[AU] End Game

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 11:23pm by Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant James Smith & Petty Officer 1st Class Jun Takada & Sasha Vieers (Deceased)
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:10pm

Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Bridge
Timeline: 27 years into the Bubble

A Mission Post by Ensign Sasha Vieers & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri & Lieutenant Kalin 'Shae' Brennan-Griffin PhD & Lieutenant James Smith & Petty Officer 1st Class Jun Takada
Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Bridge
Timeline: 27 years into the Bubble
Wed Sep 12th, 2018 @ 4:57am

ON:

Krysia was standing on the bridge proudly watching Aurora both she & Nick had become active members of the crew, minor mishaps aside both of them were doing well. She smiled as the crew slowly started to gather on the bridge, the decision had been made to call a meeting in wake of Cailus' death to explain the decision that had been made to place James & herself in charge of the ship. She smiled as she looked over at James, they were both looking Grey these days but he still looked every bit as handsome as the day she'd met him. For some odd reason they'd never gotten around to getting married but in their hearts they were anyway.

James watched the activity going on. His heart ached another good friend had passed away, but he was determined to continue in the same way that Cailus had lead the survivors all these years since the death of Nyx. He watched as Aurora and Nick worked around the bridge and smiled. James watched as the rest of the crew filtered in, and looked at Krysia, giving her the opportunity to speak to those that had assembled.

Krysia waited for everyone to arrive before starting "Thank you for coming everyone, as most of you know Cailus Griffin sadly passed away this morning." she paused to let the news sink in, "As such Cailus has left James & myself to lead the ship's community." she looked around all those gathered, "As such we would like to add one more to that if she's still willing to accept" she motioned to Shae.

Shae was keeping herself glued to a corner; being around so many people was getting her more than a little agitated, but she did appreciate the show of support. At Krysia's words, she raised her hand for a sheepish wave to the crew, not to mention a wary smile to a few new faces she didn't recognize, which given their circumstances as more than a little disconcerting for Shae.

"I am honored and... truly touched that all of you would want me to help lead," Shae said ever so softly, her voice breaking from all the emotions running through her, but she steeled herself with a deep breath, wiped the tears from her eyes, and carried on. "I've been told that just about everyone here helped me through my writing compulsion, and to all of you I want to extend a great thank you; I don't remember any of it, but I know it couldn't have been easy putting up with me during that time. And so I do want to pay it forward and help however I can, so I humbly accept this offer, but I need time before I can try to lead; my head is still so muddled, and I want to give this community my best, because that's what you all deserve."

Krysia nodded "You'll be welcome anytime Shae, just let us know when you're ready" she looked around the rest of those gathered. "We started out a small community but over the years we've had our battles and our loses but we've come back stronger and have become a family. I intend to keep us that way, a family that looks out for each other."

Shae offered a sad smile, again wiping away the tears that welled up in her eyes; Krysia was right, this was more than a community, it was a family, a family she desperately needed to help her move forward from her loss...

Standing outside the Bridge with their phasers drawn, Sasha Vieers and Dorian Rochester were listening with a small crowd of armed supporters. Sasha looked to Dorian with a sad glance. "Do you still want to do this?" She asked in a whisper.

"Yes." Dorian replied firmly.

"What ever happened to not making plans and doing as life required?" She asked in return, having a strong wave of doubt wash over her. She wondered if it wasn't too late to back out now, or to turn her weapon to stop the waiting insurrection.

"30 years happened." Dorian answered gravely. He was not wavering at all, his mind was made up. "Are you in?"

Sasha sighed and cocked her weapon, her fingers quickly swiping over the control panel to lock the phaser into stun setting. Dorian raised an eyebrow at her, clearly wondering how this junior science officer had become so proficient with handling the device. She shrugged a little, "30 years."

He smiled a little before returning to his serious gaze. "Alright, you and I will enter and cover the leaders. The others will come in behind us and block the exits. No one is to shoot unless they move out of line or attempt to stop us. Agreed?"

"Aye!" Came a series of responses. Dorian looked to Sasha and she nodded. "Aye." She said firmly.

A moment later and the group stormed onto the Bridge; their weapons drawn, powered up, and pointing firmly at the group of officers on the Bridge. Quickly and silently they filed into the room and before anyone could understand what was happening, Dorian had his phaser trained directly between Smith and Kaleri, while Sasha's was targeted on Brennan. Six others had gathered in a semi-circle around the back of the Bridge, weapons at the ready as they stood in silence.

"Nobody move!" Rochester growled angrily. "I'm sorry to break up the lovely moment folks, but there's going to be a change of plans. Me and mine are in control of this ship now!"

Shae heard the group before the group stormed the Bridge, so she was already tense before Sasha's phaser was ever trained on her. She snarled at Rochester's words, but made no attempt to move. "Have you no shame?!" Shae said to Rochester, a deep growl rumbling through her chest. "My mate has only just left us and you chose now of all times to make your move? Spineless cowards..."

"Time is irrelevant." Dorian replied with very little emotion. "Today, tomorrow, another year from now. None of it matters, Lieutenant. You confirmed that yourself with your calculations. We all know this world is not our true reality. Our real home is out past the bubble, waiting for us still. I'm doing this to get us back there."

"Turn in your weapons!" Sasha commanded, giving a nod the teams at the back to start confiscating everything from the crew, and they got to work quietly.

"I don't remember making those calculation, I haven't had the chance to figure out what they mean," Shae informed them sternly, still growling. "And if you dare fire on any of us, then you better make sure you hit me with a kill shot, because otherwise I will end this mutiny, over your dead body if I have to. That's not a threat, it's a promise."

"Sasha you're in on this?' Krysia looked at Sasha, "Afte what happened with Captain Temple you're willing to let this happen?" Krysia looked at Aurora & Nick "Just do what they tell you & you'll be okay" she looked at James she was afraid more than she had been in a very long time.

"It's for the best." Sasha replied coldly.

James looked at the crew their safety was still his concern. Watching as they stripped everyone of their weapon he slowly approached Dorian not caring that he had several phasers pointed at him. “First you killed the captain now you want to kill the rest of us.” Smith swallowed, “I’m not going to allow this mutiny to continue, you are all a disgrace." With out thinking of his own safety James tried to punch Dorian as hard as he could not knowing what would happen next.

Dorian saw the older man balling his fist and stepping forward and waited patiently until he did, as he'd promised Sasha not to shoot first. However once it became clear that Smith was trying to punch him, Rochester let off a volley of low-energy shots from his phaser rifle, targeting Smith's chest.

The energy from the phaser rifle knocked James off his feet taking the wind out of him. He looked over to Krysia and the children to assure them he was ok.

Krysia gasped out loud putting her hand over her mouth as she saw what James had done, she didn’t care about Dorian but she loved her husband and it was to his side that she turned and ran. “James....” she stood beside him and held her breath as she looked at Dorian.

"I don't want to hurt anyone." Rochester proclaimed as he kept his phaser trained on Smith and Kaleri. "But if you don't cooperate you will be shot."

"Temple wanted us to escape." Sasha spoke up. "He didn't want us to languish in this trap for almost three decades. Dorian has a plan to try to escape the Bubble and we are going to do it. None of you will stop us!"

"Anyone who wants leave this damned Bubble is more than welcome to join us." Rochester added. "Everyone else, into the Ready Room!"

The silent soldiers in the back began to herd the Bridge crew into the Captain's Ready Room, nudging them with their phasers to get moving.

"Vieers!" Shae called out as she was nudged into the room where she had watched her mate die. "Sasha, please listen to reason! The Captain wanted us to escape, but he didn't want us gambling with suicide. We have no way of knowing if Rochester's idea will get us out, no way to confirm its success; I'm here now, I'm awake, aware, let me look at the calculations, let me work out the merits of his idea before he risks damning the rest of us." Shae implored.

Sasha looked to Dorian who gave a little nod. "Just you." Sasha spoke firmly, cocking her head for Shae to follow them back out to the Bridge.

Wary of this sudden change, Shae looked back at the other prisoners, searing their faces, both old and new, into her mind in case this would end badly. Then she made her way out of the Ready Room, hesitant and careful, yet equally as ready to strike should the opportunity arise.

Krysia was nudged into the room along with James & their children she huddled them all together wanting to keep her family safe, right now she was counting her blessings that James hadn't been killed there & then. She looked to the others who had been herded in doing her best to put on a brave face for the children among them but inside she couldn't help but wonder what the outcome of all this was going to be.

The doors to the Ready Room were sealed, with guards posted at either entrance. Rochester moved to the Ops console and started sending orders through to the escape pods. Sasha positioned Shae to stand in the empty space between the Command chairs and the Flight Control station then stood back, never taking her phaser off the woman she knew to be dangerous.

"When we first arrived in the bubble, you made a discovery about the refractive index across the hull." Rochester explained, not looking up as he continued to work on the screen. "And Captain Temple gave the suggestion of launching an escape pod into the bubble. We didn't proceed because it was a significant risk based on a theory. However, your later calculations..." He paused for a moment, remembering the clear distress Brennan had been under at the time. He shook his head and continued, "Gave us the likely astrophysics of the bubble universe, enough for us to be able to use the energy on the hull to power the ship and not rely on the pods. I believe the walls of the bubble also have a high refractive index and have in fact been working like a mirror, blocking any signals from piercing through but not strong enough to prevent physical objects. A person alone in a space suit couldn't pierce the walls, but a highly-charged escape pod navigated to the weakest point of the bubble, could do it."

"It's all speculation," Shae tried to explain. "There's not enough data, you don't know if breaching this point will get you home, and doing this could collapse the entire Bubble, which could kill us all! Are you really willing to murder the innocent lives here just to test your theory with no way of verifying if it will even work in the first place? Let me take a look at this theory and run the numbers!"

“On screen.” Rochester replied, indicating to the Bridge’s viewscreen, which had been offline for sometime with nothing much to see. But Dorian had entered his calculations into a simulation and it showed the escape pod being launched from the Pandora’s hull, heading for the centre of the bubble and breaking through. The computer calculated a 63% chance of success.

“Something occurred to me a while ago.” Rochester continued. “Both Arnaldo and Temple’s bodies were ejected from the hull almost three decades ago. Given the size of the bubble universe and the momentum created by the vacuum of space, they should still be bouncing around out there.” It was a cold thing to say, damn cold, but it was the truth. “Even without a proper orbit, they should have floated past multiple times. And yet, they’re gone. In fact, we should be detecting other debris from the ship, whatever else has been sucked out and yet, nothing. Which indicates to us that the walls of the bubble are not a solid object, but merely a dense cloud of neutrino particles that are blocking sub space comms to our native space due to their high refractive index. Based on that theory, we should have the ability to travel through the cloud and make it through. Yes it’s a theory, but we have to do something, Brennan.”

"The absence of evidence is not inherently evidence of absence, this is basic science, year one at the Academy!" Shae shot back. She was fighting hard against her instincts, which wanted to lunge at Rochester and peel his face off, all for killing Nyx and endangering the crew, but she was still trying to appeal to Sasha; she knew that Sasha was a good person, that she probably didn't mean to get swept up into mess, and it was Shae's hope that she could reason with Sasha and maybe turn the tables. "You've all seen what this place has done to me, what it's taken from me; no one wants to get out of here more than I, but you've also seen the risks I was willing to take to help the Captain when he was on that Carnage, so it should speak volumes that I was willing to space jump onto an enemy ship during combat, but I'm not willing to risk this. You're right, we have to do something, but this... This is not the way to do it."

"And this is why we've languished in this hell-hole for almost thirty years." Rochester retorted with an angry growl. "Because you so-called leaders were so wrapped up in yourselves and wringing your hands that we have done nothing to escape. Then you gave up trying! And you know why I don't feel remorse anymore for what happened to Captain Temple? I didn't kill him. You did! You, Griffin, Smith, Kaleri; you condemned us all to die when you decided not to try his escape pod plan all those years ago. We could have been back with our families had it not been for your spinelessness!"

Sasha felt the moment getting tense and cleared her throat. "Lieutenant Brennan, we're going to try this. We knew you wouldn't agree but we're fed-up with waiting around. If this works, we could go home. Actually home. Isn't it worth trying?"

"Oh, you're fed up?" Shae asked, incredulous to their self-centered behavior. "You know I didn't hear one pip of your theories before I went mad, because if I had I would have worked those angles if it meant getting home. Yes, we had to put survival first for a while, but we never gave up, you were just too caught up in your own egos to see how hard we were working to get out! And you want to talk spineless, there's nothing more spineless than taking hostages and threatening to kill them, because that's what you're doing if you go through with this! The Bubble will collapse and kill anyone left behind, and if you're lucky to actually make it out of the Bubble without dying, there is no guarantee you will end up in our native dimension let alone our universe, and you'll be stuck in a near dead escape pod with no way back to get back here or anywhere else. This is why the risk was deemed too great!"

"I want to go home..." a small voice spoke up. With the Ready Room already full, those who didn't want to follow Rochester and risk this attempt to escape were being funneled into the Observation Lounge just off the Bridge, among those was Takada, who had once been a Yeoman but she was now little more than a caretaker of those who had needed looking after, like the children and then Cailus as he succumbed to the rapid aging of his cryo-sickness. "I know you're right, it could kill us, but I want to go home, I want to try!" Takada said as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

Sasha raised her eyebrows as she looked to the new arrival. Rochester was still giving Brennan a look of disdain, so she spoke up instead. “You’re more than welcome to join us, Takada.” She said gently before turning back to Rochester, “We’re not going to convince Shae, so let’s just get started.”

“Fine.” He replied gruffly, and pointed his phaser at Brennan. “If you’re not going to help you can join the others. I’ll accept your apologies when we’re back on the other side.”

"There won't be any apologies, because you're going to kill us!" Shae insisted firmly.

“Takada, can you help me override the navigation system on the first pod?” Sasha simply said.

In the ready room Krysia was busy checking James was okay, "What were you thinking?!" she lay her head on his chest just relieved he was alive, "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you!!" she looked at Aurora & Nick who looked equally as distressed, "Isn't there anything we can do to stop this? We can't just let them get away with this. What about..." she looked around, "Right, next time that door opens I want to be ready to grab whoever opens it but only if we can do it successfully! I don't want anybody getting hurt!" she sighed, "I'm authorising use of whatever force is necessary to secure the bridge, I'm hoping it won't be necessary to hurt anyone."


Back on the Bridge, Takada came around to where Sasha was to help her override the navigation system of the pods, and having seen Cailus do this a number of times over the years, she was able to get one reconfigured quite quickly. "Okay, I've got one done, do you want me to keep going to get the rest of them done?" Takada asked.

"Please, Takada, don't do this! None of you understand the dangers of what you're trying to do!" Shae implored one last time, but it fell on deaf ears, at least as far as Takada was concerned, because the little Asian woman kept working as though Shae hadn't even spoken.

"Get her out of here!" Rochester growled, indicating to his guards to remove her from the Bridge.

"You're killing us all!" Shae bellowed back, struggling against the guards as they grabbed her and hauled her off to the observation lounge where she would be helpless to stop what was coming. It was a shame she didn't want to kill them, because she could have overpowered them easily, but in her current state she couldn't trust herself not to go to such an extreme if she did try to fight back.

Rochester, Vieers, and Takada made their way off the Bridge and into the adjacent corridor which housed the escape pods. Once upon a time those pods had been the beating heart of the ship, with nothing else but their battery charge to keep everyone alive. Since the establishment of Kaleri's generator, however, they had been largely forgotten about. To Rochester this was the perfect metaphor for the crew's resignation to their fate. There had been no attempts to build the proton-beam probe, or any other forms of escape. Just a whole lot of sitting around feeling sorry for themselves. He had to shake his head to dismiss the anger he felt, settled in his mind that he was at least trying something.

"My friends." He turned to Vieers and Takada. "Thank you for helping me get this far. I knew the old command team would never let us try this experiment and while I regret having to take the Bridge by force, it was the only way."

Sasha nodded, "It won't matter when we're back home."

Rochester smiled and returned to work on the escape pod. "I will have to pilot the pod to the weakest point myself. I don't know what gravitational forces will be like in the bubble, but worst case scenario I can just overcharge the impulse booster and shoot through the neutrino cloud."

Vieers bit her lip, trying hard to surprises the doubt still in her mind and the fear that her lover could possibly die as a result of his experiment. She had to force herself to believe it was going to work. "As soon as we hear from you, we'll start loading up the other pods with people." She said with a smile.

Rochester pulled Sasha in close and the two embraced for a long time; possibly too long given Takada was still standing nearby. Finally he stepped away and looked into her eyes. "Thank you for believing in me."

"I'll see you on the other side." Sasha replied as Dorian smiled and turned to enter the escape pod.

"Or not!" Moving faster than should have been possible for such a human, Takada ambushed Sasha and got her into a headlock, then taking the Trill's hand Takada snatched her weapon and pressed the phaser into Sasha's temple. "It's locked on stun, it is?" Takada observed as she held the woman tightly in place. "No matter, a point blank shot to the head can still kill you," she assured Vieers with the words softly uttered into her ear. "Now tell your ignorant lover to get away from the pod, slowly," Takada instructed firmly.

"Takada!" Rochester hissed, raising his weapon at her while still standing in the escape pod. "You're not going to stop us! Put her down!"

"Not until you back off!" Takada insisted, pressing the phaser tighter against Sasha's head, hard enough to bruise the skin.

"Very well." Rochester took a deep breath, looking down to Sasha who was struggling to breath in the headlock. "I'm sorry, my darling. But this is more important." Without blinking, Dorian aimed his phaser at Sasha's body and fired, sending a bolt of energy to knock her out - hoping to either stun Takada in the process or remove the leverage she had over him.

The stun that passed through to Takada was enough to daze her slightly, causing her to release her hold on Sasha and allowing the Trill to fall to the floor. Time felt like it was standing still as she raised her gaze to Rochester, and she knew what she had to do; lunging forward, she tackled Rochester into the pod. She knew what had to happen next, she just needed to let it happen...

"You spineless coward!" Takada said as she struggled with the man.

Rochester cried out in pain as the woman launched her full weight against his body and he was surprised by her strength and aggression. Her attack forced him to drop his phaser as he tried to grab hold of her hands and push Takada away him. He could just see the control panel in front of him on the side of the pod and tried to reach out for it, hefting his weight forward and stabbing at the screen with urgency. As the two struggled against each other the doors to the escape pod gently slid down and a countdown began.

10... 9... 8...

Sasha opened her eyes agains, feeling the numbness washing through her legs. She looked up to see the launch sequence in progress and gasped, "No!" Struggling to pulled herself off the carpet, she dragged her body over to the wall and tried desperately to stand up again. She wanted to stop the launch, to help Rochester, despite what he had just done to her. Sasha cursed herself for believing Takada had been on their side.

7... 6... 5...

Rochester and Takada continued to struggle against each other, both taking turns in landing blows to their opponent. Rochester realised this junior officer was simply too strong from him, but knowing the escape pod was going to launch soon, he had to subdue her if he had any chance of piloting the pod to the correct location. He tried wrapping his arm around her and pulling her closer to his body, while using his spare hand to hit another button on the console. Suddenly a restraint belt appeared from each corner of the escape pod's chair and wrapped themselves across the two, binding them together. A red light bathed over them, indicating time was running out.

4... 3... 2...

Sasha managed to pull herself up to the door of the pod just as the final numbers counted down. She pounded on the window, begging Takada and Rochester to stop what was happening. But it was too late. There was a suddenly burst of gas as the hull door opened and in an instant the pod was gone - woosh! - jettisoned out into the space around them.

Vieers hobbled her way back onto the Bridge, where their supporters were gathered watching the escape pod on the view screen. Those in the Ready Room and Conference Room would have been able to see it also from their windows. The pod jerked and weaved it's way across the empty space in front of the Pandora, clear evidence of the two inside continuing to struggle against each other.

"What's happening?" One officer asked.

"Takada tried to stop us." Sasha replied grimly, leaning against a console. "She's ended up in there with him." Sasha buried her head in her hands as tears began to flow down her cheeks. "This was it! Our chance to escape and Takada's ruined it! She's going to end up killing them both."

"Look!" Someone shouted, pointing to the screen.

Everyone turned to the view screen once more as the escape pod seemed to correct it's course and headed towards the centre of the bubble. The boosters fired, giving a clear flash of blue energy before the pod zoomed up towards the ceiling of the bubble. As Rochester and Takada's craft broke through the wall of their little galaxy, it gave off a bright white burst of light. Sasha looked to the Ops console and waited to see a signal from the escape pod, any kind of comms or readings. But there was nothing. Just the bright glimmering light where Rochester and Takada had been.

Sasha slumped down onto the floor again, closed her eyes and sobbed. "It didn't work."

OFF