| Lights, Camera, Action |
| Summary: | A couple of curious pilots ignite a minor blaze in a storeroom. |
| Date: | 18 Feb 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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STOREROOM — DECK 11
There are many corridors aboard a ship of this size, far too many for all except the most diligent and experienced of personnel to know. Even those who've served on a Mercury-class battlestar aren't immune from getting lost — or maybe they're walking through this anonymous A-frame hallway with purpose, linking as it does the bowels of Main Engineering with the flight simulators on deck eleven. Whatever the reason, a small group of folk have converged here at precisely 2121 hours this eighteenth day of February, where — horror of horrors — a storeroom door has been left ajar.
Nostos walks along with Jayden as both men are still in their flight gear coming off of CAP, "I'm just saying eltee, I could have made that manuever if something wasn't wrong with the gyros on my stabilization. Seriously, a spin into a sudden shot upward should have been easy to pull off." As he walks with Jayden he stops dead in his tracks. "Uh, eltee?" He nods his square jaw and chin over at the door, "That look normal to you?" Indicating the storeroom door being ajar.
Jayden shakes his head and chukles, hearing Nos detail how he missed that spin. "Well, the sims will sort that out. /They/ are not broken." When his wingman stops and points, he focuses on the open door. "What the hades?"
Temperance is walking down the hallway with a glazed over look in her eyes, not even paying attention to anything around her. "S'not right," she murmurs to herself distractedly. "It jus' ain't. Frakkin' private room m'arse. Girl's go' a right ta - " she cuts off, glancing up just in time to avoid crashing straight into the pilots in front of her. "Sorry!" she chirps, an Aerilon obvious when she speaks. Straightening, she blinks at them both and then the open door, before leaning slightly forward and making an 'ooo' face at it. "Wha's 'posed ta 'appen?" she asks in a stage whisper.
A host of horrible things can a half-open hatchway portend. It might be carelessness on the part of an apprentice, say, who was in so much of a rush to get where she needed to go that she forgot to close the door behind her. Or it might be something more sinister — evidence of an unauthorized entry executed with surpassing haste. The cause of this minor mystery, alas, is not immediately obvious: the room, after all, is dark, and the track lighting outside illuminates only the three or four crates stacked neatly in front of the hatch: almost as if to block something from view.
Nostos motions over to Temperance and he doesn't stage whisper as he really does whisper to Temperance, "Well, the door is slightly open. This could be nothing or it could be something huge." He looks over at Jayden since he is the superior officer in this situation, "This is your show, sir. Also, I'll bet you five cubits this is nothing." Angelus says as he looks at the door attempting to peak a little bit to see if he can see anyone moving inside. The Caprican is just wondering exactly what is going on here as he attempts to take his peek.
Jayden gives the raptor chick a quick look before focusing back on the door. A slight roll of his eyes and he prompts, "These doors are usually shut, but let's not give into paranoia, shall we," He walks towards the door, and slowly opens it, giving the other pilots and himself a better look of what's inside. Pray the lords the damn thing isn't rigged with explosives.
Temperance inches forward with them in spite of herself, though she's still behind both. "Wha' kinda room's it supposed ta be?" she asks worriedly. "I mean, iffn' it's a toilet paper room, tha' ain't gonna be so bad, yeah?" Chewing on her bottom lip, she adds, "'Course, could always be a weapons locker, I guess."
Here's one good thing about being aboard a new battlestar, at least: the hinges of all the hatches have just been greased, meaning that Jayden can push open the hatch with no large amount of effort. The door swings inward with no noise whatsoever, casting more light onto what lies inside. Don't worry, Temperance — no weapons or anything like that, just crates upon crates marked in sharp black marker with various boring things like "cleaning fluid," "air freshener," "paper towels," and so on. They've definitely been moved since their arrival, too; indeed, the pallets have been stacked atop each other without the usual evenness that characterizes any military operation.
And from within? Though they can't see inside, the curious pilots do hear a soft, low moan, one that rises slightly in pitch before being cut off in a gasp.
The pose is the thing that catches Angelus' attention, "Eltee, you hear that? Sounds like a moan?" This has Angelus not only curious but slightly put out, "Well, this is weird." The Caprican turns to look over at Temperance with a grin and he says, "No need to worry. I'm still thinking we are going to find someone passed out drunk." Then his eyes get an amused and slightly wide eyed look, "Oh, or maybe we will find some enlisted and officer breaking regs. Oh, please say, 'yes' since that would be hillarious for months on end." Still though his voice is kept in hushed tones as he looks at the door and preps himself to follow behind Jayden.
The eyes on Jayden go wide for a bit and he chuckles. "Oh man, the ship has been christened." He takea a few more steps further in and leans his hip over one of the crates in here, yelling, "Is someone bumping uglies in here! This is the Admiral!" He grins and crosses his arms in front of him. Waiting.
Well, at the thought of two people getting naked in there, Temperance's eyes just go wide. "People're havin' sex inna storage room?" she asks, half dubious, half shocked. A thought occurs to her, and her eyes narrow. "Better make sure everyone in there wants ta be in there," she says quickly in a hushed whisper.
<FS3> Nostos rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Jayden rolls Alertness: Bad Failure.
To Temperance: What a big nose you have. Your senses are more finely tuned today than they usually are, which might be why your nostrils are tickled by the faint sweet smell of something you can't quite place.
Oh what dirty minds these pilots have — but for confirmation, they'll have to do more than just shout, for indeed, Jayden's words are greeted by an oddly lengthy silence. There's no rustling of clothes, no hurried mutterings, no embarrassed yells or anything along those lines: just a persistent and clinging quiet that only grows longer as the officers wait by the hatch.
Nostos looks over a Jayden, "Eltee, maybe we ought to just bust in there and stop whatever is going on in there since he, she, or they are not coming out willingly." He also rolls his eyes, "Also, calling out as the admiral, I mean that was a little obvious. Were it me, I'd have claimed to be the S2." He quickly adds, "Though, that is just my opinion, sir." He looks back at Temperance, "If we are lucky people are having sex in there because it would be funny beyond all reason."
Jayden had a sly smirk plastered on his face after he made the 'call to battlestations', but fades away when there is no fuss over it from the 'someone' making the sounds. "Right," he answers Nostos and rubs the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Fine, if you wanna get busted back to crewman, I'll be more than happy to do the honors." He puts a hand over Temp's shoulder and nods his head to Nostos, letting him know he wants him to take point. "No need having a lady witness this humiliation," he tells the raptor gal.
Temperance eyes Nostos first, and then Jayden, though slightly less strong for the LT. "I'm not worried 'bout funny or humiliatin'," she explains, "I jus' wanna make sure iffn' there's a girl in there, it's 'cause she wants ta be in there, that's all." She starts to head forward, but pauses for a moment and smells the air quickly. Sniff sniff. "D'ya smell that?" she asks, fast. "Can't tell wha' it is…somethin' sweet, though."
Nostos moves in to take point as he opens the door and steps in to take a look at what is going on in here. He remains quiet not wanting to jump to conclusions until he can eyeball exactly what is going on in the storage room. He doesn't exactly crouch either as he has nothing to worry about, at least in his own mind. He makes his way roughly three feet from the door so that Temperance and Jayden can follow behind him and block the enterance, "Ollie, Ollie, Oxen free! Come out, come out wherever you are!" The Caprican says as he scans the room for signs of movement.
Jayden starts to sniff and nods to Temperance, "Sweet?" He can't tell what he smells, but its obvious its not 'Battlestar going to Hades' fragance. Still, he lets go of Temp and follows his wingman in.
Temperance just follows them in silently, scanning the room for trouble, and crossing her arms around herself.
And into the black go our intrepid pilots in some semblance of order and discipline. Their progress is slow — after all, the lights are still off — but it doesn't take long for them to get the sense that something is more than a little off. The sweet scent Temperance mentioned grows stronger as they move inside, their bodies threading through a maze of cabinets and shelves until at last, about fifteen feet in, they see the source of their worries: a small figure lying in a heap amidst a pile of fallen boxes, surrounded by a host of bottles of clear white plastic. Whatever Temperance smelled is far sharper and much less pleasant here than at the door, and Nostos' feet splash into a puddle of liquid whose subsequent ripples are only barely visible in the dark.
<FS3> Jayden rolls Alertness-10: Bad Failure.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Alertness-10: Good Success.
<FS3> Nostos rolls Alertness-10: Good Success.
To Temperance and Nostos: No — you don't see any sign of people having 'bumped the uglies' here — just a slight flash of light about three feet to the right of the body on the ground. It's gone before you have a chance to focus your eyes on whatever caused it, though it doesn't take long before something decidedly less pleasant makes itself known to your senses: the putrid stench of burnt plastic.
"Lights, someone hit the lights. I saw a body or at least I think I did." Angelus makes a simple request as he sniffs the air, "And I'm smelling burnt plastic. Something is wrong here, eltee." For his part Nostos remains dead still as he continues to listen and look to see if he can make anything out in the darkness as he waits for the lights to turn on. "Either one of you smell the same or see the body? I mean, I thought I saw one but then it was gone which means something is moving or something bad is happening."
Jayden continues following Nostos further into the storeroom. Damn this things are big! It's still to dark to tell what's ahead, and his eyes squint, trying to adjust to the low light. When the figure is spotted, his instinct takes over, and his right hand latches unto the sidearm over his hip. "Frak a duck, what in kobol…?" He starts to move to a side, but to his dismay, the liquid over the floor causes him to slip. His head hits a cabinet with a loud thud, knocking the pilot out. His weapon slides out from its holster. Oh dear!!!
"Oh, Gods," Temperance cries, flailing forward to try and move past the boys to get further inside. "What happened? Can ya see anythin'? Are ya okay?" Her face is full of pure panic. "No, there's definitely someone in there," she responds to Nostos, still trying to get past. "They're covered in boxes!"
Well. A loud clatter later and there are two unconscious bodies on the floor, now, plus a standard Fleet-issue sidearm that slips out of its holster before skittering to a stop a foot or so away from its owner.
Nostos keeps his calm as he walks over to turn the lights on in the room. He speaks to Temperance, "Ensign, I need you to remain calm. This is a minor problem and there is no need to freak out. Pull it together." With that he gets close enough to flip the switch, "When the light comes on I want you to take care of Lieutenant Ekonomo, I think I heard him take a fall. Alright?"
Temperance opens her mouth to respond back, but it obviously wouldn't have been appropriate, because she snaps her mouth shut and just nods. Then she realizes with the lights off, he can't really /see/ her do that, and replies, "Yes, sir. I am calm, and I'll take care of him, I just want to make sure whoever in there is okay." Her voice is calm, but as she comes further into the room to check on the LT, her hands are obviously shaking.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Reactive: Success.
The nice thing about these generic shipboard storerooms is that everything is in the exact same place. As such, it doesn't take long for Nostos to find his way to the wall where the switch is at. But hitting it doesn't do a thing, not at first. And so it's flicked off, and then on, and then off and then on — and still nothing. A few seconds pass as Nostos fiddles — and then, in a flash, the mysterious light is back with a vengeance, as it soon becomes horrifyingly clear why the pair of them smelled burnt plastic —
Up from the corner of the room explodes a shower of sparks as a wall-mounted electrical bus shrieks in agony. Temperance watches as they dance merrily in the air, reflecting in pools of liquid like beautiful balls of orange — and where they land they ignite the methanol on the ground, and bright and brilliant flames nearly blind her as some animal part of her makes her leap back and out of the way.
As for the figure on the ground, she's not nearly so fortunate. Fire tickles her soaked olive greens, streaking up her legs before settling at her belt, licking the fabric of her uniform.
First things first is the supression of the fire as it could damage the integrity of the ship. The switch is turned off and then Nostos hits the intercom, "I need a fire suppression team on my location. Deck Eleven Storage, Locker C. Priority, urgent. Medical will also be needed. We have an officer down, I repeat we have fire, chemicals, and an officer down." As soon as the announcement is made he moves to see if he can find Jayden and Temperance to make sure they clear out of the hazard area.
Okay. Temperance is definitely panicked. But there's a man laying next to her on the floor unconscious, and she needs to take care of him first. Hooking her arms under his, she drags him away as fast as she can, and runs right back in. "Can you get her?" she cries, inching as far forward as she can. "Her arms aren't on fire yet, can you get her that way?"
Nostos hears Temperance as she speaks and he runs into the room to grab the woman that is knocked out and left behind. He remains calm for the most part most likely due to his training but he is moving breathlessly as he is attempting to hold his breath in case the fumes from the chemicals get to be to much for him.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Reactive: Success.
<FS3> Nostos rolls Reactive: Success.
Jayden's limp body is pushed to the wall as Temperance finds a reserve of strength she didn't know she had. The man's fireproof flight suit will help him as well, for slick in flammable fluid though he might be, he'll at least be more protected than the unfortunate girl on the ground — and indeed it is a girl if her features are any indication, pockmarked by acne as they are. And now that the Raptor pilot's eyes have readjusted to the sudden brightness of the room, she's able to step around the biggest patches of flame, her hands settling on the girl's covered arms. Nostos, too, joins in — and soon enough she too is yanked to relative safety, a trail of red and yellow blooming behind her as more of the spilled liquid ignites.
Oh, and she's still on fire as the seconds tick on, her legs charring like some grotesque barbecue.
Temperance looks down and realizes that she's wearing her own flight suit…her own fireproof flight suit. Unzipping her zipper as fast as she can, she wriggles out of it quickly, leaving her standing in a thin tank top and her underwear. "Stand back!" she yells, reaching down to try and muffle the girl's legs, and maybe cut off the line of fire following them as they trail her away.
Nostos puts the girls body down once she is clear from safety so that Temperance can go to work. He scans Jayden over for a moment and when he spots the man breathing he turns his attention back on the young woman who is burning and he starts to look on her uniform for some sign of who she is or if he can recognize her as he gives Temperance licence to get the poor woman's legs under control.
There are few good things about emergencies that happen in close proximity to Main Engineering given all the Important Things that exist on this deck, but the two pilots are about to discover one of them: firefighting teams have very few corridors down which to run. Forty-seven seconds after Nostos' initial distress call is issued, a squad of four engineers rushes into the room, masks on their faces, extinguishers in their hand. They don't even stop when confronted with the sight of a busty redhead wearing little more than the clothes nature gave her.
"Outside!" the lead chief orders, shoving Temperance backwards without so much as a second glance. "You too, big man, unless you feel like passing out — " And then the fire extinguishers go to work, bursts of foam spraying out from shining steel nozzles turned bronze by the light from the flames. Temperance's flight suit is the first to be victimized; the burning woman is second. Only then does the team turn its attention to the mess of bottles and crates on the ground, advancing forward as far as the blaze will permit.
Temperance really doesn't care that people are seeing her in her underwear, or that they push her aside. She's caught off balance, though, and falls flat on her ass. She just sits there, watching all the action, staring at the poor girl on the floor with eyes that are quickly welling up with tears. "Is she…she going to be okay?" she finally asks.
Nostos moves out of the way since he isn't in the mood to pass out or get pushed aside and he makes his way over to Temperance, "Can't say. Medical will take care of her. I don't know what sort of fumes she breathed in or how long she was in there like that but medical will do their best for her." Nostos would offer to put an arm around Temperance to comfort her but that might look a bit odd given her state of dress. Instead he reaches into a pocket and he pulls out a thin metal blanket which he unfolds and offers to Temperance so she can at least wrap her legs up so she isn't totally drawing attention away from the fire and the wounded people. "This might help." He says to Temperance and since this is the first time he has met her he adds, "I'm Jig Angelus Nostos, the Lieutenant is named Jayden Ekonomo. As for the girl I don't know." He keeps his eyes focused on the wounded as he waits for medical to take them.
"Godsdammit," snaps the surly chief. Though he doesn't turn back, he doesn't need to turn to hear the voices still nattering on behind him. Tears don't play well with engineers; neither do stubborn pilots. "You people lose your hearing or something? Get the frak out. Now." And even if they don't choose to listen, the pilots soon won't have much of a choice, for the thudding of a medical team's boots announces their arrival on the scene. They've been yelled at well and good by Lieutenant Stavrian, it appears, and now they get there with three stretchers instead of one.
"Get the girl," calls a medic; as one, the others comply, levering her with a single lift onto the board-like stretcher. Jayden, too, gets similar treatment. And from the medic in charge? "You two — if you can walk, you're coming with us to Sickbay. Smoke inhalation's a nasty thing, and the docs'll want to check you out, see what's up." Dark eyes flicker over at the two of them. "That was not a suggestion."
So it is that our curious pilots file out past boxes and shelves, out past the still-open hatch, and out into that same anonymous corridor from whence they came. And lingering upon their bodies is the same sickly smell that greeted them upon their entrance a few minutes earlier — wafting out from the door in time to the even hissing of extinguishers at work.