SIM:TKelly Man Overboard

LtCmdr. Kelly - Man Overboard

((USS Albion - Deck 18 - Main Shuttlebay 2))

Tyler and Mirra had found a moment of respite from what had been a day from hell. They both knew it was fleeting, as the battle was far from over. It always surprised him how just a few minutes with her could undo hours of stress and hardship and "reset" his mental state. Today, more than most, it was a very necessary thing.

Kelly: I need to get back in the fight...::He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.:: But I promise, as soon as this is over, I'll find you. ::He paused.:: I love you, Mirra.

He had gone with the more subtle peck on the cheek, not wanting to embarrass her as she went about her chiefly duties, but Mirra had other plans. She pulled him close and brought him into a longer, more passionate kiss. Like always, it sent waves of contentment and positivity radiating throughout his body.

Ezo: ::releasing him:: I love you too. And you better come find me. Or I'll hunt you down. ::smirking:: Apparently I am quite scary...::grinning::

He leaned in conspiratorially, with a smirk.

Kelly: Oh, yeah? ::He raised an eyebrow.:: I'll take my chances, I don't mind a little necessary roughness.

She fixed him a with a faux scowl and shooed him away playfully.

Ezo: Yeah, yeah. Point taken. Don't you have a bad guy to hunt or something?

At first her words brought a smile to his face, but gradually his expression hardened. The brief glimmer of happiness and hope had been a welcome respite from the reality of their situation, but they were still in dire straits.

Kelly: Yeah, I d-

His comm badge chirped, cutting him off mid-sentence.

Taelon: =/\= Commander Kelly? =/\=

He shrugged his shoulders and pointed at his badge in the universal "Sorry, but I've got to take this call" gesture and moved away.

Kelly: =/\= Go for Kelly.=/\=

The voice on the other end of the line sounded excited, maybe a little worried.

Taelon: =/\= This is Ens - Lieutenant Taelon. I understand you’ve just come back but we need your help in the deck 15 weapons control room as soon as possible - can you make it there? =/\=

He nodded as he spoke, despite the fact that Taleon couldn't see it. He began moving towards Deck 15 at a jog.

Kelly: =/\= I'm on my way. ::Beat:: What's going on?=/\=

Taelon: =/\= The plan is to rig several torpedoes with a combination of their antimatter load and tri-cobalt and then detonate them at a careful point in the nebula, which should ignite it. But it seems the control teams are over taxed. Can you supervise? I’ve sent the needed schematics to the team on deck 15. ::He paused.:: We don’t have much time, b-but if you’ve any ideas for improvement on the layout, it’d be appreciated… =/\=

Tyler's eyes went a bit wide at Taleon's explanation. He had gained extensive experience with conventional explosives throughout his career, he had even managed to become certified in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (E.O.D.), but this sounded anything but conventional. What he was describing would be some kind of anti-matter/nuclear fission hybrid explosion, Tyler could only guess at the magnitude but he knew it would be devastating.

Kelly: =/\= I.. uh.. ::He stammered a little, flustered by the idea of what they were attempting.:: I'll see what I can do.::

He began running faster, wanting to get involved as soon as possible.

Taelon: =/\= Thank you, Commander. The Captain wants this done as fast as possible...if possible…we’re really no longer than 5 minutes til deployment. =/\=

Tyler's jaw would've dropped it wasn't huffing and puffing a bit as he ran to the control room at full speed. It was clear that Captain Taybrim wanted the Sienov gone, no matter the cost.

Kelly:=/\= Understood. Kelly out.=/\=

((USS ALBION - DECK 15 - Torpedo Control Room))

Tyler had arrived at the control room, just before they closed the final panels on each of the modified torpedoes. Everyone was in a rush, weapons officers shouted status updates back and forth as the technicians tried frantically to calibrate the final settings on the monstrous weapons. He basically only had time to view Taleon's schematics and confirm that the Torpedoes matched what he was looking at. As he was staring down at one of the monstrously destructive devices, he felt a slight chill run down his spine. He wanted Arrhimen dead. Irrefutably, irrevocably, irrecoverably dead. And these torpedoes looked like they would do the job. The trouble was, even if the wounded Albion turned to limp away at best possible speed after launching, there was an uncomfortably high probability they'd take catastrophic damage as well.

Images of the Avalon's frozen corpses came to his mind, of Tatash's destroyed fighter, of the destroyed colonies where Klingon civilians, families, children... had all lived. Arrhimen had killed all of them and would go on to kill countless more. He cleared his throat, fortifying his resolve for what might be the final time. He turned to the lead technician.

Kelly: All clear, Crewman. ::He pointed to the torpedoes.:: Button them up and get them armed and loaded in the tubes.

The technicians seemed a bit dazed. They began to slowly carefully lift the torpedo onto the rack. They knew what they were doing would have incredibly destructive results and Tyler could see that they were worried. He decided to offer a few choice words of encouragement.

Kelly: QUICKLY! ::He smacked one of the torpedoes hard on it's casing resulting in a loud clang.:: As long as you built them right, and you better have, they won't go off accidentally! The Captain ordered us to be ready in five minutes and that was 4.5 minutes ago! ::He helped them heft the last torpedo onto the firing rack.:: See, that wasn't that hard.

Taybrim: =/\= Kelly are you reading us? We need a good clean shot into the nebula to ignite it. This is all on you and Diego now...=/\=

Beyett: =/\= ?

A solemn look at the weapons crewman nearby.

Kelly: =/\= Understood. ::He pointed to the weapons officer, and motioned for him to get out of his chair, before planting himself in it.:: We're locked and loaded down here, awaiting your command.

Tyler quickly tapped out the command that opened a full-time two-way comm-link with the bridge.

Taybrim: ::He felt the need to give one last reminder. His voice was calm, commanding, like a rock one could lean on.:: =/\=Captain to crew. In less than a minute we will ignite the nebula. There is no way we'll outrun the shockwave. We're in the best position to endure it - but I want you all to secure yourselves for impact. Decks 10-19 have thirty seconds to complete evacuation. Make your preparations.=/\=

A momentary silence fell over the weapons room. They all knew they were on Deck 15, right in the middle of the decks to be evacuated, but they also knew they had a critical job to do. Tyler, understood exactly why those specific decks were being evacuated. They were going to reduce the shields coverage area to just the saucer. With a smaller coverage area, they could substantially increase the power of the shields. That, of course, meant the rest of the ship, including the deathly silent Torpedo control room on Deck 15 would be completely unshielded.

It didn't matter. Arrhimen had to be stopped. The non-standard nature of the cobbled-together torpedoes meant that someone had to be here to oversee the launch. Tyler kept his eyes on the display in front of him, ready to work his side of the torpedo launch at any second.

Kelly: You heard the Captain! Get out of here, now!

Several of the crewman and weapons officers immediately bolted, wasting no time in saving their own skins. The officer who was supposed to be on duty at the moment, an Andorian Lieutenant whose station Tyler was sitting in now, hesitated a moment. Tyler's eyes drifted up to a small holo-frame sitting on top of the console, showing an image of a female Andorian cradling a tiny antennaed baby with a warm smile on her face. The Lieutenant's voice broke the silence.

Chiron: I'm... on duty..Sir. Protocol says that I cannot leave without relief....

Tyler snatched up the picture frame and handed it back to Chiron. He glanced back momentarily at the Andorian. A look of surprise played across his face.

Kelly: You're relieved. Go! ::He grumbled, not loud enough for the man to hear as he made his escape.:: Name your next kid after me or something...

With Chiron gone, he was completely alone.

The seconds stretched into hours as Tyler waited for the order to come through from the bridge. As he sat in the deafening silence of the torpedo room, his thoughts turned to his life. All that he had accomplished and all that he had failed. He thought of his mother, of his friends, and most of all about Mirra. He hoped with all of his heart that she was safely in sickbay, and not still in the shuttle bay with Avalon survivors.

Suddenly, without warning, Taybrim's voice came over the open comm line.

Taybrim: Beyett, Kelly: Fire!

Tyler felt all of his muscles tense as he waited for Beyett to send the launch command.

Beyett:?

Quickly, his fingers flew over the control panel. Firing, triggering the reloading procedure, firing again.

Kelly: Confirmed. Firing. ::The machinery behind him thumped. One Away. ::Another thump.:: Two away. ::A final thump:: Three away.

He watched on the viewscreen as the torpedoes streaked towards the nebula, trailing burning plasma as they went. He had the unshakable feeling that he was living the end of his story, that the massive flash he was about to see would be the closing image before they rolled the credits on his short and interesting life.

From somewhere deep within the nebula, the torpedoes ignited one by one. Together they emitted a massive blinding flash that Tyler knew would have instantly blinded him if it wasn't filtered through the monitor he was viewing. As if on cue, the monitor winked out, apparently overloaded by the massive amount of ultraviolet energy that bombarded it.

Kelly: oO Well, this is it, and I'm not even in uniform. Oo

He looked down at the EVA suit he had never changed out of after the Avalon expedition. Instantly, he realized what that meant, and he bolted for the nearest replicator. All he needed was a helmet and...

He recalled the pattern for his EVA helmet and had just retrieved it when the Albion began to shake violently. The lights dimmed, then winked out. Red lights tried to come on, but flickered unsteadily as a sad alarm Klaxxon mewled like a dying cat. He managed to get his helmet on his head and locked in place just in time to be unceremoniously thrown across the room. He crashed into one of the walls of the small room, back first, before being thrown the opposite direction and then finally crumpling to the floor like a discarded ragdoll.

The emergency lights flickered and then even they were out. Tyler's shoulder felt odd, and judging by the strange way his arm was hanging, it had been dislocated. Lying on the floor, Tyler groaned audibly to himself as he felt a variety of new and exciting pains across his battered body.

Kelly: Urrrgh....god damn...Risian fly-boy...can't hold her steady for... uggh.... nothing...

But as beat up as he felt, he wasn't dead. The explosion had come and gone and it seemed as though the Albion was still mostly intact. A wave of relief washed across him, after being so certain that he was going to die, he couldn't believe that he'd survived. He began to laugh a little, crazily, for no good reason, each chuckle causing his battered (broken?) ribs to hurt. Then he heard something that stopped his laughter in it's tracks.

COMPUTER: WARP CORE BREACH IMMINENT!  ::KLAXON:: WARP CORE BREACH IMMINENT!

The sound was coming from somewhere far away, probably from a section of the deck that still had power. Struggling, Tyler got to his feet and began to do his best approximation of a run. He limped as fast as he could, knowing full well that he couldn't outrun a warp core breach. Still, he passed a dead turbolift and entered the maintenance ladder shaft. He climbed as fast as he could up towards the shielded section with his one good arm, but it was too late. He heard the "THUNK" of the warp core being ejected followed by the horrible metal rending sound of a massive section of the Albion's aft being torn away. Tyler hooked an arm through the ladder and turned to see the bulkhead behind him begin to tear away.

Kelly: Oh shi-

A toolbox hit him in the back, knocking the wind out of him and cutting him off mid-word. He heard the sound of the Albion's oxygen being sucked past him as the tear in the hull got bigger. His grip on the ladder loosened as all manner of debris flew past him, battering him even further on it's way out into the vacuum beyond. He felt his fingers slipping off the ladder as he leaned quickly out of the way of an oncoming console that had been ripped free from the deck beyond. He risked a quick glance at the tear that had become a massive gaping hole in the secondary hull of the Albion. Then he felt his grip fail and shot out into space like a cork out of a wine bottle.

Tyler felt his battered body being pulled inexorably away from the Albion. The tear in the hull had widened into a gaping maw of blackness and he was floating away from it at a high rate of speed. The Albion shrank into the distance as he tried in vain to maneuver or direct himself in a perfect vacuum. He fought back an overwhelming urge to panic as he saw the extent of the damage to the ship. He forced himself to stop kicking and 'swimming' in place and tried to slow his breathing down. He brought his wrist up to his face and checked his suit's status through a cracked, but functional display..

Kelly: Okay. Oxygen levels at 75%. That's fine. ::He spoke aloud to himself, between carefully controlled breaths.:: The Klingons will come back, or a rescue ship...or...or... something. I'm fine.

He tried to open a comm line to the Albion, but as expected, it couldn't go through. He noticed it was becoming very hard to make out the Albion's darkened silhouette against the backdrop of stars as he drifted helplessly away from his crew. He made sure his suit was broadcasting the locator beacon. Suddenly a high-pitched beeping tone that was increasing in speed began to sound from somewhere inside his helmet.
Computer: PROXIMITY ALERT.

He writhed futilely in the vacuum, turning to see a large piece of one of the drone fighters hurtling towards him, continuing on its course despite being a dead hunk of metal.

Kelly: No no no...
Frantically he waved his arms and kicked his legs, but with nothing to push off of, it was hopeless. As the proximity alert beeping turned into a steady tone, he braced himself for impact. Even with warning, he couldn't have anticipated the force of the blow. He felt the crunch of several bones breaking, something he was thankful he was not able to hear, and he began to spin wildly out of control. He tried to check himself over, but he hurt in too many places to keep track of. He became aware of a different alarm tone, this time accompanied by a strange "whooshing" sound.

Kelly: Ughh... that's... ::He coughed as broken ribs impeded his breathing.:: Not... good.

He managed to focus his blurred vision on the spider web of cracks on the faceplate of his helmet. This new tone was a de-pressurization warning. What little oxygen he had left was rapidly escaping into the inky black death that surrounded him. Coughing and groaning, he tried to move his battered body into a position to retrieve the emergency kit on his belt. Even as he worked, he knew it was hopeless. He was losing air too fast and even if help was on the way, it wouldn't get there in time. Blackness began to close in on the edges of his vision like a shrinking camera aperture, as he clumsily opened the emergency patch kit. He began to shake uncontrollably from some terrible combination of hypothermia and hypoxia as he unrolled a large piece of self-adhesive fabric in his unsteady hands. The blackness had enveloped all but a very small part of his vision as he slapped the patch kit hastily over his damaged faceplate. Shivering and struggling to breathe, his vision faded away completely as he drifted into unconsciousness.

TBC


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LtCmdr. Tyler Kelly
Security Officer
Sb118 Ops
O238811CD0

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