Slippery Slope

Posted on Jan 18, 2016 @ 1:15pm by Lieutenant Commander Aerdan Jos
Edited on on Jan 18, 2016 @ 1:15pm

Mission: Promethean

"Slippery Slope" (Cont. from "Lockdown")

Location: LAVENZA II
Stardate: 2.160118.0137
Scene: Exhaust Pipes

~*~

Aerdan felt the pressure of his situation as Russ and Sam Perry looked on.

"Sir," asked Sam, "what will we do now?"

There was a second of sickening silence before Commander Jos' soft voice pierced the air like a knife in the darkness. If they couldn't go up, and couldn't get out there was really only two options left: stay here and freeze to death or move forward. And that first one was a total cop-out. "We head forward into the compound."

"Serious?" Crichton queried cautiously. "I might be able to override the system."

Kass was already moving forward. The blue man in red had said 'move forward' so she was moving forward. "It's a wall of energy, cupcake. I know you're a miracle worker and all, but that's like smashing you head into a wall and hoping to open a door that's ten meters to the left."

Jake clenched his jaw shut, trying to think up an airtight argument and then dropping it. The truth was he might be able to access it and he might have luck overriding it, but the better possibility was they would stand there with lethal cold sinking into their bones while an entire away team bitched at him.

"The stolen records are in the compound. The security controls are also almost certainly in the compound. The compound lies before us, therefore forward offers us the greatest opportunity." Aerdan reasoned quietly, moving forward, letting Barton and Kass take points.

"And the most likely area with things that want to kill us." Russ grinned in the darkness.

"Some consider that a bonus." Barton quipped.

Jake shook his head, taking the rear with Eve and Perry. Humor in dire situations was all well and good, but there were times when he really wanted to slap his crewmates.

The muffled footsteps of boots on concrete rang out in a ghostly echo down the exhaust passage, it was just enough to make one hear things - footsteps that weren't there, movement that was all in the mind.

"Will you stop fussing with that jacket?" Kass pointed directly at Aerdan as they stopped at a junction. "You're more distracting than en embarrassed bride trying to get her wedding dress off to consummate the marriage."

"I'm so remember to share that one with Cade." Eve murmured from the back.

Aerdan's antennae wilted. "It's hot." His voice was raspy, and thin.

It was getting hot. Uncomfortably hot for most species, though Eve was looking pretty satisfied. But for the Andorian it was going well beyond uncomfortable and straight into the pain zone. His heart rate had steadily risen as the temperature went up, to the point where his limbs were heavy with exhaustion from the simple act of walking. "Simply opening the front isn't helping, these things are designed to prevent air flow."

Kass canted her head, considering that. The farther they went the worse it would get, and the more cumbersome the suits would be. It occurred to her that they never discussed what to do in such a situation which was looking like a naive oversight. "Take it off."

"Will you two get a room?" Russ smirked, getting more enjoyment out of this than anyone really had the right to.

"I'm serious, take it off. If we find a place to stow these things, we do so, and we'll put a tracking marker on them." It was the sort of no-nonsense tone that cut off protests before they began. While she was fully aware of the value of the thermal gear verses the elements, inside they were not only terrifically hot, but cumbersome. Stealth would be impossible and the last thing she needed was teammates fainting from stubborn refusal to disrobe.

"I'm fine." the Andorian lisped back. Carrying a coat was equally cumbersome and with a phaser in one hand and a tricorder in the otehr he had no clue where a thermal suit would go.

"You'd make a terrible stripper." Kass offered a light smile before she tuned her senses into the junction ahead. "Crichton, sounds like we have power conduits running to the left."

Jake perked his head upwards. "Probably connecting the exhaust system with the main base."

"We can use them like a trail of breadcrumbs." Russ grinned.

"You mean follow them?" Aerdan queried lightly.

"You have no sense of humor."

Jos's antennae curled downwards, and he frowned lightly before ignoring the bait and gazing towards Kass. "Follow them."

"Right on."

The echoing footsteps sang another round of the ghostly chorus as the team plodded carefully forward, until the hulking form of Barton jerked to a sudden stop. "Guess what, our breadcrumb train just took a big dip downward."

The faint lines of the power conduits bent downwards, heading through the concrete floor as the tunnel continued forward for several meters before dropping off into blackness.

"We got an exhaust fan and a 58% grade ahead." Kass called back.

"That's one hell of a slide." Russ whistled. "How long is it?"

"Long enough to get crushed at the bottom if we're not careful." Kass was picking her way carefully forward. "But at least there's a grate over said fan.

Well, not getting chopped to bit was always good. Still, that was less of a slide and more of a suicidal careen down a concrete slope. "Are there any other routes?" Perry asked quietly.

There was a half second pause before a dry "Nope" came from the front of the team. "This is an exhaust shaft. They don't exactly build multiple choice paths."

Aerdan moved forward, looking downwards. It was a steep drop of perhaps 10-12 meters. Livable, but not especially safe. "What does the landing area look like?"

"Dark." Barton answered, squinting downwards.

"There's the fan grate and a collection area, a small round room about the same height as we're in now." Kass informed. "I'm pretty sure we can make it down if you take the effort to slow yourself during the trip. And for fucks sake don't lock your legs, because we don't want to be carrying anyone with broken femurs."

"It's far more common to break a tibia." Aerdan mused.

Kass shot him the 'shut up' look.

"I'll go first." Barton offered with a dry shrug. "Pretty sure I can make it - damn sure I can help stop people at the bottom."

Several seconds of silence hung in the air as this was mulled over, punctured by a nod of approval from Commander Jos. "Barton first, Kass follows, then the rest of us."

There wasn't any argument from Barton, as he shifted his gear and stowed his equipment. He knew damn well that he needed his hands free to slow his descent, and for once his impressive wingspan and height would come in handy. Kass hovered close by, watching but not touching. "You ready?"

"It's a go." He lowered himself over the edge, sliding down the concrete embankment with a careful groan. He looked like a fur covered spiderman, trying to slow his descent as his gloved hands pushed outwards for purchase. The sound of the thermal layers on concrete was a sharp rasp that reverberated down the corridors.

Everyone was silent, waiting for that scream of pain or the call of confirmation. No one wanted to break the man's attention. Aerdan's antennae perked up as he caught the telltale sound of feet hitting ground, and a sigh of relief washed over the team as Barton's voice called up. "Hit ground, safe. It's damn steep - slide slowly."

"Put your coat on if you took it off." Kass tossed back to the group. "I'm sure the doctors could regale you about the pleasures of road rash and broken bones. But I'd rather they didn't." She moved to the side of the slide, as Russ and Aerdan helped lower her downwards. Kass descended more quickly, but with a Barton-landing pad, there was a soft thump and two calls of safe descent.

Aerdan scanned the team, trying to figure out the optimal order for descent after this, waving Perry forward. "Sam' you're next."

"Hang on!" Barton's voice called from the bottom of the slide.

"What is it?" Jos called back down.

"Something's down here." Kass's tone was dark and searching. "Something...animal."

"Local fauna?" Perry queried.

"Doubtful." Aerdan murmured, looking tensely over the edge. "Can you target it?"

Kass's voice was muffled as she moved further away from the slide landing. "At the moment I can only hear it." Said with the classic tone of 'no I am NOT imagining this.' She took another step forward when her sensors caught something and she riveted her focus on it. Two words dribbled from her mouth. "Oh, shit."

~*~

Perry was yanked backwards from leaning far too far over the edge of the precipice as Aerdan stuck his head over. Seconds passed after Kass' last call and only the sound of phaser fire down the tunnel was audible. Something was wrong - likely horribly wrong knowing the general fortune of the PHOENIX crew. "Kass, Barton?! What's going on down there?"

Nothing.

The Andorian grit his teeth, punching his commbadge. [[Kass, Barton - repond?]]

Nothing.

"What's going on?" Critchton called, moving forward.

"I don't know!" Aerdan replied back through clenched teeth. "And if we can't hail them we need to get safely down there and find out."

"I'll get down there, you hail them." Jake's tone was no nonsense. He had already given up any hope of finding an easy path to the center of this facility.

As Jake went to lower himself down the slide with the help of Russ BaShen, Aerdan put his focus on trying to boost the communicator signal against whatever kind of dampening field had cut off communication from the PHOENIX.

Slowly something garbled came through.

"Kass... Barton... can you hear me?" Aerdan's voice was strained and tense.

Another wash of interference. Eve leaned forward, straining to listen as well. "That doesn't sound like Kass."

No, it didn't. But it did sound like some one. "Can you read me?" Aerdan spoke back in slow, clear tones.

Through the interference words started to clarify, parroting back the question. [[can you hear me?]]

Sucking in a frazzled breath Aerdan defaulted to his ingrained response "This is Commander Aerdan Jos of the USS PHOENIX. Are you receiving?"

The commline cut off from the other end and Eve slapped a hand over Aerdan's own commbadge, shooting a look at the Andorian that was as daggered as a knife-throwers target. "This is a stealth mission! What the hell are you doing?" It was a kind way of phrasing it. Cade would have outright called him a goddamn dumbass - and Kass probably would have punched him without question.

Aerdan took in a short, labored breath. The heat was getting to him - enough to make blatantly stupid decisions. Kass was right, he should have taken the coat off.

The conversation that followed was a desperate backpedal from Jos, while the party on the other end tried very hard to play innocent. Maybe they were innocent. He would be damn lucky if they were, but his pragmatism was betting they weren't. Brilliant job, Jos. You just jeopardized the whole away team by letting the thieves and black-marketeers know that Starfleet was knocking on their back doorstep.

At the rate this was going Kane would bust him down to permanent latrine orderly.

"Nice save." Eve was being generous. Very generous.

"Damn it." was all Aerdan could reply before heading back towards the slide. Jake and Russ were no longer standing at the top, and there was no screaming heard, so the ExO was hoping for at least a little bit of good news. "Crichton?" he called down cautiously.

"We're down here." Jake called back. "Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

"Both."

Crichton took in a deep breath, looking upwards from the bottom of the slide. "Good news is that Russ and I are safe and we can get the rest of the team down. Bad news - Kass and Barton are gone. We can't find a trail."

~*~
NRPG: So I rewrote this at 2am. It sucks. Sorry. But I posted.
~*~

Jamie LeBlanc
Lt Commander Aerdan Jos
Executive Officer


USS Phoenix



"Why do we fly? Because we have dreamt of it for so long that we must"

~Julian Beck