"O.K. PEOPLE, WE'VE BEEN CLIPPED, I'LL BE LETTING US DOWN A LITTLE FASTER NOW!" a voice shouted from the cockpit. Then a thud, to make all the previous bumps look tame, and a tearing sound as the bottom of the ship tore away.
A shout of "OUT LADIES, OUT!" and all the restraints disengaged, letting the sisters pour out of the ship to find:
Helmsman and navigator 3rd class Hiraku Sulu fell back in his chair with a sigh, before his body was whacked by a coughing fit. As he wiped his mouth with his hand, he noticed a red stain on his glove. That was not good. As he looked around the bridge of the imperial transport NCC 1701, a shaken Peter Preston, the captain's steward, stepped beside him.
"Mister Sulu, are you okay?"
"I am alive and conscious. That is probably better... *cough*... than the rest of the bridge crew. How is everyone else?"
Peter visibly collected himself before he began to speak: "Sensortech Saavik is unconscious and has a bleeding head wound. Enginetech Maloney hangs in his seatbelts and it looks like he has knocked himself out on his console. The captain looks bad. He hangs in his seatbelts and a bit of the ceiling has crashed down on him. I don't know if he is still alive."
Just as Hiraku was about to order Preston to tend to Saavik, the red glare of various warning signs bathed Maloney's console. He freed himself of his seatbelts with some effort, while the steward was looking frightened toward the console in question. "Can you help me to get over there... *cough*... and move Maloney... *cough*... out of the way so that I can see what this is about? Then tend to Saavik."
Peter complied without much thinking. He had just moved the enginetech when he heard the helmsman mutter under breath: "Fucking Great. Now we have to deal... *cough*... with a damaged plasma core and an impending meltdown... *cough*... Oh well. We won't be going... *cough*... anywhere anyway for a while." With that, Mister Sulu started to press a few buttons on the console.
When Peter laid down Maloney's body, he checked for and luckily found a pulse. Then he started to try to locate one of the bridge's emergency medical supplies. As soon as he found one, he moved over to Saavik and tried to stop her from bleeding to death.
He was still at it when Mister Sulu finished whatever he did on the Maloney's console. He had another coughing fit as he turned his head toward Peter "I won't be staying... *cough*... conscious for much... *cough*... longer. When you... *cough*... have finished... *cough*... with Savvik, use... *cough*... the intercom to find out... *cough*... who else survived... *cough*... our planet fall. *cough* Until you find... *cough*... someone higher... *cough*... ranking you have the com..." At that moment Sulu's head fell forward and he lost conscious.
A few minutes later, he had managed to stop Saavik's bleeding and sat down on her chair to use the ship's intercom to call all stations. For some reason he did not receive a single answer, but he did not know if the intercom was clean out of order or if there was no one to answer his calls. Just as he decided to leave the bridge in search for other survivors, something flashed on one of the still working monitors.
It was a sensor screen and if he read it correctly, something was closing in on their position. Fast. The sensor dot was encased in brackets and had the word HOSTILE locked under it. He activated the ship's communication array and tried to hail the closing dot.
"This is imperial transport NCC 1701 to unknown closing craft. Identify yourself."
"Unknown craft if you don't identify yourself or change your course, I will open fire on you."
As the words "In range" flashed under the dot, Peter hit the button that would activate the defense turrets atop the ship. A metallic screeching sound and the hissing of the las guns told him that they were still in working order. At that moment, all systems on the bridge went dead and the bridge was bathed in red by the emergency lights.
Prioris Superior Angelica Nimroy had had a bad day. No, correct that, a very bad day. First, they were almost attacked by some creatures of the Immaterium shortly before they left the aforementioned Immaterium. Afterwards, they noticed that some thrice-damned heretic aliens attacking their target planet.
As they prepared to evade the various alien craft above the planet and land on said planet, they received two communiqués from the planet. One told them that the civil unrest they were called to quell had grown into a full-fledged civil war and that the imperial forces had lost control over one of the planetary defense installations. The other communiqué was from the heretics and told them to fuck off.
When they closed with the planet with the alien ships in pursuit, the imperial defense installation and the one of the heretics opened fire. The imperial forces tried to aim at the aliens, while the heretics shot at anything that moved. At this point, they were ordered to leave the bridge and to strap themselves fast somewhere. Before they could do so, the ship was hit very hard and they were thrown around the ship's corridor. Sanctus De Ville fell unlucky and was hit by a real heavy piece of equipment, which broke her neck. Principalis Trakant also fell and was buried under another piece of equipment. Angelica just held onto a support beam and got away with just minor bruises.
So she was somewhere in the middle of the nowhere with the newly assembled 2264th battle sister company. Currently she was the highest-ranking conscious survivor. But unfortunately she was just promoted three weeks ago to command the second platoon of the newly formed company. Before she had just led a retaliator squad. She had never before commanded a platoon and now she was stricken with the command of a whole freaking company of green recruits. So she had called together the other surviving parts of the command structure of the 2264th to hash out a plan of action.
They had almost decided on a plan, when Sister Nimroy and the rest of the command structure heard a metallic screeching sound and the hissing sound of las gunfire from the direction of the downed transport.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR IS GOING ON?!" screamed a slightly frustrated Prioris Superior Nimroy. "YOU," she shouted while she pointed at Prioris Finn of the first platoon's second squad, "GO ONTO THAT BLASTED SHIP'S BRIDGE AND FIND OUT WHO FIRED ON WHAT, WHY! REPORT BACK ASAP. MOVE IT!"
With that she turned toward the rest of the battle sisters, who looked confusedly either at her or the downed transport. "COMPANY ATTENTION! FALL IN BY PLATOONS. MOVE IT."
At once pandemonium broke out, as the battle sisters rushed around to form up in their platoons. Barely 45 seconds later the whole company, expect the paramedics, had lined up and awaited her commands. "SECOND PLATOON WILL SECURE THE PERIMETER. FIRST AND THIRD PLATOON WILL GET AS MUCH OF OUR EQUIPMENT OUT OF THAT BLASTED SHIP AS THEY CAN. PRIORITY ON THE HEAVY WEAPONS. IN FACT EVERY HEAVY WEAPON CARRIER WILL GO INTO THAT DAMN SHIP AND RETRIEVE HER WEAPON. I WANT THE COMPANY'S THREE MISSILE LAUNCHERS OUT HERE AND OPERATIONAL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. AND NOW MOVE IT."
As she took a deep breath her radio unit became active: "Prioris Superior, this is Prioris Finn, do you copy?"
"Prioris Finn, this is Nimroy. Report."
"I am currently at the bridge. Most of the bridge's crew is seriously wound and needs help. Only one man is currently conscious. He told me that he fired the ships guns at a fast closing contact that didn't identify itself. He tried to hail it over the ship's radio, but got no reply. Oh and somehow the ship lost all power. Over."
"Okay I will send a squad to help the crew. Once they have arrived, send the one who fired the guns out to me. Over and out."
As soon as the radio deactivated, she looked around and saw a squad of seraphim that looked as if they didn't know what to do. Well if she remember correctly, their prioris had not survived the landing, so they probably didn't know what to do. She would correct that. She went over to them and as they snapped to attention, she pointed at a tall brunet at the start of the line-up: "Take your squad to the ship's bridge and assist Prioris Finn."
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(Posted Thu, 15 Dec 2005 20:39)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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