Shorn's Savagery

Posted on Sat Dec 3rd, 2022 @ 5:09am by Captain Devin Hadenbeer & Ship Elle & Lieutenant Commander Ull Arkyn & Lieutenant Commander R'elle & Lieutenant Commander Rayek trLhoell & Lieutenant JG H'orri Of the Red Fur

1,486 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Into The Void
Location: Conference room

"She's here!" R'elle exclaimed. "What do you want?" R'elle said to the intruder. She wasn't sure of Elle could do but maybe remotely deactivate the phaser. She too had heard the phaser being adjusted to kill. "She set the phaser to kill! Be careful!" she said to the others. She focused on her other senses. Being a felinoid, she wasn't as dependent on her sight as much as many humanoids were. She sniffed to get the intruders scent. If they got out of this alive it might be helpful should they need to track the intruder down again.

Rayek rose from his seat at R'elle's exclamation and jumped towards the Caitian science officer intending to knock her and himself under the cover of the conference room table. "Stay down!" he advised H'orri. Then activated the silent mode on his inner ear comm. He mouthed orders to Elle. ~ "Elle, lock conference room doors and turbolift. Activate the anesthezine security intruder protocol. No notification. Then alert the bridge of Shorn's attempts to assassinate Lt H'orri and her presence here in the conference room" ~

Then Rayek took a large breath deep breath and hoped he could outlast the assassin.

H'orri was slammed out of her chair and off her feet, the Romulan atop her, overhead the red beam of a phaser set to kill could be seen!

*In a moment* Elle replied, *Got my hands full here. The phaser is no longer synched into my network somehow!*

Ull holds his breath as soon as everyone starts moving. He knows the procedures for intruder protocols and hoped someone had triggered them as he reached for his own phaser and left it on stun. He started firing shots where a person should be based on where the phaser had floated in the air, even if it was only momentarily visible.

Ull realized when his first shot missed that the assassin must have been holding the phaser at a deliberately odd angle to make it more difficult for her to be hit. After her first shot missed she turned the weapon on Ull.

And...it did not fire! There was an audible grunt as Ull's third shot seemed to strike something. Shorn's phaser fell out of her hand or she simply dropped it, it was impossible to say. Ull then felt Shorn's feet connect against his chest as she threw herself across the table, taking him off his feet!

Klarth instinctively reached for a phaser, but all he had on his belt was his medical tricorder. The enemy phaser and the invisible woman wielding it were right there in front of him. His Klingon instincts told him to just lunge at her. But that was also a good way to get killed. And then he thought of something else and he started laughing. "Shelly Shorn or whatever your real name is, you're already too l-"

Before Klarth could finish he and the fallen security guard were swept away by the transporter!

R'elle's patience paid off. Shorn was quiet but she still made noises as she slithered across the table towards the end, towards the floor where Rayek and H'orri lay...!

Rayek heard the noises from overhead and knew exactly what it meant. Shorn was attempting to get to H'orri! Fvadt! He'd hoped the anesthezine ploy would have taken her out by now... but it was possible she was using a rebreather to filter out the knock out gas. He wished he had one right about now. Though he had taken a large breath and could hold for several minutes while meditating, being active used up his body's oxygen far faster. Seems he needed a Plan B.

The Romulan smiled down at the Caitian as he repositioned himself with his back pressing lightly against the underside of the table, his legs bent in readiness. Rayek mouthed silently further instructions to Elle using the ear-comm. ~ "Elle, beam H'orri to my quarters" ~

R'elle heard all of this. She knew where the threat was. What few outsiders know or care to think about is that Caitians once were savage hunters. That part of them still is there. They can be formidable opponents. She knew what she had to do. She sprung quickly and launched herself upon her prey! With a mighty roar she landed upon the prey's back and dug her claws in deep, tearing through fabric and flesh mercilessly! She would make sure this one would not hurt her friends and family again! Again she would render her claws through the enemy. No mercy!

Before she gets beamed, like her caitian ancestors immediately pops claws and pulls and ancient claw sheath weapon out of one of her pockets.. she enters a battle stance mid beam. When H'orri is beamed she looks around in a sort of battle haze, growling. "What? ROWRRR?"

With the assassin's target safely beamed away Rayek risked a quick glance out from under the table, fighting down his instinct to take a breath as his oxygen-depleted lungs seemed to burn with need. It was an interesting sight to have the other Caitian, R'elle - the ship's counsellor, seemingly free floating above the table as she clawed onto her invisible prey. If she wasn't wearing the blue of the medical department, Rayek might of mistaken her for Security.

Speaking of Security, Rayek wasn't sure what Ull was doing since the man's back was to him - perhaps the anesthezine was affecting the wrong individual. There was little in the room that could be used as a weapon nearby other than the meeting room chairs. For a moment Rayek considered the option, then his eyes noted the phaser that Shorn had relieved the Security crewman of was now lying unattended in the middle of the floor. The Romulan suspected that Elle had managed to deactivate it. He hoped she was able to reactivate as quickly. Scuttling under the table rather than wasting time going around, Rayek made for the phaser mouthing silently ~ Elle, hate to bother... but I need that phaser reactivated once I have hand on it. ~

Ull shook his head to clear the haze from his head after getting drop kicked by the imposter. He looked to R'elle as she was attacking the imposter. He risked using some of his air before he has to breath in. "We need her alive!" He tried his best not to hit R'elle as he firing stunning shots from his phaser. He hoped eventually he could overcome the imposter's defenses without having to kill her.

*Got it!* Elle replied to Rayek as he heard the phaser chirp cheerfully in his hand.

Rayek also took aim carefully with the phaser. He was new to the ship and doubted anyone would look kindly on his doing a wide beam shot that would effect everyone. Explaining the anesthezine would be interesting enough. As hard as he tried, as Rayek fired off a second aimed shot for when he suspected the invisible Shorn was, he couldn't hold his breath any longer. He needed air. Unfortunately, what he got was air mixed with anesthezine.

By now everyone in the room was feeling the effects of the Anesthizine. They were feeling sluggish and light-headed. R'elle distinctly sensed her opponent was feeling no ill effects as she slashed at her suit, her claws managing to tear it open. Everyone could see bits and pieces through the tear but nothing distinctive, just a Starfleet uniform. Ull managed to get a hit off, or at least he thought he had; it was hard to tell because everything began to go black, and then abruptly they were wide awake and crammed in what looked like the bridge's head. Wide awake and feeling more than a little nauseous. Everyone knew right away they had been subjected to a counter agent with a very unpleasant side effect.

Waking in the bridge's head with others around him was an unpleasant experience for Rayek, made worst by the feeling of wanting to throw up. He quickly got to his feet and swallowed back the bile that rose into his mouth that the sudden movement provoked. "Where's Shorn? Did someone manage to subdue her?" he questioned aloud.

"Shorn wasn't affected by the gas as far as I could see," Elle explained over the comms for everyone. She must be employing some breathing apparatus. Between that and the device that cut my connection to the phaser it's like she's well outfitted to infiltrate and kill. I have her locked in the conference room, no way-"

Rayek grimaced at Elle's statement. He should have suspected that the cloak suit had such features. He'd made the situation worse for everyone unnecessarily. Fvadt.

A pause, then Elle continued, "Okay...it appears she took the time to set up a relay in the Rumpleteaser to beam there, and...she's overridden the scout ship's failsafes! Her engines are set to overload and I can't connect to her!"

 

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