Cold Realisation – Cross walk
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Beq Marcus Quexana & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene

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Title   Cross walk
Mission   Cold Realisation
Author(s)   HoD Ro' Matlh & Beq Marcus Quexana & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene
Posted   Sat Jun 15, 2013 @ 11:56am
Location   Asteroid
Timeline   Leaving the FHew
Ro' and HoS stood at the hatch of the Cargo bay waiting for the away team to assemble.

Marie was still metaphorically scratching her head as she stepped through the door into the Hold. She'd been so sure about the Hariba Garia. Damn these nanites! she thought. First they make me speak in tongues; now they're giving false information.

Tell strode into the hold wondering why on earth you always get an itchy nose when you cant scratch it. One of the lights flickered above her. The lights had been the bane of her life here on this old bucket of bolts. "Don't even think about it," she murmured to the arrogant thing.

"Hey, Marie. Ready to go shopping?"

Tell’s voice snapped Marie out of her reverie. “They’re probably teetotallers so there won’t be much for you to buy,” she replied. “Tell,” she asked, suddenly serious, “am I going mad? HoS thinks I am.”

"Have you taken the insanity test" replied Tell "I hear its a sure fire way of telling if your insane or not. Its set up by some professor in... the... in Starfleet."

“That whole Hariba Garia thing. I don’t know why I blurted it out. Jared said he shut the nanites down but there it was in my brain.”

"I thought that Hariba Garia was some kind of exotic drink. I have to admit its impressive and just a little bit freaky even for you but I still like you despite what the others say." said Tell trying to lighten the mood "Hmmpf as if Jared knows everything. He's not always right you know. Look when we get back I'll run a few simulations, hot wire you up to the mainframe and then tell those bloody nanites where to go. In the meantime try, just try to stop them."

“I don’t know how to stop them!” she cried. She was almost in tears but tears of frustration, not tears of self-pity. She shook her head violently to clear it; not a good move in an EVA suit.

Tell turned to face her friend. She had already lost one friend on this rust bucket and she wasn't prepared to loose another. She laid a supportive hand on Marie's shoulder. "We'll work it out, don't worry."

May'Bel arrived later than the rest, his armour was adourned with heavily laden weapon belts, and his back was criss-crossed by a spear-gun and a Batleth. He looked ready for anything.

He looked at Marie with a thoughtful gaze. He was quite willing to mercy-kill a crewman if the need was there, but hopefully Jared's assessment was right and it wouldn't be needed. Provided nothing happened while they were away from the F'Hew and out of comms...

Marcus entered the hold, suited for the trip. He wore his gladius outside the suit, of course, but fastened up out of the way behind his back with it's magnetic harness. For this mission, he had attached the retractable lanyard wire to the pommel. This would impede any really fancy sword work, but so would the clumsy EVA suit and he was not going to chance losing the precious family heirloom to a slip in zero-g. The wire ran back to the compact spool retractor on the weapon's baldric.

He reflected for not the first time since his abrupt change of venue that it was fortunate that he carried all the sword's accessories on the baldric. The lanyard spooler, specialised cleaning and sharpening implements and even a small repair kit with tools and parts for maintaining the weapon and scabbard all had their place. Had any of these things been in his quarters when his last ship had been destroyed, they would have been lost forever.

Germite stepped into the hold. He was wearing the standard EVA suit. His only real addition was a medkit. He nodded to Marie and Tell. Then looked to Marcus and May'Bel. He hefted his medkit. "Try not to make me use this."

Once the away team were finally gathered in the darkened Hull, HoS'a' cracked the manual escape lock at the rear. May'bel climbed out first, and the rest followed single file. The dark hulk of the alien ship could be dimly seen about 200 meters across the open space between it and the FHew. May'bel shouldered a spear gun weapon and fired. The metal shaft quickly crossed the gap and landed with a noise that was only heard by May'bel as it carried back up the cable to him. He unhitched the weapon and secured the tether line to the inside of the airlock hatch.

The journey across the gulf was relatively easy, since there was no gravity or air resistance. It was more like swimming or flying than climbing. When they reached the other side they saw the metal spear had bitten deep into the hull of the alien ship. It appeared to be very lightly armoured, which suggested a very advanced shield system when it was operating. The group fanned out searching for an entrance, their metal boots echoing oddly loudly in their own suits, but silent to anyone else. It was Marie who found the hatch first. She lit one of Jared's green flares to attract the others' attention.

The airlock was large enough to accommodate all of them, and once the outer lock was sealed, the inner lock opened with a hiss that suggested the atmosphere inside was still secure. May'bel went first again, dropping through into the dark space beyond. The sound of a clang as his metallic boots connected with the floor reinforced the fact they were no longer in a vacuum. A moment later his voice drifted up.

"The air is breathable, but icy cold."

One by one the rest dropped down into the freezing dark. There was a moment's disorientation as they realised that they were coming into the ship sideways, and the wall they were nearest was actually the floor, but they soon had their boots attached to the correct surface. As their glow sticks played over the surfaces around them, dark shadows began to arrange themselves into recognisable shapes.