A Little Turbulence
Posted on Thu Apr 2nd, 2020 @ 9:05am by Makeba Brown & Petty Officer 2nd Class Sofia Cipriani
Edited on on Thu Apr 2nd, 2020 @ 9:09am
3,985 words; about a 20 minute read
Mission:
Episode 9 - Empok's End
Location: Turbolift 1 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 1000 hrs
Sofia had an urgent communique for Captain Malbrooke. For some reason she had been given it via an encrypted channel for his eyes only and it was decided that a direct chain of delivery was needed.
She had set foot in the turbolift, the bridge her destination, in order to give him said PADD with no doubt burning information. This was maybe not the ideal time, and something about this journey upwards felt rushed and dangerous. She had managed her claustrophobia well but she still hated turbolifts. The walls wobbled but she was sure that was due to outside events and not her mental state.
Makeba had been allowed out of her quarters but only to attend to her new duties. As of late those duties were training with The Cure, a task that she rather enjoyed, and working in the SCIF. She was attempting to learn what Starfleet knew and prepare for what she knew would be an impending battle. Her experience on starships had taught her that currently the Pioneer was at warp 9 and gaining speed.
She was on her way to the SCIF to find out if they knew what the hell was going on. When she stepped onto the turbolift she found a young blonde crewmen. Not one for small talk Makeba smiled and stepped on. The only words she spoke were to order the lift to deck 9.
Sofia smiled back without looking to see who it was really. It was more a peripheral view she got until the woman spoke and made Sofia take some more notice. It was Makeba Brown, the Maquis. 'Great, as if this lift wasn't cramped enough. Now I'm stuck with someone who'd probably kill me to get off the ship!' she yelled at herself from within.
Some reports concerning her passed Sofia's eyes on their way to Captain Malbrooke. She knew who she was, what she'd done and a little history but not much more. All Sofia knew was that being in a turbolift with her was not doing her anxiety any favours.
Makeba did not like that she had to wear the provisional rank that Quinn gave her. She was still a Lieutenant and as far as she was concerned if she was going to come back to the fleet then she should have the same rank. However, O Flannagain and Malbrooke thought differently. Now here she was in a turbolift with the Captain's Yeoman. Makeba guessed that small talk should be made, but none came to mind. The walls of the lift shimmied and Makeba could tell that power was being drawn away from the lift, that is, if the sound of the lift was any indication.
"Got important bridge business?" Sofia asked trying to take her mind off the trip. Don't get her wrong it wouldn't be a long one but still, sometimes it's nice to be nice.
"That is if this thing even makes it to the Bridge. If my instincts are serving me well it seems that they are taking power from the lift systems, probably to push the engines further. Say, you are close to the Captain, you have his ear. What the hell is going on that he is willing to fly this ship apart to get to Empok Nor quicker?" Makeba had a good idea of what was going on. However, before she acted on her information she wanted to try to confirm it.
"Yeah, we are in kind of a rush." Sofia admitted as she noticed the slightly sluggish nature of the lift. However she noticed Makeba was still talking. She did have the Captains ear but she truly didn't know much about why they were moving so fast, apart from what she was about to say. "I know Empok Nor put out a distress signal but apart from that I don't know the reasons why. I've just got to get this PADD to him before we get there."
"And why would that PADD..." Makeba was cut short as the turbolift made a whining sound and then came to a jolting stop with a thud. The sudden jolt caused Makeba to titter on her feet and she looked up. Just as she did the lights in the turbolift went out. "Are you okay Crewman?"
Picking herself up, leaving the PADD on the ground, she looked over at Makeba. "Apart from being stuck in the dark in an incredibly small space? Yeah I'm peachy, thank. What else could go wrong?" she asked rhetorically as the whole ship shook once again.
The resulting 'hit', or whatever is was, caused the lights to come back on but the went from off to blinding in seconds forcing them to blow. This coupled with a minor explosion within the shaft rocked them once more.
Makeba had been looking up when the lights came back on and shorted out. The flash disoriented her and gave her momentary blindness. She stumbled back to the wall and slid down into a seated position. "What the hell happened? We are still at warp so we could not have been attacked." Keebs managed to slide over to a computer access terminal. She wanted to see what was going on however, the computer did not recognize any commands that she entered into the system. "Frak! Wanna give this computer a try and see if you can learn what happened. It seems like a Crewman outranks me at the moment..." She realized how that sounded and added. "No offense."
Sofia smiled weakly. "None taken." She said standing up, her hand placed on her side just below her rib cage. "I don't think we are at warp anymore... ship feels different." Sofia admitted as she put her access code in. It was a little higher than most Crewman's due to her role.
Unbeknown to Sofia there was a little blood spot where she was holding, and a hole in the side of the turbolift. She had felt a hot burning sensation when the explosion occurred but thought nothing of it. She simply though she'd hurt her ribs. Ominous.
"Looks like we are here at Empok Nor." Sofia said pointing to a navigation display.
"What did we do hit the station?" Makeba said half in jest. She looked around and quickly took stock of what they had, which was not much. "Alright I think it is going to be best if we get the heck out of here as quickly as possible. We can climb through the maintainance hatch at the roof of the lift car and into the turbolift shaft. From there a quick climb to the next deck doors and we are home free. Do you feel up to it?"
Makeba Brown was not about to sit the upcoming battle out in a turbolift car. Something big was going on and Makeba had to know what it was. There was an anxious and tight feeling in her chest, this was a feeling that she did not like and only came when she had a decision that she did not want to make coming up.
'Feel up to it? I'd do anything to get out of this small space.' she thought at the question. Sofia was finding it a bit harder to breathe. Whether that was due to anxiety or injury remained to be seen. She had yet to try and stretch her side, the odd sensation beneath her hand changing a little to a warmer feeling. "Looks pretty high?" She half asked in reference to the room hatch. "If you think that's the best route out of here... however don't you think it might be a better idea to wait for help?"
Makeba was not sure what Sofia was afraid of. "It is possible that if the ship is under attack, or if the turbolift system fails before help can get to us, this car will fall. I can give you a boost through the hatch and then you can pull me up..." Makeba's voice trailed off as she noticed Sofia's hand. "Are you hurt?" Keebs already knew the answer to her question, she had to hear Sofia tell her what was wrong. For the moment she thought that today was just not her day.
"I can feel something between my fingers." Sofia replied sheepishly not wanting to look down. The slight piece of metal from the turbolift was protruding from her abdomen just below her ribs was small, thin but still she refused to acknowledge it. "I think I've broken a rib..." She assumed it was that, that the bone had broken through her skin.
Makeba's eyes followed Sofia's had without any visible acknowledgement she saw what was happening. Sofia had a small piece of shrapnel sticking out of her abdomen and the blood was trickling down. Makeba was no stranger to belly wounds and knew that if they did not get treatment right away a slow painful death was the result. "It's a little more than a broken rib Yeoman. I think you should have a seat and let me have a look at that."
"I don't want to move my hand." Sofia admitted. She did slowly slide down the wall of the lift until her bottom touched the floor. "I suppose now is also a bad time to tell you I'm claustrophobic?" She asked rhetorically even though she expected the woman to reply. As she finished speaking there was a slight rocking of the ship.
"Of the rotten... Damn you Malbrooke" Makeba muttered as she bent and stooped to get a closer look at the wound. Thankfully Makeba could see the shrapnel and it was better than she had thought. "Ok before we get started we should get acquainted because we are going to get intimate very quickly. I am Makeba and you are..." As she spoke she slid her hand slowly and gently toward the wound. The idea was that Makeba was going to distract Sofia from the pain for a moment.
Sofia could hear the woman muttering, something about Malbrooke but she could see her frustration about their situation. She knew she was a hindrance to this woman's want to leave the lift and find out what was happening.
She could feel Makeba's hand moving over the wound and she gripped the woman's shoulder. "Sofia. I already know who y--." She could feel a sharp pain and she yelled out as pressure was applied to her abdominal wound.
The distraction worked just as Sofia began to speak Makeba pulled the shrapnel out quickly. Just as quickly Makeba's hand came up to meet the wound and apply pressure. "See now that wasn't so bad. It's just a flesh wound you will be fine." She said as she tossed the shrapnel to the side a tore a sleeve off her shirt. Makeba needed a bandage, and there did not seem to be one on hand here. She continued to apply pressure for the time being. "I don't think climbing is going to work for a bit. What do you think we should do?"
"Do you know where we are?" Sofia asked. There was a metallic taste in her mouth akin to blood but she didn't mention it as she felt she had already been made too much of a fuss of. The pressure beneath her breast, where Makeba had her hand felt intense and Sofia was sweating due to this pain. "We could be lucky and be on a deck, or in between. If we can manually open the doors we can slip out?" she offered.
"I think you may be right. We may actually be pretty close to deck three. However, I can't go anywhere until we get this bleeding stopped." Makeba said as she shifted to sitting position next to Sofia. She made sure to keep the pressure on the wound. The more pressure the quicker the bleeding would slow down, and Makeba knew that. "So what do you have that is so important for the Captain. Or is it top secret Yeoman business." She said with smirk, Makeba tried to lighten the mood for moment. Perhaps get a smile from the other young woman.
"Super top secret." Sofia smiled and laughed a little that caused her to wince in pain and begin to cough. Coughing into her hand she didn't notice the specks of blood on her palm, nor the slight smear on the right side of her mouth. "You shouldn't make me laugh... I think I popped a rib back out." Sofia joked a little.
"They say that laughter is the best medicine. But you are right, although it is not the rib that I am worried about." Keebs said as she took another look at the wound. The good news was that it looked like the bleeding was slowing down. "So it seems that we may be here for a bit longer. Tell me why joined up Starfleet?" Makeba was still trying to keep the younger woman's mind off of the wound.
"Why? What are you worried about?" Sofia asked but the question was overlooked by Makeba as she focused on the slower bleeding wound now. "I fell in love with a boy." Sofia admitted. "He talked about Starfleet ALL the time, being amongst the stars and it kind of stuck. I am a bit of a bookworm, love finding out new things so... here I am. In a lift with an ex-Maquis, I have a hole in my stomach and the taste of blood in my mouth. Maybe I should have stayed in the library..." she admitted.
Makeba laughed for a moment, a genuine a laugh and when it dwindled down she turned to Sofia smiling. "I have to thank you for a moment. It has been a long time since I had a genuine laugh like that. You think you are an overgrown librarian, but you don't even know the kind of power that you wield on this ship. Back when I served everyone knew the Captain's Yeoman was the real power behind the throne. You have Malbrooke's ear, and if you think he doesn't listen you are horribly wrong. Malbrooke like most Captain's look to their Yeoman as a sampling of what the rest of the crew feels and thinks. You must remember that especially in these trying times."
Keebs looked down at the wound and could tell that the bleeding was staunching. That was a good sign, but the question remained how would they get out of this.
Sofia smiled a little. The laugh was a surprise to say the least but she was in a slightly better mood that she managed to make someone happy in this current situation. "I appreciate the pep talk. He does confide in me a lot, asks my opinions on things but I am still only 18 and sometimes I think he forgets that I have no real life experience apart from where I am now. I is nice to have him as my Captain though, he seems nice and sometimes I think he's not so bad looking either." she smiled a little at that too.
Keebs smirked... "Don't go down that road. He is a happily married man. Alright Sofia I think I can pronounce you okay for the time being. But we need to figure a way out of this mess. What do you think?" A slight rumbling and shudder in the distance can be heard as the Pioneer takes a little more damage.
"Oh no! That's not what I meant!" She made a sharp movement that ended up hurting her a little. "I have a boyfriend. I just meant he was handsome." she corrected the situation before thinking what they could do. "Well I think no sudden movements again would be ideal." She spoke as the ship shook violently causing the doors to malfunction and open slightly. There was a faint smell of smoke filtering in.
"Right so that is not good, we have to get moving now..." Makeba stood up and offered a hand to Sofia. "Oh yeah, you got yourself a man. Which one did you decide was worthy" There was always a slight tone of condescension in Makeba's voice when she spoke of romance. In her culture women had all the power. She smirked again. "Also you're right despite everything Malbrooke is an attractive male."
"Worthy?" Sofia asked a little confused. "Well I think he more chose me... but Ensign Price in Flight Control if you must know." Sofia added taking her hand and wincing as she was pulled up. She made a face at the 'despite everything' comment as she had always felt Malbrooke was right in what he had done in the treatment of Makeba.
"Good choice..." Makeba said with a smile. "Just make sure that he is worthy of you. Any man that you chose to spend time with, to allow into your life should be worthy of having you. Alright I am going to boost you up and you are going to have to open the hatch in the roof of the car. It's the only way that I can see about getting out of here."
"I'm sure he is." Sofia replied with a smile. She hadn't seen Khalon for a couple of days and in truth she was missing him a little. She hoped he was alright in what ever was going on. "If you are going to boost me up then we'll have to do it carefully. I'd rather my stomach not fall out of me..." she said in reference to her now clotted injury.
"I will make sure that you get out of here alive, and with all of your organs intact. Ready..." Makeba knelt down. "Now climb onto my shoulders much like a child would." Once Sofia was in place Makeba stood up slowly and delibrately. Her hands held Sofia's ankles for the moment. Once Makeba was fully standing the next step could be taken. "OK you are doing great. Now what you are going to have to do is slowly step onto my shoulders, I will hold your ankles then you must reach up and open the hatch. When you are ready give the word." Makeba knew that Sofia was in pain and needed a doctor soon. However, their escape at least for the time being hinged on the young woman.
'Good thing I weigh as much as a child' Sofia thought with a soft chuckle to herself as she began to climb onto Makeba's shoulders. She felt her beginning to rise and Sofia wobbled a little on top but she tensed her stomach to try and stabilise herself, she winched a little as this affected the wound she had suffered. Sofia heard the words of encouragement. "Thank you, I will try." she replied as she prepared herself. "I'm ready." She said after a small psyche up. She felt a little sleepy, a little drained so she knew she had to get medical help.
"Right grab hold of something I am going to shove you up and through hatch..." Makeba waited until she could feel the other woman's arms go stiff. This indicated that Sofia had a solid grip on something. "...Right here we go." Makeba grabbed the other woman's feet and tossed her up and through the hatch. "Now this is the hard part. I know you are hurt, and tired. But once I am up there we can get out of here. I need you to reach down and pull me up."
Sofia grabbed on to the handles of the hatch above as Makeba told her what the plan was to be. With a solid push Sofia was through and she felt a sharpness in her stomach, almost a tearing feeling but still she looked down at the woman she now had to lift. Sofia reached down, feeling the stretch on her body. Opening her hand she waited for Makeba to grab it.
Makeba took a quick hop and missed Sofia's hands the first time, but on the second try she was able to lock her hands around the writs of Sofia. Keebs hated the fact that the injured woman had to pull her up but there was no other way. As soon as Makeba was brought within reach of the hatch she let go of one of Sofia's hands and reached for the hatch. She managed to pull herself up and through and took stock of where they were. They were definitely in the crap. "It seems that the nearest way out is going to be a long climb, and I don't think that you can make it. Any ideas?"
"Only that we make it quick. I'm feeling a little lightheaded." Sofia coughed and a little blood trickled from the side of her mouth. A wet patch began to form on her clothing once more, the stretch she had made and effort to pull Makeba up leaving its marker. "Unless you have a jet pack? A way to pry doors open?" she asked.
Makeba took stock of the situation, and realized that Sofia had the right of it. There was no way that they both could make the climb. From the look of things there was no way that Makeba could leave Sofia there. She looked around and found a ISDN access hatch. "Listen what I am about to do is highly illegal, so I trust that you will tell your Captain I did this to save a life. I am about to show you how the Maquis are able to transport in and out of starships so easily."
Makeba pried open the hatch and began to realign the chips. She began to talk to herself as she remembered the procedure that she was enacting. Within minutes she had managed to gain access to the Pioneer's transporter protocol. Makeba turned toward Sofia while holding a ODN chip and a wire. "Sofia I am going to need your communicator."
Sofia nodded. At this point she would do anything to get out of the situation she was in and handed Makeba her communicator. "I am sure the Captain will not even ask as long as we are ok." she offered with a weak smile.
Makeba spoke as she worked. "Perhaps so long as you are okay, however, I am not so sure about me..." She opened the communicator and linked two small wires from the hatch to the communicator. Then she tapped it. =/\=This is Makeba Brown emergency site to site transport to Sick Bay. Lock on to this signal wide beam and energize.=/\=
There was a pause of silence that seemed to go on forever and then a male voice responded. =/\=Who is this? Under what authorization?=/\=
=/\=Listen unless you want to explain to Malbrooke why his Yeoman is dead in a turboshaft I suggest you energize.=/\= Makeba snapped into the comm channel. Then she turned to Sofia and winked with a smirk as the transporter effect took hold.
The shimmering effect, as Sofia called it, was something she was still getting used to. Both she and Makeba appeared in Sickbay as she had rightfully requested and they were standing 1 foot apart. Smiling she looked at Makeba, "Thank you." She said before her eyes rolled and she blacked out falling into the woman's arms.
"Anytime..." Makeba was inturrupted as Sofia passed out. She knelt and felt the young woman's forehead, Sofia was a little warm. "Damn... Nurse she needs help." Makeba shouted and jogged toward the door. Unfortunately Makeba did not have time to make sure that Sofia would be okay. She had a mission to complete.
A Joint Post By
Makeba Brown
Maquis Tactical Officer
Crewman Sofia Cipriani
Yeoman, USS Pioneer
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