don't have to do this ever again," Holly sighed in relief. She, too, needed a nap. And a therapy session. But mostly a nap.

You and me both, Suun. "They better be beaming us up, after all of this." William remarked. "I don't know about you all, but I really don't feel like walking back to the shuttle."

"WOO beaming clearance!" He suddenly started to move toward's the exits, finally.

As the away team beamed away, the Breld workers started to evacuate the facility themselves.