Posted by Commander Mason Black (Executive Officer) in Taking a Break

Posted by Commander Mason Black (Executive Officer) in Taking a Break

Posted by Commander Mason Black (Executive Officer) in Taking a Break
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

It didn’t take long to reach the access panel where Paris had entered the vent earlier. At that time of night the only person they had passed had been a member of the Asimov’s crew, likely returning to their own quarters after a late night liason of their own. They had begun to speak, but Mason had held up his finger for silence and made the time honored ‘See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil’ gestures. Considering their rank and position on the Asimov, NE Parks nodded and continued on his way, the encounter forgotten.

Pausing at the panel, Mason looked at Paris and sighed. “You know this isn’t quite the kind of tight space I hoped to get into tonight,” he grinned wickedly. “We had the penthouse suite, double king bed, real chocolate. Now we are playing Gweer Bryls: Dodgy Colonial Corporate Edition and packing Phasers and gas grenades. I was expecting a different kind of bang, honestly.” He pulled the panel from the door and placed it to one side, then turned back to Paris and took her around the waist, pushing her against the wall and pressing his body close to hers, awkward enough considering their bulky hazmat suits.

“How many bangs are you looking for Sir,” she said softly so close to him that she could feel his exhaling breath cascade down her neck. If they were anywhere but a public hallway Paris might have gone for round two, yet they were here and not back in the suite Mason was just speaking about. “I am up for it. You think we can fit in the panel. This is a bit public and while I am okay with people knowing I am going to be your wife I am not sure they should see wifely duties,” she laughed, “unless that is some Denevan custom I am unaware of.” Paris did not try to kiss him or pull away. She wanted the tension between them to be electric. Paris knew as well Mason that the horizontal mambo would not be danced in the small access hallway but it was fun to tease him.

“There is never a dull moment with you, Paris,” he whispered to her gently. “You know you are the best thing that ever happened to me, right. Even if we get eaten by giant, man eating bugs or drown in a sea of bug poop for your crazy scheme, at least i’ll go down with you by my side. I love you, always know that okay. I don’t know of anything that could complete me more than you do.”

Cmdr Black, XO

“Good,” she said patting him on the chest several times before ducking under his arm. “And I am going to need you to crush any creepy crawlies we meet along the way.” Entering the panel Paris crawled on her hands and knees down the tunnel. It was tight as Mason commented but not tight enough that she was feeling claustrophobic yet. She had worked on overcoming the panicky sensation tight spaces brought onto her. The incident on the surface of Mars that started it had been played out over and over in a holodeck program enough times that Paris could react without freezing but that was a long way from being over the fear of small enclosed places.

Lt. Commander Paris Carisi COS

Mason followed her in, pausing to adjust his Phaser as he did. Reaching back out he picked up the panel and replaced it from the inside, now any trace of their having been here was gone. Flicking on his helmet light he stifled a yawn, Paris had no idea how hard it had been to get back out of bed after their little interlude but the thought of explaining why three ruffians were tied and stashed in their sonic shower without any evidence of wrongdoing, other then their attack on the Starfleet Officers, brought a little more determination to his crawl as he followed Paris’ rear end down the tunnel. Looking after her, he marvelled at how different it looked in the flesh rather than a heavy hazmat suit and grinned.

“So how far do we have to go before we get into the bug poop you found?” he asked through the comm on their suits and noted the chute was angling down further, eventually they passed a point where he recognised extraction fans for vents and guessed they had passed ground level, and were now underground. He frowned, it should by rights have ended in a system for the air conditioning but seemed to be continuing on. “I haven’t seen any bugs yet.”

Cmdr Black, XO

Bump

Bump

“Why do you sound so disappointed by that,” Paris asked wrinkling her nose a bit. It might be the topic that made her or the fact Mason seemed hell bent of doubting her that this place needed a good Orkin team. To his defense there wasn’t even a butterfly in the gardens.

“Mason I promise you baby. Something is,” she stopped crawling immediately and without warning in front of Mason. While not unexpected for her abrupt stop, Paris realized Mason must have been looking down as they ventured through the tunnels and not up.

The resulting force of the collision sent Paris head first into the hatchway door that was now blocking their path. A low thud echoed through the tunnel followed by Paris letting out a small whimpering laugh. “I think I just lost five points off my IQ. You know I am going to make you kiss it and make it better later,” she teased. “For now however we got a problem. The tunnel is sealed off.” Reaching out she saw her fingers disappearing through a holographic shimmer that cloaked the tunnel had immediately ended.

“There is some sort of holographic projection that seems to be,” she held her breath for a second as she let her fingers feel the hard surface behind the shimmering field. “There is a....water tight door,” she said a bit in disbelief. “You know like those round circle things from ancient sea faring times. Don’t ask me why or if I am even right but that’s what if feels like.” After a long pause Paris wedged her body to the side and looked back at mason.

“Lift up,” she said dropping from her crawling position to one on her left side. Her feet were shoved back and under Mason so she could lay down. It was tight but he would give her leverage to try and open the hatch. Several grunts later Paris realized she was going to need some help.

“Mason,” she said looking back and down the tunnel at the XO. “Can you shimmy up here beside me and we can try to two man this? The angle we are at is going to make it harder to get leverage.”

Lt commander. Paris Carisi