Guess Who is Coming to Dinner

Posted on Tue May 26th, 2020 @ 11:39am by Commander Povis Tolium & Commander Areinnye t’Vraen & Centurion Nancy Gable

1,571 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Chapter I: Resurgam
Location: Ssaedhe

The Kestrel class Runabout floated into the small shuttlebay, gracefully landing with a series of mechanical hisses and whines, coming to a rest before the shuttlebay pressurized. Visible through the force-field was the two Scorpion class attack flyers instructed to fly cover, and provide both an eye as to goings on in the Shuttlebay and to potentially swoop in an extract the Commander in the case of an emergency. One of the attack flyers would only have one pilot inside to allow for this event.

The main access door to the Kestrel slid open, four uniformed figures emerged, Kasca recognized the Commander who had made contact with the Ssaedhe. Two Guards had Disruptor rifles slung walked toward the party with the Commander following close behind.

General Dorvaela, Sub-Lieutenant Peregrin and Centurion Gable stood near the airlock awaiting the party to approach. Kasca knew the pressure was palpable and could go very bad, very quickly.

Dorvaela marched forward, squaring his shoulders. He always told his twin sons, if a fight is coming, better to face it than try to avoid it.

“Commander, I see your disrespectful countenance has made it here safely. Let’s get this inspection over with, so that I can report you to the Pro-Consul for the way you spoke to me in front of my crew. I’m sure she will be delighted to hear of your actions today” the old man said harshly.

~Pulling rank plus naming dropping - classic maneuver,~ Gable thought, suppressing a smirk. The Commander deserved it. His lack of full protective gear showed he obviously hadn't taken her warning seriously enough. She was almost tempted to inject him with something nasty just to teach him a lesson, but decided on a verbal jab instead. "He's not worth the Pro-Consul's time," Nancy scoffed. "Look at him - no real protective gear. He clearly never intended to inspect the transports, where the infected patients actually are. This is all just theatrics, a big show to make a little man look big."

Commander Tolium stood with his hands behind his back, a wry smirk on his face, "Apologies, 'General', It is clear my confusion stems from the fact that most Generals are in high standing, people of power and influence," He looked Dorvaela up and down, then looked to the dark shuttlebay with a sneer, "Most men of this rank would not be parading around in a Klingon garbage scow, so you will have to excuse my inability to respect your rank," he waited, locking eyes with Dorvaela, "...Sir."

Tolium regarded the rest of the group, seeing the humans, "What we have here is a traitorous coward running from the empire with his tail between his legs, with our mortal enemy seemingly in your higher cohort. This is unacceptable, and I'm sure your 'Pro-Consul' will wish instead to have you delivered before her to face the consequences of betraying the Romulan people," He said in a cool calm tone.

The lights to the shuttlebay flickered off for a moment, before returning at three quarters their original brightness, and a loud bang was heard somewhere else in the ship.

"Let us get this done before the whole ship disintegrates around us," Tolium said, with a nastier inflection.

The General addressed the Doctor. “Please, lead the way Doctor.”

The Group headed down on one of the adjoining corridors toward the Cargo bay, which had been turned into a makeshift ward. Coming to a stop just inside a separate room which held medical garbs and suits.

"Of course. But first you should put protection," she said, opening a closet. "There are full protective suits, which I would recommend, or these belts that create a sterile field. They are not as safe, but less constricting and so wouldn't require you to remove your firearms."

Major Pilum slowly walked past the deciding Romulan Commander, and without breaking stride put on a belt, activating the field. Before moving into the corridor once again. Commander Tolium was still dubios and only chose to put on a sterile field belt and ordered his people to do the same.

~Thought that's what you'd choose...~ Nancy thought to herself, hiding a satisfied smirk as she donned her full protective hazmat suit and handed one to the General. She tapped a control on her wrist, activating the containment field for her suit, and also activating a subroutine in the belts. "If you'll follow me, the wards are this way. The first symptoms of the disease are a certain tightness in the skin, followed by itching, which seems innocuous if you are unaware of the progression. Most of the patients only reported to medical after exhibit rashes, but those spread and deepen. Without large doses of corticosteriods, the condition progresses to rapid necrosis and gangrene."

The lights flickered off and on once again and another groan resonated through the corridors. Major Pilum walked up to General Dorvaela and whispered in his ear. Causing the curiosity of Commander Tolium.

"Something I should know about General?" Tolium snapped, folding his arms across his chest.

"Only that the need to keep the forcefield on the shuttlebay is causing sporadic fluctuations in the power grid. If we could hurry this along before the containment fields and life support for the wards give out," Dorvaela said angrily in response. This petulant child was starting to become a nuisance, or at least that was how the General had to play things.

The magnificent part of the plan was that Dorvaela himself did not know when the next step in the ruse would happen, he had given that responsibility to Major Pilum, who was ever present but blended into the background. Trusting the Major to trigger the next sequence took alot, but Dorvaela knew that his reaction would have to be genuine.

Walking down a corridor towards the well spoken about wards, Dorvaela was once again trying to explain the situation, outlining their schedule and insistence on getting to their destination without delay. Halfway through a sentence the lighting and air processing turned off, and emergency lighting kicked in. Bathing the corridors in a dull red hue restricting vision.

Stopping in their tracks the group listened, hearing banging and screaming from the direction of the wards. The layout of the old vessel had them almost trapped in a section of corridor with only forward and aft paths available, with a junction ahead. However that was where the noises were coming from, one noticeable cry over the others was repeated, "Breach Breach Breach!"

Pilum noticed the expression on Tolium's face was that of shock, as was Dorvaela's as he seemingly forgot some elements of the ruse. Footsteps at great speed could be heard coming towards them, and figures came into view. With the red light bathing the area no discernible details could be seen besides large dark splotches covering their light clothing.

"The patients in Ward 3 have breached containment!" The medical aide said, their uniform becoming visible as they ran closer. Behind them another person came into view, before several other darker figures followed closely behind.

"Oh dear..." the Doctor widened her eyes in alarm. "Ward 3 is for the ones where the disease got into brain tissue, leading to delusions, violent paranoid attacks on staff. We need to get out of here."

"General, we should return to the shuttlebay immediately!" Pilum piped up, pulling out his sidearm.

Dorvaela nodded, before gesturing for the group to return down the corridor. Pilum stayed behind to cover the escape, planting himself in a stable shooting position, he fired off a few short blasts of his disruptor on a low setting. He hit the emergency lighting well short of the people running towards him, as was his intent. This was another effort to sell the ruse. Darkness would now engulf the corridor and make it impossible to see from a distance, especially Pilum's smile.

Tolium started to move at the mere mention of retreat, fear was gripping this young Romulan before he could temper his reactions. His guards kept pace with him ready to move into place to repel further attacks. Coming in to the shuttlebay, the forcefield had remained on using an emergency generator for short term use. The Kestrel was still sitting with it's doors open, and Tolium did not hesitate to run towards it.

Tolium stopped before the door and pointed to Dorvaela, "You get this plague ship out of this sector now! I will be submitting a full report to the mismanagement of this flotilla to the Pro-Consul!" Tolium yelled, before his guards insisted he board the shuttle and it made a swift departure.

Nancy crossed her arms, watching the shuttle depart. "Chickens. They didn't even return our shield belts," she remarked, and smirked. "Should be interesting over on the Triiaris when they start itching."

"Consider them a parting gift, whatever needed to to be done to get that insubordinate, poor excuse for a Romulan off my ship," Dorvaela smirked, "It worked this time, but it wont be the last time we deal with him."

"I suggest venting the shuttlebay and list uncontrolled for a while before we proceed with our original course," Pilum advised, wanting to make sure their ruse stuck.

Dorvaela nodded, "I don't know of a more deserving person to have a flesh eating disease."

---

Centurion Nancy Gable, MD
Leader of Medical Sciences

Major Kasca Pilum
Guard Commander

General Dorvaela
Flotilla Commander

RSS Feed