Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Henry Rodier (Chief of Security) in Main Sim - Cargo Bay
<snip>

Close to Rodier, he could see the weak and battered colonist feebly look in his direction with sheer terror and tears in her eyes. She tried to say something to him but only the movement of her mouth belied the attempt.

GM Madness
=^= Cadet Williams to Lieutenant O’Connell. The transported colonist are at Sickbay. The major problem is that I couldn’t examine them properly due to their stress, but they don’t seem to be in immediate danger. The other problem is that since we don’t know what those creatures are, I’m recommending putting those colonists in provisional quarantine and analyzing their blood to detect any suspicious virus, bacteria, or mutation development. Waiting for your approval.=^=
(crosspost)

Cadet Aaron Williams

=^= Do it. Get full scans from each one and treat as necessary.=^= Ari replied to Williams.

Despite the horrific situation in front of them, Miya felt relief when she heard Aaron’s voice. Her friend and fellow cadet was proving his worth today. Hopefully she’d be able to do the same.

The Chief muttered an expletive, then, without turning, said “Cadet Kleine, fantastic timing. Cover me, and tell Stadi to cycle that forcefield.” He gestured for the rest of the team to follow, and began dragging the colonist toward the forcefield.

~ Lt. jr. gr. Rodier - Terrified COS

‘Yes sir.’ Jordy said and he started covering the chief. =^=Cadet Kleine to Lieutunant Stadi the chief of security said to me that you need to cycle the forcefield.=^=

=^= Running through cycles now, Cadet. Keep up the good work=^= Dael replied, hoping to keep the spirits up of the teams around him while he focused on blocking out all the surrounding chaos.

Seeing her chance to move the Doctor gripped her medical kit, nodded once to the medical staff still in sight and took off from her position of cover towards the injured colonist and the COS.

Lt O’Connell

Miya followed, continuing her silent prayer to the Prophets for protection as she ran.

OOC: I’m going to allow for the forcefield adjustments to occur when the CE gets a chance to do them. In the meantime everyone will be in for a harrowing experience.

As the security team did a steady retreat while the COS dragged the weak colonist, the creatures continued to advance despite the phaser fire laid down in suppression. The largest creature spotted the CMO as being the only unarmed person besides the colonist and started to circle around in an attempt to approach her.

GM Madness

Her senses on high alert, Miya spotted the creature’s sudden interest and yelled a warning. “LIEUTENANT O’CONNELL! Look out!” It dawned on her, a split-second later, that drawing attention to herself probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but hopefully it would distract the monster long enough for someone with a phaser to shoot it. Hopefully.

[Cadet Ven Miya, Doctor]

Ari froze, her expression a curious mix of ‘uhoh’ and ‘eeep’ she wasn’t a fighter, had barely passed basic defence. So she did the only thing she could think of made a sound and tried to make herself as small as possible.

“The a bypass here, a calculation there…” the Betazoid muttered, trying to ignore the strain that was pressing down on him. The experience was hard enough to block out if all he had were eyes, ears and.... the smell. But he also had wave upon wave of telepathic confusion and stress and fright that was trying to make it’s way into his brain from everyone around him. He worked on staying on just what was in front of him, the problem at hand. And maybe a nice soak in a sensory deprivation tank once this was all done with. Yes, that’d do the trick. Making sure that the command codes were still in place to automatically drop the Bay’s force fields for any security or medical personnel, that freed him to work on the next, hopefully successful, trick. He tried some of the algorithms he had seen in the Starfleet Engineering journals used to both counter and imitate Borg shielding and tried implementing them into the Challenger’s systems. Working on that he did his best to cycle the frequency and phasing of the forcefields and, as another subroutine, the ship’s scanners in hopes that either the forcefields would finally hold these monsters or the transporters would get a better signal to get them the hell of his ship.

-Lt. jg Dael Stadi, CE

The adjustments to the forcefields seemed to do the trick as each creature was trapped inside their own circular field. Then the transporters kicked in since the location had been narrowed for each of them and they were transported back to the planet below. The cargo bay was clear except for the dead colonists and security officer.

GM Madness

The familiar sound of the transporters was as welcome to Miya as the chimes of a Bajoran temple. Within seconds, the abominations had disappeared but the cargo bay - originally set up as a haven for the colonists - remained a charnel house.

As soon as he saw the bluish-ringed creatures fully disappear, Henry stopped. Leaving the colonist in the hands of NC Ugg and the doctors, he ran over to where the member of his team had been dragged.

~ Lt. jr. gr. Rodier - COS

The scene that Rodier arrived to was horrific to behold. It was very clear that the security officer was dead.

Now that the imminent danger had passed Ari reached the injured colonist who had been left. “You’re…you’re safe now.” She said.

Lt O’Connell

The woman laid there in a daze. She had deep abrasions and cuts along her arms and flanks where she was attacked and how she defended. Ari’s words didn’t seem to have any effect.

GM Madness

Miya knelt beside the injured woman, trying to keep her expression encouraging as she started to pass the medical tricorder over the wounds. The scent of blood was strong in her nostrils and she was peripherally aware of Lt Rodier and the security cadet - she recognised him as Jordy Klein; she’d conducted his onboarding physical - approaching a body wearing a Starfleet uniform. She swallowed as she studied the tricorder’s readouts, determined to keep her voice steady as she reported its findings to Lt O’Connell.

“These are deep cuts, but nothing a dermal regenerator can’t handle. I’d recommend broad spectrum antibiotics to cover any possible contaminants being transferred from these creatures. I can prepare a hypospray now, sir, if you want?” she added.

Noting the colonist’s dazed look, Miya made a mental note to follow up the physical treatment by recommending some counselling sessions - either aboard the Challenger or at their eventual destination. Given the current situation, some members of the Challenger’s crew might also benefit from talking to the counsellor, she thought. And I’m probably going to be one of them!

[Cadet Ven Miya, doctor]

Jordy ran to the team member of the chief.
‘What happend to him?’

Cadet Jordy Kleine - Security

Rodier dropped to one knee beside the fallen officer, murmuring something. “You have given your life for another. May all be well.” Jordy’s words came as if through a mist, and he responded, “He gave his life for that colonist. I should’ve…” he trailed off.

Henry’s cheek felt damp, but no tears fell.

~ Lt. jr. gr. Rodier - COS