To say Kaboum or not to say Kaboum

Posted on 21 Nov 2020 @ 6:48pm by Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Jennin Rhula & Lieutenant Zayna Ryler & Lieutenant Lucas Abrams M.D. & Story Teller

2,875 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Ghosts
Location: Black Hawk’s Nacelle
Timeline: MD 4 || 1330 hours

Arjin was concerned about having to defuse the bomb. It was not a field he excelled in. He had of course the memories of his Djinx former host Yedrin. Having worked with explosives a lot, he would not be in total darkness. First thing he had to do was gather a team. The captain had told to take officers from both Science and Medical which makes sense.

He sent out a request to join him in transport, wearing vacc suits.

=^=Lieutenant Commander Milo, Lieutenant Abrams, Crewman Aylin, please join me on a mission to defuse a devise currently attached to the Black Hawk’s Nacelle. Doctor be prepared for some precision surgery when needed.=^=

Hearing the call and having hoped she wouldn't be pulled for this on top of what she worked on earlier, Crewman Lynn Aylin sighed heavily and tapped her combadge. =^=On my way, Commander. =^= She made her way towards the location, realizing she'd be stuck in a suit, which always was something she hated.

Lucas arched a brow as he tapped his combadge. =^=Acknowledged. I'm on my way,=^= the big guy said before he ended the link. He could honestly say he'd never been pulled from his normal post for anything quite like this, and that made him just a little nervous.

With Dr. Milo occupied, Kal-Irdu was the duty physician, even if it was a bit of a misnomer in her case. But as a physician's assistant, she was very capable of a wide range of medical diagnoses and treatments. She grabbed a medkit and headed after Abrams. "This sounds wild," she said, catching up with the giant surgeon. She reached up and straightened the cowl covering her small horns.

Lucas cast a glance down toward the physician's assistant he recognized from medical. He hadn't worked with her before, but that was all about to change. "Indeed it does," he agreed. "And there won't be any room for error. Of course, I want to know how something like this happens. Perhaps, I'll ask once the ship is no longer in imminent danger."

"This is the Black Hawk, Doctor. This sort of thing is totally within the realm of normal here," the Grazerite woman offered in reply.

"You're not wrong," the big guy said.

As they were all present,Arjin took his place on the transporter. He did not like to have to work from within a suit, but unfortunately it would be the only possibility. =^=When we are transported, make sure to be ready to magnetise your boots to cling to the nacelle. We don’t want anyone floating in space.=^=, Arjin warned before delivering the coordinates to the Ensign handling the transporters. “Energize”

Lynn shifted in her suit a bit, but her hand was ready on the button to magnetize her boots. Sure, she'd trained to do space walks, but they made her queasy. However, it seemed she was the one they had to call on right now with many of the crew preoccupied. "Ready, Commander," she said finally with a shaky breath.

As they were being transported, the bright interior gave way to the deep darkness of space. This time enlightened by the bright colors of the nebula. No matter how many training you have, the feeling of being outside in space will always get to you. It took Arjin a minute to really focus. Looking down he saw the bomb lying there attached to the ship just a few feel away. The knot in his stomach only tightened because of that.

Lucas spent all of his time inside of starships, not on the outside of them. He could see the device just up ahead and felt his nerves kick in overdrive. Was he going to have to diffuse it? Was someone else? How many of them actually knew what they were doing where it came to such things? He definitely didn't. However, there were lives at stake, and he'd do what he needed to. After the big guy gathered his composure, he turned toward Arjin. "Do you know how to diffuse it?"

"Playing with bombs is something Security should be handling, isn't it?" Kal-Irdu asked to no one in particular.

“Since the bomb is composed of a chemical and a biological part, a mixed science-medical team is as equipped in dealing with this threat than any Security team.”, Arjin replied whilst trying to get his stomach in line. “As to wether I know how to diffuse it. The theory is simple. Do not let both components come together. Which means either removing the chemicals or the creature without having any separating components, I believe it is some kind of membrane, to rupture. The chemicals are not so bad since they are inert. Which is something we can not say about the creature. Which is alive and unknown to us.”

Lucas arched a brow. Well, this just seemed to get better and better. "A creature? Unknown to us?" He repeated. "That might have been good to know before we got out here."

A chirp could be heard inside Arjin's helmet, followed by a voice that could be heard by everyone. "Geisler to Djinx. I hope you all are holding on. The ship will be making some quick maneuvers."

Arjin’s eyes went big. “What the heck. This is no time to ....”. His warning was abruptly cut short by the sudden movement of the ship.

Aylin groaned. "Why does it have to be some quick maneuvers? I really didn't feel like getting space sick out here."

"AODAL!" Kal-Irdu exclaimed, using a Grazerite curse.

The sudden quick movements almost made Arjin vomit inside his helmet. He could just prevent it by clenching his teeth and closing his eyes.

"Sorry, Commander," the Captain replied. "We've got company. We'll try our best not to shake you off. In the meantime, work quickly on that bomb."

"Work quickly while the ship is flying like this? I'm sorry but...is the captain nuts?" Aylin shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "The sooner we get this done the better."

"This must be what one of those roller coaster things I've read about from the past must have felt like. I wonder if they've caused people to want to vomit as well," Lucas said, fighting back that urge. "And in the Captain's defense, this isn't his fault. He did say there was company."

The ship continued to move as it positioned itself on the other side of the derelict Shran. Just as quickly as it moved, it came to a sudden stop.

Before Lynn could get a word out about this being exactly like the roller coasters, the ship suddenly stopped. She knew her feet were magnetic to the ship, but at the same time, she felt like she could end up going flying. Her stomach did a few more flips, but she carefully took a few deep breaths. "Hell..."

“Hell indeed, Crewman.”, Arjin concurred after he had stopped wobbling like a miniature on a spring.
“Everyone all right? Let’s try to focus ourselves and head over towards the bomb. I want to know of what that creature is made and how it is attached to the nacelle. Can we get rid of the liquid and defuse it like that or not? Let’s find some answers shall we.”

"I say we do and get back inside so we can all get our space legs back. I feel like my knees want to give out after all that." Lynn glanced to Arjin. "I'm not even really sure how we can get this thing off of here safely."

Lucas looked at the bomb, or whatever it actually was as Djinx spoke. "Medically speaking, I can't operate on it, but by the same token, if I were operating on a human or humanoid individual, and wanted to prevent blood from going somewhere it shouldn't, I would clamp off the artery," he said. "The same theory could be used in the instance. Cutting off the flow would diffuse it. With that done, we can figure out how to detach it and get the hell off the hull of the ship." Instead of waiting for confirmation, the big man began to make his way toward the device to see how it was attached.

Before anyone could try anything, an orange phaser beam struck the back of the nacelle, missing the away team by twenty meters. A voice came over the comm a heartbeat later, "Geisler to Djinx, Hang onto something!" In the distance, one could easily spot three red photon torpedoes racing toward the mighty Black Hawk. The ship then lurched as it attempted to avoid the deadly weapons heading straight for the away team.

The plates under their feet trembled as a phaser beam hit the nacelle. Dispite of the magnetic soles, Arjin got thrown on his knees. “Are you really out of your f******** mind”, he yelled inside his helmet. Followed by intense disbelieve as he saw three torpedoes approaching the ship. “Holy mother of cows. We are gonna need a Ferengi’s luck to survive this.”

Lucas, who was a bit away from the others, saw the torpedoes heading for them and muttered a few choice words. This was going to suck. A lot. But, then the ship lurched. His boots kept him secured to the ship, but the sudden movement was enough to send the big guy crashing to the hull. He just managed to keep his head from smacking into the hard surface. "Sonofabitch!" he shouted, doing his level best to calm his racing heart.

Eyes going wide, Lynn wished there was a way to run away from the torpedoes instead of being stuck to the ship. "Oh this keeps getting better and better..."

Despite of the situation, they had a job to do. So Arjin got up and slowly approached the black thing attached to the nacelle. He took a scan and let out a breath a as he saw the darned thing was still in one piece. The six legged creature lay still as if all the things happening around it did not matter. A second scan however showed that the membrane dividing both compartments started to show some signs of wear.

The large man pushed himself to his feet and mentally shook off what just happened. This would definitely be a one time thing. There would be no more spacewalks in his future, especially when it came to bombs. Or living creatures. Whatever the hell this thing was.

Lucas watched as the Science Chief scanned the thing attached to the nacelle. Why wasn't he sharing the information with the rest of them? Did the Trill expect them all to run their own scans? That was a total waste of time. "Are you going to share the results of your scan with the rest of us, Commander, or would you rather we all run our own?"

With the voice of the doctor sounding in his helmet, Arjin’s thoughts were pulled away from the bomb and back to the group. With a short command, the outcome of his scan became visible for all to display inside their helmet.

Looking over the information inside her helmet, Lynn tilted her head to the side to figure out what she was seeing. "It doesn't seem bothered by us but at the same time, I'm worried what would happen if we do anything to it."

Lucas looked over the information that came over the display. "Going back to what I said earlier, we should be able to take advantage of any weak points in the membrane and keep the two compartments separate," the big guy said. "We don't have much time to debate whether it will do something to us or not when the entire ship is at jeopardy. I'm not keen on the idea of losing my life, but if giving mine meant the hundreds on the ship survived, then I'd gladly give it. Now... who wants to assist?"

“Since it is a bomb, we can be sure that the creature will react to the ship going into warp. It is most fortunate it did not whilst we were on impulse. Nor whilst we came closer. Still, any bad move from our part could lead to an implosion. This said, we will all assist you doctor.”
“I propose both of you will be doing the actual surgery and assistance.”, he said to the medical officers. “The crewman and I will keep monitoring and inform you if any change occurs. That is unless you need our assistance in any other way, Doctor. I rely on your call for this.”

Nodding, Crewman Aylin was glad for the ability to just monitor and not get any closer than she needed to be.

"Of course," Lucas stated. He didn't want to waste anymore time, and began to make his way toward the bomb, or whatever it was. The sooner they could get all of this over with, the sooner they'd be back inside where it was safer.

The Grazerite woman stuck close to Abrams. She still wasn't sure why this was being handled by Medical instead of someone with experience in ordinance, like Tactical.

Arjin followed the big doctor closer towards the strange device attached to the hull of their ship. The outer shell was black and made of some plastic alloy. Arjin focused his tricorder onto it. The inside scanned like before. One pocket with a flammable liquid separated with a membrane from another pocket which held a living critter. For now it lay dormant. The question was what would trigger it. He shared the data in a constant flow to the others. As they were all ready, he nodded towards the doctor to proceed.

The large man got to the... hell, he didn't know what to call it. This was definitely a first for him. Scans were one thing, but now that he was seeing things up close, he could see first hand how things were supposed to be set up. "Commander," Lucas began. "It appears as though whatever this is... is a dud. There's nothing there for the combustible liquid to move through to get to the other chamber. With nothing there to be clamped off, removing it will be a little easier now."

“Perceptions can be deceiving, Doctor.”, Arjin replied. Better still proceed with caution.

"With all that is going on out here, I'm glad to hear that it'll be easier to remove," Lynn finally stated, "Just tell me where you want me and what you want me to do."

"Monitor the creature for signs of stress," Lucas told Lynn as he accessed a couple of his tools. With that done, the surgeon began the process of carefully clamping off all ways the combustible liquid might be able to pass through, thus rendering it safe to remove. "Whatever this is is no longer a threat. It can be removed."

Monitoring as told, Aylin let out a soft sigh, nodding to the others. "Confirmed. And no signs of stress that I can see by these readings."

Just as the doctor had finished clamping off parts of the bomb and stated that it could be removed, his scanner picked up a sudden movement from the creature. It’s legs making quick picking movements and trying to breach te membrane. “Watch out. The critter is awakening.”, he shouted through his com.

Considering he and his partner were closer to the creature than anyone else was, Lucas put himself between it and her. "Dud, or not, it's been disarmed regardless. We'll monitor what it does from here, but perhaps you should let Captain Geisler know things have been handled out here."

Arjin hesitated to do what the doctor suggested. Was the bomb really totally disarmed? He decided that since the doctor seemed sure of it, to trust his experience and training and relay his confirmation to the captain.

=^= Djinx to Captain Geisler. The doctor confirms that the bomb will no longer pose a threat to the ship. We will only need to detach it. But there should not be any concern about an explosion. =^=

"Acknowledged," came back the Captain's reply. "I'll have security take a look at the device as soon as we deal with the situations inside the Black Hawk. You and your team need to return to the ship as soon as possible."

Arjin relayed the captain’s message to the rest of the team. Being thankful the bomb did not say Kaboum whilst they were working on it.

Lucas looked over the rest of the team, then back to the creature. "Let's secure this until someone from Security can look at it, then see what we can do to help inside," he said.

Lynn nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me. I'd rather be inside than out here any day."

“Let’s”, Arjin replied.

He watched as the doctor made sure the creature was kept contained. As the Security crew came over, he and the others beamed back aboard. He was glad to be able to take off his helmet after a job well done.

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