But I Was Sleeping

Posted on Tue Jul 20th, 2021 @ 3:07pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Dixoho Saa (*) & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Micheal Robertson & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers

Mission: Mission 13: Stowaway
Location: Deck 3 - Senior Officer Quarters
Timeline: MD08 23:30
1743 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Gregnol tossed and turned trying to get comfortable. Thoughts kept interrupting as he tried to settle down to at least get some sleep to be able to carry on and be of any use to anyone onboard. He could think of the last time he had felt useless and isolated from his ship and crew. It was the last time that he had lost time when the ship had been taken to another universe. He had been drugged and removed from his ship. Maybe it was why as he finally started drifting off he was pulled into a memory.

It was a silent turbolift as the Captain struggled to shake off the drugs that he had been pumped with to keep him compliant whilst in the cell being interrogated. Jeassaho had his arm around her as she kept him steady but no words were said aloud by anyone as the senior officers headed towards the bridge now that they had been freed from the Imperial Federation ships. No one wanted to speak about the death they had seen as they left or the friend's body they had to leave behind to escape themselves.

As soon as the door opened they spilled out onto the bridge. “Dixoho get us out of here.” The Captain said as he moved at a much slower pace to the rest of the group. The redhead looked at the Captain surprised to hear her first name come out of his lips but she was going to argue when he looked the worst out of the bunch of them.

“Sir.” The woman said simply. She would have time to catch up with everyone once they were no longer in a desperate situation with the ship rocking every two seconds making it hard to move.

"Please make sure he's seen a proper medic as well." Valiyi cut in, gentle order at Jeassaho, as she sat at his chair. She sat herself firmly there, eyes on Reuben as he struggled to keep himself up. Her next words were pointed directly at him. "I believe I can get us out of here. You need to rest."

If it had been anyone else Gregnol might have taken offence admittedly and hauled her ass out of the chair but he could barely stand and the woman who had an arm around him was keeping him firmly where he was. "I need to be in charge of my ship." The man said as Jeassaho made a comment to try and at least get him to see someone. Who knew what type of sedatives they had used on him in between interrogations.

“I need to be IN charge.” He muttered in Russian as he awoke to an alarm rocking his ship and sweat slicking his body from his personal nightmare. He hated that memory of helplessness.

What the hell was happening now? He quickly pulled back on his flight suit, shoving his feet into his boots. He pressed the communication console but no one responded. It looked like he had no choice but to venture out into the corridor.

In Dixoho's quarters, Micheal, who had fallen asleep on her couch, startled awake at the alarm klaxon. His first reaction was to pull his disruptor from his thigh holster. He then moved to check on Dixoho. "You okay, honey?"

Dixoho stumbled from her bedroom pulling on her jacket over her PJs that she had just gotten into alarmed. "Yeah." She said moving towards the door sticking her head out the door as several other people did at the same time. "Reuben?" She questioned as the man was coming out the door opposite.

"Trouble!" Jake called down the hallway, with Eden in tow. "Someone hit the intruder alarm. At this time of night and knowing there's a marauder out there, I don't like taking the risk. We need to arm up and get a handle on things."

Unbeknownst to Jake Eden had grabbed Stan and stuck him in a pocket as she didn't like the idea of someone breaking into her quarters and hurting her beloved pest. She saw no reason to report this to Jake however and get him all upset and nervous. "Right," she called back as she thought about how she hated running. "But look twice before you shoot. ." she cautioned.

"Jake duck," Gregnol said loudly as a human he did not know came charging around the corner. The Captain raised his weapon and fired perfectly as the man ducked allowing him to hit the unknown person in the chest stunning him to the floor.

Micheal kept himself in front of Dixoho, protecting her. As soon as Reuben shot one intruder, another two came around the opposite corner, a few meters away. "BEHIND!!" He bellowed, as he first put a protective hand on Dixoho behind him then, he fired off two quick shots. The first hitting the closest intruder first, with a shot center mass, knocking him down and out. The second shot struck the second attacker in his right shoulder, spinning him back. A third shot hit his between the shoulder blades, putting him down as well.

Jake rolled, doing his best to avoid danger while protecting Eden. He was practically twice her size, so operating as a human shield wasn't hard; not being the one getting shot was the trick.

"This...this is why I said I wanted to have a phaser near the bed..." Jake sighed, holding Eden close. "Are you okay? Is everyone all right?" he followed it up with, glancing around.

She nodded, eyes a bit wider than they had been. Suddenly it didn't seem like such a big adventure anymore. "Who are they?"

"At a guess, our marauder friends," he replied breathlessly.

Micheal quickly scanned both directions of the corridor, then back at Dixoho, reaching down to gently take her hand. Looking back to Jake, he replied. "We're good here. I guess those damn pirates decided to attack sooner than expected. Such poor manners!"

Dixoho looked around annoyed at the chaos that had been brought to the ship so quickly and without warning. "They really do not mess around do they?" Dixoho commented watching the Captain running a hand along the deck where scorch marks now left a mark on the wall outside their quarters. "Gregnol?" She questioned softly when the man did not respond she said softer. "Reuben." The man turned to see everyone staring at him waiting.

"I am alright. We need to get to the bridge." Gregnol muttered as he heard a noise at the other end of the deck.

Micheal heard it as well, shielding Di with his body again, he aimed his disruptor towards the growing noise as the ship rumbled.

Dixoho frowned at the person trying to shield her. She did not need it, especially when it would just make everyone a target. Everyone needed to be keeping an eye on themselves.

"Not sure if using the turbolifts is a good idea if someone is trying to take over the ship. Access conduits are about thirty meters this way," Jake motioned in the other direction to the noise. "We can access the Jeffries tubes at the end of the hall and make our way up to deck one."

"Good idea!" Micheal agreed readily. "Y'all go, I'll cover your backs." He turned to face the approaching noise, raising his disruptor towards it.

"Just like a treehouse," she told the others. "Or a fort! Okay, who here built forts as a child?"

"I grew up on a ship. I guess I might have out of cargo containers or something but..." Dixoho started before she closed her eyes for a moment trying to listen to the strange noises as they got closer and closer for a moment before stopping. Dixoho looked in the direction of the sudden lack of noise and yelped as the panel burst open and a blue hair woman fell out of the Jeffries tube into a heap on the floor with what looked like a Ferengi following her trying to hit her.

Micheal was there as soon as Dixoho made a noise of shock. Reaching down, he grabbed the Ferengi by his large right ear lobe and hauled him to his feet. "What the hell is going on here!"

"Want me to let Stan loose on him?" Eden asked, forgetting she wasn't supposed to let anyone know he was with her.

"Indigo?" Gregnol glanced at Eden open-mouthed as she let slip that somewhere on her was Stan before finally turning to the other figure. "What... What are doing here?" He demanded seeing the blue-haired woman who had been fighting with the Ferengi. What was the Fenris Ranger doing on his ship in the middle of a boarding fighting the borders?

"Coming to save your ass. I got caught up in a heist and well... It ended with revealing what these were up too so I grabbed everyone and we came to rescue." She explained a bit breathless as the ship shook again leaving Indigo just grinning that her friends were finally making their presence more well known.

While the Ranger and Reuben spoke, Micheal quickly disarmed and secured the Ferengi. When he saw two of his people round the bend towards them, he waved them over. "Put this one in the brig. And make sure no one gets to him."

The two crewmen nodded and quickly carried the disgruntled pirate away.

Micheal then looked at Reuben. "Orders, Cap'n?"

Gregnol looked up from where he and Ford were talking to Indigo and frowned. “Bridge is secure so we need to work down. Dixoho and Eden can go to the bridge and make sure that the navigation systems are in our control and we have a good course.”

“You got it,” Dixoho replied relieved that he wanted her to do something. She was desperate to feel useful again.

"Sorry, Stan, no outing for you," Eden see, patting her pocket and then expressing a quizzical look as she patted the other pocket with relief that she actually felt something. "Bridge, yes Cap."

While Micheal wanted to stay with Dixoho and keep her safe, he knew they were fighting for their home. "What do you want me to do, Sir?"

“As I said we work down and secure the rest of the ship,” Gregnol said watching Dixoho and Eden leave the area before he turned to look at Indigo and indicated that they could go.