“I‘ll Take What‘s Behind Bulkhead Number 3”
Previous Post- (“Luck Be A Lady”)
_______________
Stardate: 60298.1603
Setting: Bridge of stolen Romulan Scout ship
It was quiet. Something that the Marine hadn’t experienced for quite sometime. Between the assault on the surface and the securing of this ship he hadn’t really had a chance to breath. As he stood in the dim lighting of the scout ship’s bridge alone he did just that, breath. Deep inhalation through the nose exhaled evenly through the mouth. He could feel the large muscles in his neck and back relaxing with each renewal breath.
He had managed to push the reality of the losses to his unit to the back of his mind up until this moment and in the quiet of the secured bridge he thought about them for the first time. He had had men under his command die in the line of duty before but this would be the first time that he would be contacting the families as MCO. A few more breaths and he felt the small muscles in his face relax.
{from Jessica’s}
=/\=Lieutenant Maya to Lieutenant Pravat, please respond.=/\=
He smiled at the sound of the Science Officer’s voice. “Maya? This is a pleasant surprise; I was not expecting you to call, what's up?”
=/\=I am not saying that you did not due your job with the efficiency and perfection that you normally demonstrate because that is not what I am saying, I mean there is no way that I could do half of the things that you and the other Marines are capable of doing. What am I saying half, I would be lucky to survive through the easiest quarter of the training you endured which is why I selected a more mental discipline as my main domain over something that entailed more physical requirements,=/\= the Shillian said in a single breath.
“Whoa there! I'm pretty sure that you had another reason aside from discussing the type of training I endured in mind when you contacted me,” the Enaran said, a hint of amusement present in his voice. The ability of the Shillian scientist to go off on a tangent for no other reason than to ramble on was something of a legend on the ANUBIS and even though he did not deal with the Chief Science Officer on a frequent basis, Second Lieutenant Pravat had still experienced this marvel first hand on more than one occasion.
=/\=Sorry about that," the Shillian woman said, "I wanted to ask for your help in solving a little mystery that I have uncovered while scanning the bridge of the ship that you are currently on.=/\=
“A mystery? Sounds mysterious,” The Marine Second Lieutenant said with a chuckle.
=/\= I'm being serious, there is a section of the ship that our sensors are unable to penetrate, and that section is located in the forward starboard area of the ship adjacent to the bridge.=/\=
{mine}
He felt his muscles tighten, in each area of his body, the large muscles first until he could feel those around his jaw tense up. His tone turned from light and relaxed to serious and humorless. “Thank you, Lieutenant,” he said as he turned toward the area described by Maya.
There was nothing that gave any indication that they had missed anything in the securing of the bridge but one thing that the Enaran had learned in this life was nothing was ever as it seemed. He ran his hand along the bulkhead and found nothing out of the ordinary and began to wonder if it may not have been just some glitch caused by the cloaking field.
After examining the bulkhead for several minutes and finding nothing, Prav contacted Maya again. “Lt. Maya, I’m not finding anything but a standard bulkhead, no seams, no anything. Are you sure you are picking up a void?”
Maya looked at her sensor readings again and with having no hesitation told him, =/\= No more then a half a meter to your right, there is nothing. There should be something but it just isn’t there. I mean, if this is correct you should be standing next to a huge hole but I know you aren’t because, well then you would have been sucked out into space and I know who haven’t been because I am talking to you right now.=/\=
Prav looked to his right and saw nothing but the bulkhead. Something definitely was not right here and he didn’t like the possibilities that were floating through his head at the moment. “Don’t worry, I’m still here, I’m just wondering what’s behind this bulkhead and I’m willing to bet that it’s not space.”
He took several steps back and raised his weapon toward the bulkhead. If he was wrong, well Maya may just have been right about being sucked into space but he was willing to bet he wasn’t. He adjusted the setting on his weapon and raised it toward the bulkhead and squeezed the trigger.
He held his fire for nearly a minute and when he lowered his weapon the bulkhead was still there. There was a small scorch mark, far smaller then what should have been left. He stepped up to it and shook his head. He now had no doubt that there was something there but how to get into it was proving much more elusive.
“Maya?” he opened the channel again. “Has anything about the void changed?”
She had been watching his futile first attempt with her sensors and saw that nothing with the void had changed. =/\= No, =/\= she said in such a succinct manner that even she was surprised.
“No? That’s it?” Prav asked hoping to get a bit more from the Science Officer. Before he got her answer a noise from the port side of the bridge caught his attention. He had only turned his attention away from the bulkhead in question for just a moment but it was enough time for the two hidden Romulans to slide out. By the time he turned back he had no chance to even react. With the skilled moves of the Tal’Shiar they had the lone Marine incapacitated and disarmed in a matter of seconds. They knew they only had one course of action left to take and that was destroy the scout ship and take out as much of the Federation vessel as they could with the explosion.
=/\= I guess I could go into an explanation of the physics of why what you tried was really foolish but…=/\= She couldn’t believe what she was seeing on her monitor. The Enaran life sign had changed drastically, had become much weaker and even more surprising was the appearance of two Romulan life signs.
“Captain,” she said without any preamble. “There are Romulans on the bridge and Prav needs medical assistance, immediately.”
_______________
Matt Kelly
For-
2nd Lt. Pravat
MCO
USS ANUBIS
