Whatsa Red Matter?
Posted on Thu Sep 13th, 2018 @ 2:19am by Gunnery Sergeant Roderik Kos & Lieutenant JG Zork & Lieutenant JG Ciara Odette Miss
1,913 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
S1E2: Half Past Dead
Location: Overwatch Station - USS Phantom
Timeline: MD 1
Ciara trudged down the grey hallway, her eyes still adjusting to the level of light used on the Overwatch Station, let alone the occupants. Repressing the urge to screw her face up in disgust, another borg drone shambled past her on some maintenance task, not even acknowledging her presence. She had been granted access to the control network for them, and even though they had been proven safe, it was still odd, to say the least.
Having just been dismissed from her first official crew briefing about twenty minutes ago, her mind was awash with emotions and bundled thoughts. All those new faces, personalities and... the clockmakers. The file was still sitting open on a PADD back in her quarters, where she had made the first stop after the announcement. The fact such creatures existed was enough, but that they were going to be involved with them soon was enough to make her want to vomit in the nearest head.
Shaking her head as she thought to herself, she rounded a corner to the large airlock which connected the station to the USS Phantom. Pale fingers danced on the security PADD connected to the reinforced door, tapping her foot as the computer processed the clearance briefly. Gosh I love the Defiant Class... never thought I'd get this close. Those systems, the sheer engineering that went into this... Her pale red lips turned up into a wistful smile as the doors clunked open. Ducking inside, she made a sharp turn down the outer hull towards her destination which drew near.
Tapping her chest with a practiced motion, her combadge chirped happily, though she was more used to answering hails instead of making them. Leadership and all that... her internal voice mused as she spoke out loud. "Odette to Zork, I'm headed to the Phantom now to sync up with Sergeant Kos. Can you please meet us as soon as possible? We need to get the Red Matter device moved over and stabilized as soon as possible."
=/\= “Uhhh ... yes?, sir. I’ll make the uh, the arrangements now.”=/\=
"Thank you!" She smiled, hurrying her response as she tapped the badge to kill the channel. As the comm channel closed her heavy case thudded against the side of her leg, jarring her out of her murky mind as she came to a halt outside a set of beige doors, 'security' emblazoned across them in bright red with other Starfleet numerical designations. Looking over it, then down at the case containing her phaser rifle and handheld counterpart, still sealed by the crimson ribbon applied before she boarded the shuttle to this station. Closing her eyes, she nods to herself as if to build courage for some unknown reason, puts a faint smile on her lips, re-opens her eyes, and keys the LCARS terminal outside to chime for access.
With a press on the door, Rodi unlocked the latch on the door. "Enter." He then called... He had been taking inventory of the armory again. He supposed he had a small staff to do this for him, but seeing as his own gear was stored hear and he was rather particular he was doing it himself. It was all coming up well, except for the charge packs. He would requisition those from Overwatch to stock up again, and he might see if he could replace some of the bulky standard issue Type 3 phasers they had for Marine Force Recon issue Type 3A4 bullpup design for his security officers.
Hand twitching at the side, Ciara repressed the urge to salute which normally was triggered when meeting someone new in the fleet. "Sergeant Kos, was it?" Smiling, she extended a small hand towards the man. "Looks like we'll be working together a lot on that red matter device? I wanted to touch base and also take care of some onboarding business." Lifting the case, she wiggled it off to the side, the standard issue Starfleet weapons case glinting in the light, with the red restriction band still locked in place around it.
"Yes, ma'am." Rodi answered as he shook her hand. "What kind of surprises are you bringing into my armory?" He asked, his mind processing her accent and suppressing the familiar homesickness he was feeling by it. He gave her a critical glance, "Are you perhaps from Ireland, lieutenant?" He asked.
Truly for the first time since she had set foot on this station, Ciara's smile went into a truthful overdrive, exploding across her face. "Yes! Raised in Carlingford, spent all me life there before the Academy." She blurted out, forcing a bit more of an obvious accent into her words. "An' you?"
Grunting softly she hoists the case onto a nearby table, flexing her hand as she releases it. "This isn't much of a surprise though, just an older Phaser kit. It's my original from my first deployment, a Mark IV Rifle and Handheld. I've modified them both for my personal taste, changed the grips and cells, still within guidelines. Security always makes me have it cleared though as it's not a standard issue set anymore." Her hand idly gestured at the security band.
"Let's have a look. Slide it through." The marine answered as he released the forcefield keeping the window closed. "But do be warned, lieutenant. As security chief on the ship, and on the ground I do expect any field officer to qualify to my standards before issuing them with weapons."
The accent slid away into the background of her voice, her smile faltering for a moment. "Oh of course Sergeant. I may not be a natural, but I do hold my own. That's why I've held on to 'blue' here for awhile." With a firm shove, she sent the case through the opening to the man on the other side. There's a small fault in one of the display crystals, tints the display a dark blue. Doesn't interfere with the phaser set, but I always enjoyed the uniqueness of it.
Experienced fingers snapped the case open. Rodi picked the rifle up, checked that the charging cradle was clear and that there wasn't a residual charge in it before looking down the sight. "A very nice model," Rodi said, his voice filling with his Irish brogue.
"That she is!" Said almost wistfully. "She's served me very well in the few.... skirmishes that I've been in. I'd like to keep her in the current state, if the protocol allows, of course. In addition, if you can offer any further pointers or training at any point... I'd love to partake."
Rodi checked the sights and nodded. "I'll have one of the armoury officers run a full quality check on your gear, but it seems in order. When we get back from this mission I'll take you to the range and you can prove that you can handle the weapon. Or I'll teach you until I'm satisfied." He placed the weapon back in its case and snapped it closed before giving the lieutenant a smile.
The loading hatch slid open, and the forcefield was deactivated. Two marines stepped through the now open entry point, armed with phaser rifles. Behind them were an ensign and a lieutenant from Operations carting a small canister of Red Matter in a heavily stabilized container. Closing the procession were two more of Theta's marines. Rodi nodded at the security, pleased to see them.
So it is really happening this way, isn't it... sadly mused Ciara, eyes fixated on the canister, only feeling a slight bit of dread sitting on her thudding heart. She nodded absently to the fellow lieutenant from Ops, having briefly touched base with them earlier in the day. "Thank you all." Her eyes flicked between the security, then the ensign and lieutenant. "Let's get this sorted away, as quickly as possible." Her fingers danced over a PADD in her hands as she spoke to Rodi. "Did you have any scans or protocols you wanted to run on that... thing? Before we get it fully installed that is.
"If it were up to me lieutenant, I'd have this device shipped back to the hell hole it came from." Rodi said as he accepted the PADD from his armed marine. "But I would like to inspect all connectors and clamps that this weapon is going to sit in before securing it in place." The marine felt some nervous energy creep into his voice.
Ciara nodded idly, doing her best not to zone out in a sea of terror at the sheer sight of the thing. "Ah... yes, well, let's get to it then." Moving forward her tricorder makes a calming (to her), clicking noise as it unfolds from her belt case, booting it up as she kneels next to the container, eyes focusing on the rapidly scrolling display. "The containment is... clinical, and as the reports said the connectors and interface seem over-engineered at this point. I'd feel more comfortable the sooner it is installed, so based on what I'm seeing..." A pause, with a moment to chew on her lower lip, a bad habit. "It's ready. Almost too ready, but she checks out as far as I can tell. Did you want to look at anything yourself?" Her head tilted awkwardly back and up at the man".
"I'm not a shipboard weapon's specialist. If you tell me it's in order I trust you lieutenant. We'll get it into its cradle and have these heavily armed men stand guard at all times." Rodi nodded. He accepted the PADD and pressed his thumb on it to confirm its arrival here. Even in highly classified situations, paperwork was aplenty.
Grunting, she stood back up with a quick shove of her hands against her knees. "Then, let's get it in. The interface is prepped and it's a simple hookup." Gesturing at the container, then pointing towards a set of doors, she continued. "This way gentlemen, the install will take mere minutes.
There was one thing Zork could find peace in, and that was preflight checks. He might have been about to commit several different levels of suicide, but he was going to fly into it with a precisely tuned machine dammit. The bridge of the Phantom has largely devoid of anyone of merit, and due to the authority behind his role, the ensigns and other junior lieutenants performing the initial tests blithely did as they were told. Zork unabashedly barked out requests for information about the pressures of specific valves in the inertial dampener systems, his idiosyncratic preferences for the timing of the matter/antimatter reaction as it hit the plasma manifolds, and other such jargon specific to his trade.
He found respite here, doing what he did best.
Zork felt his face flush as he pinged Sergeant Kos and Lieutenant Mas. “Uhhh ...,” he gently, almost imperceptibly cleared his throat, “I think we’re about ready;” He winced; “Sirs. We’re about ready to load the uh, device;” Should I be speaking in code?, “just give us the word. Sirs.”
=/\= A warm, feminine chuckle filled the channel. “I'm not sure we're using code names just yet Lieutenant. Though I'm sure once we're off the station, we will be. All systems are showing green for integration, we need to check in with Mrazak and we should be good to go... and see wherever this takes us.”=/\=
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