Only Hope Remained

Posted on Thu Sep 10th, 2020 @ 5:33am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Declan Roderick & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Lieutenant James Smith & Admiral Gordon Francis & Commander Leta Rothgan PhD. & Lieutenant JG Aeryn Jameson

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Hesiod Green - Pithos Facility

ON:

With Pithos crumbling underneath the surface, a growing storm of energy threatening to rip apart the ground beneath them, scores of scientists, officers, and technicians poured out of emergency exits and into the thick air of Hesiod Green. The experiment that had once promised to bring strength and protection to the Federation, had grown out of control, and now directly threatened the lives of those who had created it. Thanks to the intervention of the Pandora crew, and Commander Rothgan's decision to put lives ahead of careers, most of the facility's occupants were able to make it out alive. Most, but not all.

And yet despite making it up to the surface, the danger was not yet over. They still had to make it back to the Pandora and away from the seemingly inevitable destruction of Pithos.

The Operations Officer’s lungs were filled with hydrochloride acid fumes. The failing lab containment, air ventilation systems were all buggered. Coughing up some blood, Roderick looked at his hand. Then he noticed the air, the coolness around him as they had escaped one of the serviced exits of the facility.

Coughing fits overtook him, Declan’s eyes burning from particulates.

“Where are we?” He fumbled with lousy eyesight for his tricorder. Declan had lost it along the way. He was too busy to notice.

“You’re safe, for now!” Aeryn rushed over to Declan’s side tricorder in hand. She ran a quick scan. “You’re going to need medical attention in Sickbay as soon as we get back onboard. The damage to your respiratory system isn’t severe but it does need treating as soon as possible.”

Roderick nodded, and held his hand out. "Sounds good."

"Mr. Roderick," a voice said from behind. It was Rothgan, running up to Lieutenant Roderick. She handed him something. "I think you dropped your breathing unit. Put this on before you choke yourself."

Roderick did as he was told by Rothgan and Aeryn.

Following close behind Rothgan was Lieutenant-Commander Griffin, with his prisoner, Admiral Thac, who had been posing as Admiral Francis until his confession to Griffin only a mere thirty minutes ago.

Rothgan caught up with Roderick. "What's your report, Mr. Roderick? Did everyone make it out safely?"

"174 personnel are reporting in with emergency equipment supplies. 34 injuries are reported," said Roderick.

Rothgan breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone, scientists included, had made it out. It even sounded like the people trapped in sector five had made it out as well. "That's good news," she said as another trigger hit them all. Behind them, the fiery remains of the station crumpled. Rothgan reflected on her first day on this planet, seven months ago, helping Admiral "Francis" oversee the final phases of construction. It was her first assignment as an executive officer. It would likely be her last.

The group of officers and scientists watched as the facility burned and collapsed in on itself. Whatever was left would be a monument of their failure. Someone has to answer for this, Rothgan thought.

Another tremor came up. More violent this time. Rothgan turned to Lieutenant-Commander Griffin. "Commander, do you think you can contact the Pandora and get us off this rock?"

"I've been trying, but comms just can't cut through whatever is ripping the planet apart," Cailus replied dourly. He adjusted his respirator around his mouth and nose, looking around with worry. The crowd around them was a mess, with people clearly shellshocked at the sudden cataclysm. Some were simply milling about aimlessly, some sitting, others like Doctors Jameson and Alves taking care of the wounded. Cailus' eyes kept traversing the crowd, identifying Smith approaching them. Nevertheless he couldn't find a certain fluffy-tailed scientist, and a deep knot of worry begin to worm its way into his gut. Shae was tiny, after all, so it was possible that he just couldn't see her among the crowd, but still...

With effort, he forced himself not to let his mind continue down such a dangerous path. Instead, Cailus looked around again, this time down the the ridge line where the emergency exits had led them. Below them in the valley, the silver metal of the base had been exposed by the earthquakes, the place crumbling bit by bit. Even worse, above their heads, the green sky itself seemed to be roiling. Clouds were gathering far to the east, above where the Pandora had first landed, and even as Cailus looked, a flash of lightning sparked on the horizon.

"The storm could be related to the 'quakes," Cailus grumbled to Rothgan. Both of them were a mess, their uniforms filthy and their faces caked with dust and dirt, just everyone else. "It's too coincidental to be otherwise. Commander, Captain Temple will come get us, but we need to get these people moving to safer ground, away from the storm if possible, somewhere where the Pandora can pick us up. This ridge is too unstable to stay here for long. The entire thing could collapse."

Before Rothgan could reply, Smith arrived, and in a rare gesture, Cailus clapped the man's shoulder. Though not friends, exactly, the two men had worked together and fought alongside each other long enough to form a bond, even discounting the Bubble. "Good to see you made it out, Lieutenant," he said, not asking the question he desperately wanted to ask, instead opting for something more professional. "How are we doing?"

Smith tried to smile he felt like he had been shot from a torpedo tube, and his uniform was torn and he had cuts and bruises all over him, “I’m doing ok sir, I managed to download the information from the computers, before we had to get out. I’m hoping that it could be of use to us.” James tried to steady himself as the ground continued to shake underneath them.

The ground shook once more and it began to felt like it might just give way altogether. Rushes of particles and plasma fire would burst from the earth and into the sky, indicating Pithos was unleashing it's fury upon Hesiod Green. Amongst the survivors struggling to make it across the rocky plateau and to a safer area, Pithos technicians Panaouris and W'lang held onto each other as they struggled to walk.

"What have we done?" Panaouris cried, her face bloodied from an open wound on her cheek. "Look at this place!"

"We have to keep moving." W'lang replied, still pulling her along. "We have to hope the Pandora will be here soon."

Panaouris shook her head, "We deserve to die here." She responded, desolation in her voice. "We deserve this."

"Just keep going!" W'lang insisted, not ready to give up just yet, "The Pandora will come."

=/\= ...ma...er Gr...n =/\= Came a crackled voice over all of their comms badges.

Aeryn looked up from where she was assisting some wounded. “Is that ... the ship?”

=/\= Comma... Griff... =/\=The voice repeated.

Aeryn smiled as a wave of relief washed over her. “It’s the ship! It has to be!”

Suddenly, with a booming entrance, the USS Pandora zoomed over the top of a nearby ridge and circled high above the survivors on the ground. The force of the impulse engines sent a gust of wind blowing across the surface of the planet, causing many to shield their eyes.

=/\= Commander Griffin! =/\= Temple cried out, =/\= Will you bloody answer when called?! =/\=

Declan watched the interplay, as he set his self up from his spot in the rocks and had begun to comfort his coworkers. He reached to Panaouris. "It's going to be ok." He whispered.

Looking up at the Pandora as it passed by, Commander Rothgan couldn't help but laugh. "Well there's a sight for sore eyes!"

Behind her, still gripped at the arm by Cailus, Admiral Thac scoffed. "Oh shut up, Commander."

Rothgan smiled and turned to face him. In a swift motion, she threw a right cross at his jaw. Thac broke from Cailus' grip and fell onto the hard ground.

Halfway in the motion of tapping his combadge, Cailus didn't have time to react before Thac was cold-cocked. He narrowed his eyes at Rothgan, appraising her in a heartbeat, judged that she wouldn't try another and instead crouched down next to Thac.

"Do yourself a favour, Admiral Thac," he said, his voice barely carrying over the roar of the Pandora's impulse engines as the starship struggled to stay aloft against mighty gravimetric surges. Seeing that Thac's mask had come slightly askew, the man gasping for air, Cailus fixed it deftly before glaring at him. "Sit down and shut up."

He glanced at Rothgan, this time with a clear look of warning, before tapping his combadge as he stood, ignoring Thac. Just at that moment, the entire ridge seemed to shudder violently, forcing everyone to the ground before the quake finished. =/\=Griffin to Pandora,=/\= he shouted after tapping his combadge. =/\=Captain, this entire planet is hours away from a massive...gravimetric...event.=/\= He wiped grime out of his eyes, frustrated that he didn't know how to phrase it properly. =/\=The planet is going to be destroyed, sir! We have a hundred plus survivors here, in need of rescue as soon as possible. The ground is extremely unstable.=/\=

=/\= We're locking on to your signals. =/\= Temple replied. =/\= Stand still and we'll beam you aboard in groups. =/\=

As the teams had herded the Pithos staff safely to the ridge, Shae had become distracted by the local geology, most notably the strange crystalline formations that had her so enraptured on the hike out to the station. She could hear the humming again, but this time it was lower, just barely at the edges of her hearing range. She was more feeling it than hearing it, but the harmonization was still so hauntingly beautiful... Whipping out her tricorder, she took some reading while they waited for the beam out. As if on cue, or perhaps it was a reaction to her device, the crystals she was observing lit aflame. Shae's tricorder was sounding off with alerts, unable to get a solid reading on whatever was happening before them.

"Commander!" Shae called out cautiously to alert her mate to the evolving situation, then started to move some of the curious staff away from crystals as the illumination began to spread all around them. It was stunning, like a forest of fire, in hues that could only be imagined as far as their eyes could see!

“Of all the times to be without a holo-camera!” Aeryn marvelled at the site of the crystals, the patterns were mesmerising the sheer hue of colours beyond imagination. “I wish we had time to document this!”

Seeing the danger, Cailus was rushing towards Shae and the crystals, passing by Aeryn when she spoke. The planet itself seemed to be coming alive around the crowd, the storm pushing closer and closer, rain just starting to fall as the crystals blazed. "Everyone, away from the crystals and prepare for transport!" he roared again and again, striding around the perimeter, burying his relief at seeing Shae. Safety was close, so damned close, and he was determined not to lose anyone now.

In small groups, the Pithos staff began to be transported up to the Pandora; the familiar lights surrounding them like a comforting blanket as they were rescued off this doomed planet. It was a meticulous process, with all of the Pandora's transporter rooms running at full capacity to get everyone off Hesiod Green and onto the relative safety of the ship as quickly as the ship's systems would allow.

Forgetting the chaos and imminent danger around them, Ensign W'lang saw what the Pandora Science officer was looking at, the colours dancing across his eyes. "It's... beautiful." He whispered.

W'Lang stepped forward, hoping to get a better look at the phenomenon. Panaouris saw this and tried to reach out to him, "Stop! We need to stay still so the Pandora can beam us up."

"We theorised about the crystals, Pan," W'Lang remarked, his voice distant as he walked mesmerised towards the crystals. "Studied them, broke them down. I've never seen them do this. It's like they're reacting to what's happening to the planet."

"W'Lang they won't be able to transport you if you keep moving!" Panaouris cried. "Stop moving!"

"It's... miraculous." He replied, eyes fixated on the crystals. He didn't feel the earth beneath him starting to give way, as another eruption shook the ground he walked on.

Panaouris felt that funny tingling feeling as the blue lights appeared around her. She looked over and W'lang was still walking, no lights around him. "No!" She cried. "Not yet!"

Finally hearing his friend's urgent cries, W'lang turned to look at her, "Pan?" He asked softly, as she was beamed away.

Suddenly there was a violent shake and the surface cracked open. W'lang tried to take a step back but there was nothing there to support him anymore. His foot fell right through the earth as the once solid ground turned to dust and he was consumed into the sinkhole that had appeared. His final cry of shock as he vanished into the ground echoed throughout the region.

Roderick's face flashed with horror. Part of Declan wanted to rush to the crevasse, see what he could do for the scientist. Yet, as everything on this planet, it was no use. The ridges only etched further towards the survivors. The horrors of Pithos failed to impress once again. Everything was colliding, his eyes lit by the bright gasses glossing over. He breathed in his mask, only to feel the familiar tingle of the Pandora's transporters.

James looked around as the ground beneath him starting to give then at the last moment he felt the familiar feel of the transporter grabbing on to him. As he materialized on the transporter pad he sighed as he let his weight for on the padd happy to be back on board.

In groups, the survivors of Pithos were beamed back onboard the Pandora. Not everyone made it out alive but the Pandora was able to successfully evacuate everyone who remained on the surface. They were immediately taken to Sickbay or temporary quarters for treatment as the Pandora's medical team worked at full capacity to see to their injuries and ailments. Some, of course, were sent straight to the Brig, where they would await their fate for some time. The planet continued to crumble and shake below, as the Pithos facility imploded into itself, causing a large sinkhole to collapse into the earth. Unfortunately the dark matter and other hostile materials once contained within the experiment, were still causing havoc to Hesiod Green's stability, and were only growing in size and ferocity.

OFF