The Fractures Of Her World
Posted on Sep 23, 2016 @ 11:32am by Ensign Lynette Ryan
Edited on on Sep 23, 2016 @ 11:33am
Mission: Fortress: Earth
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“THE FRACTURES OF HER WORLD”
(Continued from “Act Casual”)
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Location: Underwater Facility
Stardate: 2.16.0923.1630
Scene: Corridor
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Bolts of energy flew past as she ran at a frantic pace. Zigging and zagging through the corridor trying to avoid the incoming fire from the pursuing security officers. She was swift on her feet even constricted by the tight black dress that she wore. It definitely wasn't the most suitable item of clothing to be wearing when being chased down, she had already had to make tears in it so she could move freely but Even with this, she was still able to outrun them with ease, the weight of their armor and weapons slowing them down, but knew she wouldn't be able to keep this pace up for much longer.
Her arms and legs ached, her heart raced and she desperately needed to stop and rest before she collapsed from exhaustion but she could not let security find and catch her either. A distressed meow sounded from the carrier that she held a titan grip onto as she continued to run.
*I know its uncomfortable for you my boy but we need to keep going*
Peeking quickly behind her she managed to lose sight of her pursuers for a moment and as soon as she came upon the intersection in the corridor she immediately darted to the left hoping to confuse and split them up and give her more time to find a suitable and safe place she can hide.
After a few meters she came to the door to the storage bay and with a quick flick of her fingers on the doors panel she darted inside as the doors opened. Inside the bay there were storage containers stacked up high, some nearly to the ceiling, but nothing that was going to provide ample cover. Adrenaline at this point was conquering over her panic and fear as her eyes darted around the room. She knew the layout of the facility extremely well even with her short time at the facility she knew of something here that would help. Then she found it hidden behind a stack of containers in the corner of the bay, a hatch leading into the maintenance tunnels.
With her free hand she tried the hatch release but it would not budge for her. Without a moments hesitation she rammed her shoulder into the hatch and felt it give way some but not without pain that now throbbed and pulsed in her shoulder. She tried it again and this time she had success as it moved and with a swift flurry of action she opened the hatch and pushed the cat carrier inside and then climbed inside. Once she was fully inside and turned herself in the cramped area, she placed the release back into its locking position.
To ensure her safety she reached for the small type-1 hand phaser nestled in her belt and with a quick change of its settings aimed it towards the hatch release and pressed the trigger. A bright orange light lanced from the tip of the weapon and struck the release. The continuous fire of the hand phaser began softening and twisting the release, melting it into a lump of metallic mass that would made it difficult to open without a plasma torch or some explosives.
*I hope that is enough to give me some time if they find me*
The aching in her arms and legs began to subside and her heart slowed as she now took the ample opportunity to rest as the chase for the moment was over and she needed to recover in case they found her and she need to continue running.
A third meow came from the carrier echoing throughout the confines of the maintenance tunnel. Sliding herself over to the carrier she opened the small door and reached in to pull out a large grey & white tabby cat whereupon she held it tight.
“It's okay Mackie....It's all going to be okay. We're going to get out of here.” She whispered to her companion, the most dear thing in her life.
“How did we ever end up in this situation, boy?” She sighed directing her question to Mackie, tears began fall from the corners of her eyes. Her feline companion responded by starting to purr. She knew the question was rhetorical and that for a cat he had answered in the best way possible by comforting her. In this free time that she had she began to go over all the events of the day in her head and everything. What she had done that lead her to this point and her fight for life.
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Scene: Engineering Briefing Room
Earlier that Day
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Lynette Ryan sat at one of the small tables in the engineering briefing room surrounded by a number of her colleagues as the duty roster for the day was read out.
“Velez and Saunders” The supervisor called out reading from the duty roster from the PADD in front of him. The two engineers acknowledged with quick nods of their heads.
“We have been experiencing a varying power dip in the EPS conduits in Sublevel 2. Go and check to see if you can pinpoint the fault. We need it found and rectified within the hour.” They gave another acknowledging nod and the Supervisor moved onto reading out the next assignment.
Lynette's focus was directed elsewhere as her eyes glanced over to the man in her line of sight leaning up against the wall by the door. This was Samuel Henderson, he was of a slight muscular build with jet black hair and a pair of blue eyes that made her heart skip beats when hers locked with his. This caused her concentration to lapse and the instructors voice no longer seemed to matter as her thoughts at this point were only of him. She flashed an instant but careful smile towards him and met his eyes with hers. The young engineers smile grew larger as he reciprocated.
“Ryan. I need you to run diagnostics of the computer core and perform any calibrations necessary. We need processing power at peak efficiency.” Her name being called brought the walls of her quick fantasy crashing down.
“Yes sir.”
“Sir, both tasks will take a great deal of time. I will be able to speed up the job quicker if I had someone to assist me.” Lynette made her request with a flurry of deviousness to the supervisor brushing a part of her short hair aside from her face. This was not directed to the supervisor but to Samuel in a subtle way as she gave a quick obscure wink and smile to him.
“I'll give Ryan a hand sir.” Samuel volunteered pushing back gently from the wall and to a degree of attentiveness.
“Henderson, I needed you in the control centre today overseeing the network operations.” The Supervisor glared at him as to the very notion of having his work roster screwed around with displeased him.
“Network operations would be more efficient if we can get the computer calibrations done as quickly as we can. Don't you think, sir?” The supervisor went silent for a moment as he pondered over it.
“Agreed Henderson. Help Ryan out with the calibrations.” It was the first thing that he had said that made Lynette beaming on the inside. An opportunity to work with him and be alone. The supervisor continued to read out the duty assignments from his roster but Lynette had tuned out again as she thought about Sam.
“Alright you all have your assignments Get to it.” It was after everyone started moving that Lynette tuned back into reality and as her colleagues started to file out she waited to catch up with Sam. Apparently though he had the same idea as he stood waiting with that same smile on his face.
“Thanks for volunteering to assist me.” Lynette said feigning innocence as she and Sam met halfway and waited for the supervisor to leave.
“No problem. You haven't been here for that long happy to help out.”
“Are you coming?” Lynette moved towards the door then stopped spinning around to face him with a cheeky smile and Same began to follow her out, shaking his head happily as they left the briefing room.
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Scene: Computer Core
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All was silent in the circular chamber of the core except for the peaceful hum of the computer banks The workstations were empty and apart from the pulsing lights around the chamber there was no other movement except from the two figures behind one of the processing banks, their bodies pressed together in a tight embrace.
“We really shouldn't be doing this now you know, Nette.” Sam said almost gasping for air as he released his lips from hers.
“I know but you make me feel so alive.” Lynette sighed laying her head against his chest she was so happy and at peace with him and did not want it to stop. She wished that the work did not exist for even a single day so she could spend all of it with him.
“As you do me but we really have work to do. You know how our boss will get if we fall behind and how hard they have been working us.” There was a glimmer of disappointment that Sam noticed in Lynette's eyes as he spoke.
“How about after our shift finishes you freshen up and come and meet me at my quarters and if you like we can continue this?”
“I suppose, but how about you come to mine and then we can finish what we started. Okay mister?” Lynette teased as she gave him a last full-on kiss and then released her hands from around his waist.
“Sounds like a plan.”
“I'll start running the manual diagnostics on the computer banks. Do you want to start getting the calibration ready?”
“Sure. Let me know when you have finished the first bank.” Lynette said and she watched him intently until he disappeared from sight and into the rear section of the chamber.
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Scene: Computer Core
Ten Minutes Later
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“First bank complete. You can make a start.” Sam's voice echoed throughout the chamber and he appeared from around the corner.
“This gives me a good opportunity to run the new calibration sub-routines I coded and see how they run.” Lynette said with enthusiasm, her fingers tapping away at her panel. She had a good knack for programming and working with computer systems.
“If you screw the system up, you are the one answering to Edgerton, not me.” Sam joked giving a slight chuckle.
“Are you doubting my computer skills, Sam?” Lynette punched Sam in the left shoulder in a jestful manner.
“Not at all. Just stating the facts.”
“I'll get you later for that.” Lynette hit him again with wide smile.
“Looking forward to it.” Sam leant down to Lynette's side and gave her a heavy kiss on her neck. Lynette gasped at the nice sensual surprise she had been given.
“Okay my smart-ass, what are your new sub-routines supposed to do?” Sam asked in a cheeky tone as he returned his focus to the work that Lynette was doing.
“The new sub-routines I designed are to dig deeper into the system and pick up data that the standard programs would only pick up after several sweeps.” The young engineer spoke with pride and delight highlighting her programming skills.
“Its meant to make the calibration take nearly a third of the time than normal but the syst...” Lynette continued to explain and then stopped mid-sentence as a prompt on the display screen caught her attention.
“Hang on....what's this?” Tapping keys she focused her attention onto what was displayed.
“Nette?”
“The sub-routines have detected data buried so deep in the system that nobody would not know its there unless you knew exactly what you were looking for.” This now had peaked Lynette's curiosity.
“What is it?”
“I don't know. Its several pockets of data... it looks like someone attempted to delete it but since it was buried so deep that the deletion didn't get it all. In a sense it has left a data shadow.”
“Who would do that?”
“Don't know but I can find out.” Lynette said continuing her enthusiasm. This was a dilemma. A mystery that she needed to solve. It was that part of her that couldn't let a good mystery go unsolved otherwise it would plague her mind until it was solved.
“Do you really think you should?” Sam said with a degree of concern as alarms bells started going off in his head. This was not something she really shouldn't be digging into especially if someone had previously tried to have it deleted.
“I'm curious.” Lynette said it plain and simple but it was how she said it that conveyed that there was little going to sway her from her opinion.
“You know the old saying. Curiosity killed the cat.”
“That's not funny, Sam.” Lynette glared at her with an unhappy look. It was kind of startling to him as it was something he had not seen from her before.
“Sorry. You sure about this?”
“Don't worry Sam it will be fine. It's probably just an obsolete program from when the core first came online.”
“Okay, I'll leave you to it.” Sam then left her to work and resumed his but he got to thinking that perhaps she was right and there was nothing to worry about. On the other hand perhaps she was right and there was nothing to worry about it.
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Scene: Lynette's Quarters
Later that evening
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“You are just going to sit there with your eyes boring into my brain until I feed you aren't you, Mackie?” The white and grey tabby gave a very loud meow as if directly answering his owner's question.
“Can I get dressed first?” Lynette stood in the entryway, hair freshly wet from her shower and towel wrapped around her.
“You poor starving waif. You aren't going to fade into a shadow if you have to wait a few minutes are you?” Mackie continued to disagree and gave a disapproving meow and turned himself around in a circle, tail held high. Lynette smiled at his cute act of bribery and gave him a quick pat on his head and then moved towards the bedroom hanging onto the towel tightly with one hand. This was going to be a special night for her and Sam and she knew exactly what she was going to wear to make it more special for him.
She noticed her hand shake as she pulled it from the wardrobe. *God why am I shaking. I can't be nervous can I?* Lynette was very outgoing as a teenager and as a result had been with many guys and had fun but never been in a serious relationship or even fallen in love. Why she was feeling this way again now she couldn't explain it. Could it be she was falling for Sam? She had only known him a little over a month. Maybe it was true. Maybe she was beginning to fall in love with Sam. Did he perhaps feel the same way?
Lynette sat back onto the bed and buried her face in her free hand for a moment as these new thoughts sent her mind into chaos. hat thought aside for the moment and proceeded to get dressed as it wouldn't be long before Sam would arrive. She had had it all planned out before on their evening. Dinner, maybe a little dancing and then a continuation from what they had before. Now with her emotional revelation she was unsure of her plans and of herself.
Lynette shook those thoughts aside for the moment and proceeded to get dressed as it wouldn't be long before Sam would arrive and she didn't want him to see her like this.
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Scene: Corridor on Crew Level
Same time
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Sam walked down one of the corridors of the facility crew level with a casual and slightly upbeat stride to his step. A large grin blazened across his face as he walked towards Lynette's quarters. After the completion of his work shift and filing his daily report, he returned to his quarters long enough to just change into something more comfortable and casual for Lynette.
He felt a warm glow surround his heart as he thought about her and how much happiness she brought him when together. They had only known each other a short while and he was surprised he had this level of feeling for her already. He had been with other women before and had a few serious relationships but this was different. She made him feel different.
“Hell, she is nearly 5 years younger than me too.” The unknowing but conscious thought escaped his lips before he realised though he was glad that there wasn't another soul to listen to it.
Sam wasn't sure what Lynette had in store for tonight as although she was intelligent, fun and beautiful she was possessed a crafty and devious mind. As he rounded the next corner, the door to Lynette's quarters was in sight. He stood before the door and froze in place for a second, his eyes starting at the dull grey color but his nervous going through all the thoughts on Lynette and what tonight would bring. What would happen? Would it be just a simple night of hanging out together? Or would he spending the night?
His mind was a flurry of activity so without a single thought he brushed his hair back with a nervous hand and pressed the door chime.
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Scene: Inside Lynette's Quarters
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The sound of the door chime echoed throughout her quarters.
“Oh Shit!” The panicked words leapt from Lynette's mouth as she hadn't even finished getting completely dressed yet.
“Damn he's early.”
“Ummmm...ummmm. Who is it?” She realised it was an idiotic thing to say and face palmed herself lightly regretting the moment the sound came out.
[[Err...It's Samuel]]
“Come in.” She heard the whoosh of the doors parting followed by the footsteps that entered.
“Can you just give me another minute?” Lynette shouted from around the corner as she tried to finish with her hair and not leave him waiting.
“Sure....I thought I might have been early...but there was...erm...no other place I wanted to be more.” Sam responded.
*Oh God, why did he have to say that.* Lynette's face began to blush from the comment as she fought furiously with her hair, her hand holding the brush like holding a dagger, trying to get it under control.
“Just make yourself at home.” The hair fighting girl said grunting mid-sentence as she broke through a painful tangle. She then heard Sam whispering from the main room at first she was unsure but then a smile appeared from her face when it was followed by a distinct meow.
*Okay this is the best I'm going to get it.* She studied herself in the mirror trying to look flawlessly for the man, whom was only separated by a wall, who got her heart racing.
*Here goes nothing* With a deep breath she lifted herself from the dressing table and moved slowly from the bedroom.
Sam felt the subtle vibration and heard the faint purrs as he ran his hand gently down the back of grey / white tabby that seemed very happy with his presence on the floor with him. He was surprised as he didn't know that Lynette owned a cat, he didn't think it would be her type but as the saying goes 'Never judge a book by its cover'
“Errr...Sam?” Sam turned his face towards the sweet voice that had already enamoured him and what his eyes saw almost made his heart stop altogether. Before him in the doorway stood an absolute thing of beauty that he could not just physically look away from, not that he would ever want to at this moment. Lynette wore a tight blank dress that ran down to just above her knees and expressed the curves of her body that a work jumpsuit never did.
“Sam.....Sam!” Lynette repeated as he witnessed Sam frozen in place as if under a spell. His jaw had dropped which gave her an obvious indication that he liked what he saw.
“Sam...you are going to start drooling in a moment.” She walked upto him and closed his jaw. Sam seemed to snap out of his hypnotic daze and he lifted himself from the floor and stood before her.
“So....ummm...what do you think?” The nervousness began to take over again and she tried to stop herself from shaking because of it. Sam's answer was that he placed his hand under her chin lifting it slightly up towards his where he then whispered.
“Stunning” Lynette felt his warm lips touch gracefully upon hers which sent warm comforting waves throughout her body and she then responded in kind pushing back. They continued locked together for a minute before Lynette broke away slowly.
“Come on we better get some dinner.” Lynette's face was bright red and she moved away towards the replicator with the biggest grin on her face that she ever had. Those thoughts from when she was getting dressed reappeared in her mind but where she disbelieved and put them aside before she now accepted and took to heart. She was accepting this new unfamiliar feeling and now truly believed in the idea that she was falling in love with him.
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Scene: Lynette's Quarters
End of Dinner
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Soft music played providing a gentle ambience to the small space as both Lynette and Sam sipped from their stemmed glasses above their empty plates.
“Well that was the best replicated roast dinner I believe I ever tasted.” Sam said graciously with a hint of jest as he took the napkin from beside his plate and wiped around his mouth.
“My mum's speciality. I had someone program the recipe especially for me as I loved when she cooked up a sunday roast when I was a kid.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“Before I got my assignment here I guess....I do miss her.” Lynette's heart dipped a little and the expression on her face reflected that as well.
“Well hopefully this project will be finished soon and then maybe you can some leave to go see her.” Sam reached out and placed his hands on top of her hands as assurance and this seemed to help as a slight smile returned to her face.
“That would be nice...in fact it would be really great if you could perha....” An alarm sounded from Lynette's terminal from the other side of the room breaking her moment of concentration.
“Sorry. I just have to go and check on this.” Lynette excused herself from the table and moved over to the terminal. In a way it was a kind of relief, a saved by the bell moment, that potentially saved her from what could have been an awkward moment.
Lynette began tapping away at the terminal.
“What is it?”
“You know that data anomaly I found earlier in the system. I started running a program to try and reconstruct the data and its telling me that it is complete.”
“It looks like plans and schematics from the project we are working on and...” Lynette then stopped and she gasped. Her hand immediately reaching to cover her mouth to stop any more distress but it wasn't working. Tears began to well up at every new inch of information her eyes scanned through on the display screen.
“Nette, you okay?” Sam witnessed her distress and leapt from his seat to comfort her.
“No this isn't right. It can't be.” She couldn't move her eyes away from the screen even at how much it was affecting her.
“Lynette... tell me.” Sam grabbed her shoulders and spun her around where she buried herself into her chest. She took a second to regain her composure and then began to tell him.
“You know about the special project right. The satellite grid setup to help with the defense of Earth?”
“Of course. Its what we have all been working on.”
“We have seen the schematics on them. A shield generator, onboard weaponry and an array to setup a tachyon detection grid to pick up on cloaked ships.”
“The deleted data that I have reconstructed are modified shematics.”
“Understandable they would have made slight improvements over the original design.”
“No Sam let me finish. The changes they made...”
“Oh God Sam. The satellites up there have Thalaron generators onboard with a pinpoint focusing system.”
“Thalaron!? But Thalaron has been outlawed by every civilized government ever since Shinzon's coup of the Romulan Government decades ago.”
“I know that but it makes you wonder now doesn't it. This facility, no outside communications other than the top level staff. Also doesn't it make you wonder that they have always rotated our work duties day by day so we are doing something different and constantly pushing us? Perhaps so we don't learn too much on a specific thing and don't have time to think?” Lynette went into a frenzy and wandered aimlessly around the room.
“Lynette you could simply be just overthinking things. Just calm down.”
“Oh my god look at the screen.”
“Its being deleted. Someone is doing it remotely. I have to stop it. Need to make a copy.”
“I think you are right which means somebody knows what you have found and trying to cover it up.” That unsure feeling that Sam felt returned but with even greater intensity and a slight sense of panic appeared on his face.
“Security will doubt have been called.” Lynette's heart race with both fear and regret at what she had done that had lead to this. If she hadn't pried then none of this will be happening.
“We need to leave but the transporter is the only way out and they will now no doubt have it guarded and locked down.” Sam explained trying to figure out the best solution when this beast of panic had suddenly leapt upon them.
“Maybe if I can get down to the maintenance section I might be able to find a way to bypass the transporter lockdown and perhaps beam us out remotely from there.” Lynette suggested.
“No, you run and find a place to hide. Get into the tunnels that will make it harder to find them, I'll handle the lockdown.”
“No Sam.” Lynette objected.
“They have traced it back here to your quarters which means they don't know that I know about it so I should be able to have free access to maintenance. Anyway I know my way around transporters better than you do.” Sam was not going to say no and back down. He needed Lynette to be safe as they will be gunning for her and there was no way he was going to put her into a situation where there were would be no doubt she would be captured and who knows from there.
“I'll go but I'm not leaving Mackie here.” Lynette was not happy that Sam was going to leave her but he was right. There wasn't any reason for them suspect Sam and she wanted to keep it that way until they could escape.
“I'll contact you as soon as I'm ready. I love you.” Sam leant in gave her a quick but passionate kiss gazing into her eyes before moving away.
“I....love you too.” At the point Sam had already exited her quarters before she had finished uttering her words. Lynette stood in the middle of the room feeling empty like a hollow shell. She somehow had the uneasy feeling that might be her last kiss with Sam. Her world had changed dramatically to both extremes in the matter of hours and inside her mind was trying to cope with all the chaos it had brought, but she had to quickly move and to escape this now accursed place with Sam.
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Scene: Edgerton's Office
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“And I have so much been wanting to meet you again you bitch!” Edgerton stated in both an angry and delighted tone. So long he had been waiting to see Selyara down on her knees before him and at his very mercy. Selyara did not reply with words but her thoughts were clear as she stared at him with a piercing stare.
Edgerton motioned for a phaser from one of the guards and quickly changed a setting before pointing directly at the Vulcan / Betazoid's temple.
“Edgerton. She is still mine until I receive my payment.” James spoke up and moved to try and intercede but the guards moved and directed their aim towards him.
“Mister Barton, you will get your payment after I have finished with her.”
The transporter room suddenly was drowned in a crimson and an alert sounded. This broke Edgerton's concentration and he spun around.
“What the hell is going on?” Edgerton moved to the communications panel and slammed the button hard.
[[We have detected an intrusion to a restricted part of the system.]] A stern voice sounded over the comm system.
“Where from!?” Edgerton barked his temper growing ever larger.
[[Crew Level. Berth 17]]
“Track them down and apprehend them. Kill them if necessary.”
[[She is currently on the run. I have security teams in pursuit.]]
“Just find her. Edgerton out”
“Well it appears my dear. I'll have to have my fun with you later.” Instead of pulling the trigger he struck her across her right cheek with the butt of the phaser and she fell to the floor groaning with pain.
“Take them all, lock them up.” He waved his hand gesturing to guests that had recently beamed aboard.
“But keep a close eye on that one at all times. Got it?” The Neo-Essentialist Leader and self-proclaimed Master of Earth emphasised towards the beaten body of Selyara Chen, the disruptive influence that had caused so much trouble with his plans. That was going to change though she was in his hands, at his feet and he had a loaded gun pointed at the head of Starfleet orbiting Earth. There was nothing they could but submit. There was no other choice unless they wanted further examples of his power and more cities like Paris wiped clean.
*Checkmate* Edgerton said with a large smirk has he left the transporter room and the guards reached for their cuffs and approached James and Rexl.
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Scene: Storage Bay (Maintenance Tunnel)
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Lynette whispered as she held Mackie close to her chest. He was purring from her caress which aided to keep her calm. It had felt like ages since she had sealed herself in the maintenance tunnel and had heard nothing from Sam. In the last half hour she had moved herself along the network of tunnels to a more secure position away from the Storage Bay, hoping to make it more work to find her and give her more time for Sam to do his thing and get them both out of here.
*Fuck my stubbornness. Sam was right about my curiosity getting me in trouble. Now I have put both of our lives in danger*
She was worried about Sam. Why hadn't she heard from him? What if something had happened? Did they catch him? Her heart began to sink into a pit from the fear and concern and the tears began to fall from her eyes again.
“Damn It Sam! Where are you?”
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NRPG: Greetings to you all and hope you enjoyed my emotional introductory post for Lynette.
I have spent alot of time getting this together and have read through some of the back-posts but there will be no doubt some details I have gotten incorrect.
I hope portrayed Edgerton correctly and given you guys and gals in the facility something to work from.
I am looking forward to seeing where this leads now and to writing with you all.
If any of you have any questions regarding Lynette or aspects of my post, please let me know and I will see about answering them the best I can.
Phillip Wright
Playing Engineer Lynette Ryan
