Off To See The Borg
Posted on Sat Oct 24th, 2015 @ 1:34am by Lieutenant Bryce Kendrick & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Commander Dae Nalas & Lieutenant Commander Nicolao & Ignatius Reilly & Major Patrick Smith
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: The Blackbird
* The Blackbird *
A bleary-eyed Oz was the last of the group to arrive at Patrick’s ship. Once through the docking hatch, she paused and took a deep breath before finding a place to stow her gear. “Sorry I’m running a little late - it was a late night and I couldn’t find Iggy this morning.”
“No worries.” Dae stepped back from the cockpit and took a seat at the sensor station. “Has she turned up yet or did you leave Jackson on the job?”
“Left Jackson on the job. He’s also arranging babysitters for her brood.” She took a seat and took a calming breath. “In my memory, this ship was larger.”
Dae raised an eyebrow at her. ”Shuttle phobia, huh? I get that. My last year at the Academy, we had gone out on a training run and ended up on the moon with dead engines and a dead communicator.” He grinned as the memory replayed in his mind. “Needless to say, it took a little while for them to realize we weren’t coming back when we were supposed to so I was cooped up longer than I liked in that thing.”
“For me, it was the accident with Connor a few years ago. I haven’t really been on anything smaller than the Takei since then... well, the b’Rel we used for the Suresh hunt. I’ll be fine, though.” She smiled.
Pat had been doing his final checks round the ship to make sure they had everything they needed and that no engineer had left a spanner somewhere he shouldn't have. He had overheard their conversation and as he grabbed his bag from a random crate he had abandoned it in and entered the ship he added to their conversation. "I've been in a few spots before. Drifting in space after ejecting definitely goes on my things I'd rather not do again list."
“No thanks.” The voice was Nico’s as he poked his head in. “Supplies all in, Dae.” He turned and bellowed for Bryce, who was ‘convincing’ the bay overseer that they needed to leave before the two transports waiting to go out.
Shaking his head on the way in, Bryce had a sneer on his face. “Give some people just the tiniest bit of power and they really let it get to their heads.” He stopped to speak to Dae. “We are next to leave so long as we depart in under seven minutes. After that, we wait.”
Dae nodded. “Let’s do it then. Patrick, fire it up and let’s hit the trail. I’ll brief you all once we are underway.”
Nico moved up to the co-pilot’s seat and got to work. “Ready when you are.”
"Here we go again," Pat replied with a manic pressing of buttons. "Startup successful we are good to launch. And since it's the Blackbird we don't need to request permission anymore. Bribes are awesome," he added quietly to Nico hoping Oz hadn't heard.
* Blackbird’s Cockpit *
The Blackbird was well on her way away from the Station’s airspace when something under the control panel shifted and unfurled long, hairy legs. Three of those legs, however, couldn’t fully extend and their owner, one Ignatius J. Reilly, found that she couldn’t get any traction without them. She struggled, pulling and pushing at various wires and components, to get out of her tight spot. She couldn’t know it, but her movements were causing issues up above on the control panel: she was making the pilot’s console blink on and off.
Pat looked slightly irritated at his ship’s apparent malfunction. "Well that's new. I need to stop letting people use her if this is gonna happen."
“What the --” Nico tapped the console, trying to compensate. “I promise she was fine when we got back from Enara.” It continued to blink and he bent down to open the panel beneath. He was reaching for it and that was when he saw a hairy spider leg. “Umm..Oz?”
Shh! Do not--
“Yeah, Nico? Want me to sit co-pilot for a bit?” Oz offered, though, to be honest, having her as a co-pilot was about as useful as asking her to operate on a hernia.
Too late, came Iggy’s comment. I am stuck. Could I have some help, please?
“No but there’s something up here you might want to see.” Hang on, Iggy. He loosened the panel beside her, giving enough room for her to creep out. Better?
Iggy slid out of the wiring nest she’d created. Much, thanks. She’d kept her comments to just Nico.
Oz came up to the cockpit and looked first at Patrick then at Nico. “Something I want to see?” Her vision had skipped right over Ignatius - more specifically, her brain had ignored the sight of the spider: Iggy wasn’t supposed to be there.
Nico pointed at the deck plating. “Look familiar?”
Hello, Oralia, Iggy said.
“Iggy!”, Oralia shouted. She reached down to scoop the spider up, but Iggy scooted under Patrick’s legs. “Oh my god, Dae!” Fists balled, Oz growled and moved to where she could see Dae. “We need to turn around and take Iggy back.”
“We’re already two hours out Oz, we can’t. We’ll just have to keep an eye on her and find her a safe place to wait once we land. Maybe in with Bryce,” he joked.
“What about Bryce?” he asked as he heard his name.
From the cockpit, Iggy was now broadcasting so everyone could hear: Woo... Oralia is mad.
Oz, who had fully expected that Dae’s response would be ‘no’, shot a glare towards the cockpit. “Bryce, you’re now Chief Spider Wrangler.” She wasn’t joking, though she wasn’t entirely serious either. Passing off Iggy to Bryce was a bit like passing off one’s toddler to someone else’s care.
“Not even a ‘please’, huh?” Bryce replied flatly. “Yeah, sure. I’m not doing anything.” He held his hand out for Iggy to climb up on. “Let’s go, slick. We’ll go hang out in the back.”
Can we have a beer? Iggy crept out and up Bryce’s arm, carefully clutching the man’s shirt with her tarsi.
“If I’m drinkin’, you’re drinkin’,” he said as they walked out. “And I’m hungry. You hungry?”
Not yet. And I packed my own food. It is attached to the wires under the console. I will get it out when I get hungry later, Iggy said, causing Oz to hide her face in her hands.
“Probably shouldn’t have said that out loud,” Bryce said with a chuckle, “but I’ll make sure you get something later if they move it.” He continued talking to her as they disappeared toward the back of the ship.
Sure enough the owner of those wires had heard and his face showed some despair. Pushing his seat back he dived into the wires to make sure the spider noms weren't hutched to anything important. Shouting out from inside, "I'm starting to think I don't charge enough for these trips."
“We’ll make it worth your while.” Nico smiled, then nodded at some silent instructions from Dae. “Engaging auto-pilot, Patrick. Everything looks good up here.”
“Aye minus the Iggy snacks preventing our landing gear systems from functioning. 10 minutes will have that bypassed after,” he added to reassure as he crawled out and stood up again.
“Very well, things should be quiet for the next few hours so I have time to fill you in on the details.” Dae shifted in his seat to get more comfortable. “As Major Smith is aware, given the opening of the Valhalla Colony, General Thompson has had the Marines flying recon all over the area between here and there, as well as some outlying systems in close proximity to Charu. Nothing out of the ordinary has been noted...until early yesterday. One of the sensor readings detected faint life signs on what has so far been thought to be a barren, largely iced-over planet, designated only as Planet 6584 . They did a low flyover as a precaution and sensors picked up what appears to be the remains of a Borg cube in an area where the ice has begun to recede. The single faint life sign was in that same location. We are here to see what’s happening before we send out a general alarm. Any questions?”
“If we find just the one, are we bringing it back?”, Oz was wary of doing so, particularly in this ship.
“Let’s hope there’s just the one. If so, we’ll deactivate it, load it below and take it back,” Dae replied. “That’s a better alternative than leaving it to help awaken the rest, if there are any still viable.”
Anywhere else, Oz would have gotten up and paced. But on the Blackbird, there wasn’t quite enough room to do so effectively. She concentrated on the padd in her hand and started pulling up information on weapons’ modifications needed when facing the Borg. “If there’s more than one, we’ll need to destroy them. At a minimum, we’ll need to destroy any communication devices.”
“Agreed,” Nico answered. “It will also have to be done fast or those we haven’t hit will strike in a way so as to disable us.” He reached up and patted the bulkhead. “Take out the ship and we’ve got big problems.”
“Speaking of which. A Marine rescue party on Vahalla have been informed and are on standby. If we don’t check in within 12 hours of landing they will be mobilised. That said the colony is 24 hours away. We wanted enough time to check out and information gather if it was safe but also not so long that we wouldn’t be able to survive,” Pat informed them trying to make sure he had everything covered. “I want everyone to take with them a couple of glowsticks, a flare and an emergency transponder from the overhead locker there,” he instructed pointing to one by the door. “Again we shouldn’t need them but if the Blackbird freezes over or something stupid we may need to relocate.”
Bryce and Iggy were still in the rear of the ship but he could hear the briefing going on. “I wasn’t aware we were hunting Borg. If so, I would have packed more weapons for us. Unfortunately, all we have are the standard phaser pistols. Make sure to set them on an alternating frequency so we’re not up shit-creek after the first two volleys.”
Borg? Like Six of Ten? What is so bad about them? Six of Ten is very nice. Darwin says she is pretty, too, Iggy said, making Oz roll her eyes.
“Iggs, I’ll explain the Borg to you later. Just... trust us, they aren’t all friendly or pretty like Six of Ten,” she said.
“I had Patrick load in extra weapons, and Bryce is right. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, however. We’ll also be checking to see how fast this planet is thawing and how rapidly the ice cover is retreating. Any questions before we call it a night?”
“I have one,” Bryce said. “For Oz. Just how much liquor can this young’un of yours hold before she pops? She’s already down one beer.”
“You didn’t!” Oz sat up, alarmed. “Oh, gods, Patrick, I hope your air scrubbers are ready for spider farts. She’s sleeping with you, Bryce.”
“Hey, I said if I was drinking she was drinking. I figured you’d get the picture or object before now.” He shrugged. “I know she likes to imbibe.” He turned to Iggy. “When we get back to the station, you and I might just become drinking buddies.”
A cockroach to that, mi amigo! Iggy crowed, Borg problems be damned.
Oz, trying not to show her irritation (which was really worry turned into irritation), looked at Dae, “I have no questions.”
“Neither do I,” Bryce replied, popping open another beer to share with Iggy.
“I’ll take the first watch,” Nico offered. “The rest of you get some sleep. You too Patrick, you’re next up.” He stood and moved back to the cockpit.
“Well, you heard the man.” Dae smiled. “I suggest getting to sleep before Iggy goes off.”
“Oh, one more question,” Bryce spoke up. “At what point do the oxygen masks drop from the ceiling when Iggy starts getting the beer farts?”
“When the breathable oxygen falls below acceptable levels,” Nico called back. “If we’re talking spider farts, I’d guess almost immediately. No offense Iggs.”
Whatever, Iggy huffed at the bipeds. You bipeds simply do not understand the simple pleasures of life: beer, cockroaches, letting loose whenever you want because you just do not care.
“Iggy,” Oz admonished the spider with her tone. “I’m with Dae: get to sleep before she starts going off like a little gas bomb.”
“Sweet dreams men...and ladies,” Nico said and turned back to the console.
****************
Major Patrick Smith
Not getting paid enough
Lt. Commander Nicolao
Finding The Stowaway
Lt. Commander Dae Nalas
Bearer Of Bad News
Commander Oralia Zeferino
Getting Bad News and Then Worse News
Ignatius J. Reilly-Zeferino
The Worse News
Lt. Bryce Kendrick
Ready for the Flatulation
