Rodi Kill the Queen
Posted on Mon Jan 28th, 2019 @ 1:07pm by Captain Akiva ben-Avram & Captain Mrazak & Lieutenant Commander Garai Fenia PhD & Gunnery Sergeant Roderik Kos
Edited on on Tue Jan 29th, 2019 @ 4:46am
3,739 words; about a 19 minute read
Mission:
Season 1 Interlude I (E2.5)
Location: Overwatch Station/Deep Storage
Timeline: ID 22
This was bad.
Akiva had administrated Memory Theta for a few months now, and he was starting to feel he was getting the hang of it. Then a contamination alert came from Deep Storage below. From as far as he could tell, there had never been one before. Quarantines would break now and again, but the automated systems and redundant containment measures never allowed for a highly unlikely risk of a true outbreak. Of course, he could conduct a deck-by-deck plasma purge and subsequent neutron shower that would practically atomize everything. And then there was the planetary fail-safe which would detonate the entire installation from the planet's core. Dubbed a Forced Singularity Ordnance, aka Planet Buster, the mechanism was technically illegal, but this was an uncharted rock in no-man's-land that no one would miss or likely detect, even if they could find it. Akiva would do what he had to do.
Of course, there was the matter of four innocent souls currently planetside. The Aevenari curator, Eigthe; Commander Mrazak; Ensign Osana Ito; Senior Chief Melvyn Hibbert. Despite his investigation and pending charges against Mrazak, Akiva felt a duty to ensure his safety as well as the other three. He resolved not to do anything irreversible unless absolutely necessary.
And, with Storr gone on personal business with Jaya, Akiva found himself limited with options.
"Commander ben-Avram to Sergeant Kos and Commander Garai," Akiva said with a tap to his combadge, "please come to my office."
A few minutes later the marine stepped into the office. He stood at attention about a good pace away from the desk at attention. "Sir?"
The Bajoran entered moments later, "reporting as ordered, Commander."
"Thank you for coming," Akiva said briskly. "We have a situation." Two separate PADDs were on display near the edge of his desk. Akiva nodded toward them for the scientist and the marine to review. "MT-8756, a particularly dangerous specimen, breached containment earlier today. The emergency alarms have not been deactivated, which means the on-site personnel are incapacitated or worse. I need eyes on the ground to assess the full scope of the situation, ascertain the fates of the four named personnel on duty, and help determine what... countermeasures... need to be taken." He paused a moment to let them browse the PADD and process his summary explanation. "Any questions?"
Rodi listened with one ear, running over the basic outline of the threat on the PADD. "Is extraction our primary mission, or is it threat assessment?"
"Also what are our contingencies in case of either?" Fenia added, "8756 is a nasty piece of work and highly contagious, depending on which one makes contact."
While a part of Garai was terrified, having read up on what was being kept in Deep Storage, another part of her was secretly excited at the situation. This was the stuff stories were made of, even if they couldn't be talked about for any good amount of time. Plus, it was first bit of proper action since the rescue of the Venture at Ruhoka, and her days with the CSI team. Okay, maybe the excitement wasn't so secret.
"Valid questions, all." Akiva nodded remorsefully. "Memory Theta's original protocols call for containment at all costs. I'm countermanding that with search-and-rescue as the primary objective. If you cannot find or retrieve survivors, then all affected areas will be... cleansed... one way or another. We can detonate the entire facility from orbit if necessary." Looking to Fen, he said, "Familiarize yourself with the field notes on the Synchrony and determine which stage of infestation Deck 88 has suffered." To Rodi, he said, "With Colonel Garlake away on leave, I'm assigning you as Team Leader. Assemble a squad, escort Commander Garai to Deck 88, and get as many home as possible. Don't worry about collateral damage; if containment is fully breached, there won't be anything left after the automated clean-up protocols anyway."
Fenia nodded and looked over at Roderik, "How do you want to handle this, Sarge?"
"Five men squad, and yourself. Beam in with the shuttle as close to the destination as possible. You stay with the marine you're assigned to at all times as your bodyguard. We'll move only as a unit. From what I read their baseform is fairly easily dispatched by weaponsfire but can overrun us if we split up." Rodi replied, giving the barest of outlines he had planned. He then turned back to the commander, "Do we have floorplans available for the area?"
Fenia nodded, looking over at Akiva now as well.
Since his orders deviated from protocol slightly, Akiva decided to take the low-fi tactic. He took the ornamental quill pen from his desk and walked over to the floor to ceiling window which faced the planetoid and facility below. "Officially you could make your entrance at a secure service lift here," he said, circling an outermost arm of the facility. "The lower levels spiral outward, which is why the surface facility is so spread out." He crossed out that insertion point with an X. "But if there are any survivors, you will best be able to locate them through main Ops." He circled the central hub. "There is no foyer or antechamber beyond the main entrance, which should make ingress easy. From there, you should be able to quickly assess the full situation on the ground, locate survivors wherever they may be, and maybe never even go spelunking in the lower decks. The central turbolifts in main Ops will take you wherever you need to go." He drew lines on the transparent aluminium alloy away from the central hub. "We'll maintain scans of the surface, so we'll spot you wherever you come up. Extract who you can, and we'll purge all contaminated areas."
After joining the commander at the window, Rodi took several moments to take the crude sketch in before nodding. "Noted. We'll be planetside in thirty minutes. If we're not up in two hours run the purge protocols. Anything else sir?"
"I think I might give you more time than that, Sergeant, but I appreciate your attitude," Akiva said. "We're done here. Move out."
Fenia nodded, ready to follow Kos' instructions on the matter. She may outrank him, but she was a scientist, her job was to analyze the situation, Roderick's job was to make her safe while doing it, so she would listen and follow instruction.
Five heavily armed marines stood in a huddle. Each carried a Type 3a4 bullpup phaser rifle in difference load outs. One had a heavy repeating variant, two carried longer barreled marksman rifles, Rodi and one more carried standard bullpup versions of the rifle. Geared in light weight full body armour, and one eye covered in a HUD-optical.
Fenia stepped into the shuttle bay 20 minutes later, armed with a portable kit, a weapon and a tricorder loaded with as much data as they had on 8756 and headed straight for Kos and his team. "Ready to go, Sarge, how are we looking?"
"Commander." Rodi nodded, "We're geared up and ready to go." he then gestured to a rather young looking marine with corporal insignia, "This is Thorsen, he'll be your escort on our fieldtrip."
Garai nodded and smiled at the young man, "good to meet you Corporal Thorsen."
Thorsen smiled at the Bajoran officer. "Ma'am."
Then the bajoran turned to Kos, "well, let's do this, eh?"
The shimmering light dissipated around the field team. Rodi gestured to one of his marksmen to open the door, positioning himself to pour fire into the hatch. With a grunt of effort the door slid open to reveal a dark hallway. "Power is down..." Rodi reported before stepping into the hallway with the flash light illuminating their way.
"Doorway secured." Allen, their rear man reported. He had placed a portable forcefield projector over it to avoid any of the threat spilling out to the surface.
"Stay in tight. Kel take point." Rodi ordered, telling their Vulcan heavy gunner to lead the party. Rodi took a moment to look around the hallway, swinging his light all around. The hallway was cut into the rock, showing the red material. Over it ran the metal reinforcements and conduits. To the sergeant it almost felt as if the whole planet was assimilated by the Borg. With a deep breath he gestured forward, "Move out."
Crouched low, Fenia followed, tricorder running scans, her other hand clutching her phaser.
Several minutes of confusing lefts and rights deeper into the complex lead them to an open doorway that was supposed to be an airlock. "That's almost too ominous..." O'Bannon whispered to himself over the team channel. Rodi stepped past Kel, gazing into the airlock. A few seconds later his eyes had adjusted to the lack of flashlight and he saw the soft pale green light the waxy layer emitted. A soft clicking sound came from down the hallway. "We're not alone anymore."
Fenia gulped, looking down at her tricorder to see what her scans revealed. It had been set to scan for life forms, both the dreaded 8756 and their missing staff. Which one was it? That dreaded clicking sound? The scary monster nightmares were made of? Or a fellow officer needing help?
"I'm taking point. Kel on my six." Rodi ordered as he took a tentative step onto the wax. "Remember to walk lightly, this stuff can break like thin ice." In a slow move the line of Starfleet officers and marines moved through the wax tunnles, Rodi in the lead, followed by Kel, Thorsen, Fenia, O'Bannon, and finally Allen taking the rear.
Rodi had shouldered his rifle, sweeping the barrel left and right, up and down. His optical had been set to scan for movement instead of heat. The team arrived at a T-junction. Rodi looked at Fenia, "Any life signs in either direction?"
Before Fenia could scan for readings, a humanoid figure came bearing down on them, screaming and wailing all the while. "HELP US!" screamed the frayed voice of an emotionally dysregulated woman. "THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! YOU'VE GOT TO HELP US!" She clutched to Fenia like a child fleeing night terrors. Sticky wax from her clothes mingled with Fenia's.
Fenia's eyes widened as the woman clutched to her. Then they widened even further as she noticed the waxy film on the woman's clothes. This spurned the bajoran into action and she pushed the woman away as best as she could. "Do not come any closer or they will fire." Garai growled, "stay there, don't move!" That said she gave the woman another scan.
Rodi stepped next to Fenia, looking at the woman's eyes. They didn't seem to glow like the wax. "Commander?"
Garai exhaled, "thank the Prophets she's not infected. She'll need to be sent back and checked, but I don't see any stages of infection."
"Allen, take her back to the entry point. I'll send back other survivors back with escorts as we find them. If the team is not back in two hours exit and have Commander ben-Avram run the cleaning protocols." The marine sergeant ordered. Allen nodded and took the woman's upper arm, pulling her towards the way the team came.
Rodi took his position at the front of the group. He swept his rifle both left and right before deciding to go right. Several meters down Kel kicked against a small bump in the wax. In an effort to avoid his balance he stepped forwards heavily, breaking through the wax. The crack was like a thunderstrike. Kel promptly pulled his foot out, most of his boot covered in the liquid substance. Luckily the thick material of their uniform seemed to have survived. Not a word was spoken between any of the marines, each listening for any approaching sound.
Just as Rodi was about to gesture to move onwards a loud collection of clicks came from ahead of them. Just around the bend a dozen Synchrony Arachnids appeared, scuttling fast towards the search team. Not two heart beats later Rodi's rifle was lifted to the Arachnids on the ceiling, a pulse of charged nadion particles lashed out at the creature. It tumbled off the ceiling, but before it landed on the floor it had shown signs of awakening again. "Open fire," Rodi ordered calmly.
The order wasn't needed. Kel's heavy repeater rifle lit up the space. It's heavier emitter and larger chargepack allowed it to spit out blasts of phaser fire at a higher rate than Rodi's assault rifle. Rodi had thumbed up the power setting of his own rifle and started firing as well. O'Bannon had turned around and kept his eyes on their exit.
Garai joined in the fight quickly, firing her own weapon. Her stomach was in her throat and her heart thundered in her head. It had been so long since she'd been in a combat situation...since the Sun-Yat Sen.
The whole fight, if one could call it that, took maybe a minute. The marines' overwhelming fire had dispatched their would-be attackers. With the dry wit of a Vulcan, sergeant Kel said: "The reports on their weakness seem mistaken."
Thorsen was the only one to chuckle to it. Rodi just shook his head. Fenia looked over at Kel and raised a deploring eyebrow, the whole dry humor coming from a Vulcan no less, not landing where it should have.
"Thorsen, check the sergeant's leg." Rodi ordered as he stepped forwards and kicked one corpse, just making sure they were dead. From behind he heard the young corporal Thorsen reply that it was all good. "Then we're on the move." Rodi ordered.
Corporal Thorsen took his place ahead of Fenia again and asked in a whisper over his shoulder "Have you ever seen anything like this?"
Fenia shook her head and whispered back, "no. Then again, I've never worked for a black site before so it's not really a good comparison."
Soon the remaining fire-team came upon an open expanse that had been cleared by several demolished walls. It was a nest formed from the natural honeycombed architecture of the facility. Skittering sounds ricocheted from the walls as the Synchrony attacked from all sides, effectively creating a moving biological barrier around the presumed Queen.
"A yev ey!" Fenia cursed in bajoran as she mentally prepared for guidance from the Marines. She, personally just wanted them all dead so she could study them without the added dangers of becoming one of them.
"HELP!"
The cry came from deeper within the undulating swarm of arachnid creatures. Within the press of bodies, there was the recognizable hum of a force field.
"HELP!" the voice cried again, this time joined by another.
"WE'RE OVER HERE! SAVE US!"
A single glance told Rodi what he needed to know. "Diamond formation, commander Fenia in the center. We keep moving until we get to the forcefield, secure the package and move back. Overwhelming firepower." As the marines formed a right formation behind him, Rodi swapped out his half-depleted chargepack for a full one. In that moment a prayer went out to God in Heaven that they would be watched over.
"Ready." Kel called and slapped Rodi's shoulder.
Rodi's face locked in that neutral expression he often held when engaging. "Open fire." And with that, nadion pulses struck out to arachnids everywhere. The effect was almost beautiful, the hard bodies lit up for a tenth of a second before exploding. But even the marines' heavy weaponry had trouble carving a path. They were half-way to the forcefield bubble when Rodi's rifle stopped its torrent of energy. "Empty!" he shouted and dropped the chargepack from his rifle. O'Bannon on his right used his rifle in a larger firing arc, but lost focus on his periphery. Just as Rodi reloaded a Arachnid jumped to the large man.
The arachnid grabbed O'Bannon's arm and pulled, attempting to drag him out of the formation. In his pain and anger from the bite, the marine bellowed and produced a combat knife, ramming it between the eyes of the arachnid. The creature released the arm and skittered away, still alive. "Report!" Rodi yelled over the whine of phaser and Synchrony. "Still here!" O'Bannon yelled back, resuming the firing.
With Thorsen and Kel assisting each other's firing arcs during reloads, the assault team arrived at the forcefield bubble. Removing the Synchrony off of it was easier than carving their path, most of the creatures attacking the marines instead of the forcefield.
"Drop the field!" Rodi ordered Mrazak and Senior Chief Melvyn Hibbert between between blasts of energy.
"Absolutely not!" Mrazak shouted.
Hibbert completely ignored Mrazak and deactivated the forcefield. "The field wouldn't have lasted much longer," he said.
"But it's out there," Mrazak whispered. "She's out there!" He immediately jumped between the diamond configuration next to Fenia. "Well, let's get moving, or is this your day off?!"
With the formation larger, they moved back the way they came. Rodi now kept up the rear, and Thorsen lead. Even with the dozens, maybe hundreds of dead arachnids left, there did not seem to an end. Rodi's rifle came empty for the fourth time, but this time he had no more chargepacks left for his rifle. His Type 2 would have to do. Instead of blasting all the arachnids approaching them, the lower power of his sidearm forced him to choose the closest target.
The hallway and their hopefully clear route was now only a dozen steps away. The arachnids had finally chosen to keep some distance and Rodi started feeling hopeful. With a sound like thunder, the Synchrony Queen fell off the ceiling onto the ground. Rodi looked up at the almost twelve foot slug. From its back had sprouted tendrils, as thick as an arm and several meters long. And then there was Eighte's skin, it glowed all over as if it was covered in the wax.
The lance of energy that came out of Rodi's sidearm slammed into Eighte's side, and dissipated as if it were but sunlight. But in response one of the long tendrils shot out towards the marine, grabbing him around the waist. It lifted him up severanl meters with ease. Rodi kept firing, his phaser now at the highest setting, but the Synchrony-transformed skin shrugged it all off. The tendril started squeezing Rodi, while an arachnid started walking up on it towards Rodi. Panic started to fill Rodi's mind, but his pragmatic side reminded him of the combat knife.
With his free hand Rodi grabbed the knife out of its sheath on his leg. The sharp, half-serrated blade reflected the hellish green light as it came free. Without hesitation, Rodi started cutting into the green tendril. As Rodi started cutting into the tendril Queen growled in pain. It sent out other tendrils towards Rodi, swinging them at his head. It was more luck than skill that allowed Rodi to avoid all but one blow to the head.
The knife finally cut through the tendril, leading to Rodi falling at least five meters. The marine landed on his feet, and the sound of his left ankle shattering from the impact was only accompanied by a grunt of pain from Rodi. The transformed Eighte bellowed in rage and started moving towards Rodi. He tried firing one more shot but saw it was of no use. So instead he keyed the overcharge on his phaser, and when Eighte bellowed next, he threw it in her mouth. Rodi then turned around and started hobbling out into the corridor.
Just as he stepped in the hall his eardrums were ruptured by the sound of the Aevanari exploding, the shockwave pushing him on his knees. Now without any real hearing, Rodi bellowed in frustration as he pushed himself back on his feet. The effort suddenly became much easier as Kel pulled Rodi's arm over his shoulder and started half-dragging his boss out and away from panicked and confused arachnids.
Out of habit and training, Fenia had rounded Mrazak and placed herself inbetween him and the Marines returning to bring up the rear. Her tricorder bleeped again. Frowning, Fenia glanced at it, then back at Rodi and Kel who had re-join them. "I'm picking up an Aevanari lifesign. Prophets he's survived! He's actually survived the blast."
"Technically Eigthe is androgynous," Mrazak offered, "but I think I recall something about how the Aevanari reincarnate through full-body mitosis or some such. There might be a smaller, new Eigthe inside the gooey pile of old Eigthe."
"On it." Thorsen said, running out into the hall again. His marksmen rifle had gone quiet as the arachnids had still kept their distance from the ruins of their Queen. This allowed Thorsen to grab the tiny slug and legging it back to the group.
The team and their rescuees made their way to the entry point without contest from the Synchrony, and were promptly beamed out of the facility and into a full containment area.
Akiva stood at the floor-to-ceiling observation window in his office, arms folded behind his back, staring down at the planetoid's surface. Utterly barren and lifeless, without features save for the ground level of the 99 decks of the deep storage Archives, one would be forgiven should they forget the horror let loose in the lower decks.
The immediate protocol was to purge the facility of all life and start over. To the best of Akiva's knowledge, that had never been done before, at least not post-construction and complete installation of the full archives. He would not be the first, not without exhausting every alternative beforehand.
Time was ticking, though. Rodi's team had taken the plunge ninety-two minutes ago, which was nearing the Gunnery Sergeant's own two-hour marker. Akiva had pledged to give more time, but honestly without any sign whatsoever, he began to see no point to it. The sergeant's estimate had been a worthy one.
Hopefully...
A sudden chirp interrupted Akiva's ruminations.
=/\="Commander ben-Avram, this is Transporter Room 1. We got their signal. We've beamed ten to the Infirmary."
Akiva's heart stirred in his chest. Ten? That meant... "They got everyone."
=/\="Yes, sir. They did."=/\=
"Barukh HaShem," Akiva said. "Thank you. Good work. Ben-Avram out." He breathed deeply, letting out the tension and anxiety he'd been cradling all day. At last, letting out one more breath of release, he looked down at the surface.
"Ferrofax. Commence Level 10 Omega Protocols on the Archives."
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