/\ Jefferies Tube - Next to the Bridge Access /\ "What the hell am I doing here" Aidan muttered again, now genuinely scared. That very moment, the three ODAs moved in. "We're clear, Lynch" shouted Vier and disappeared through the hatch. Aidan cleared his throat, grabbed tightly his phaser and followed his team. Inside the bridge, the picture was disgusting, horrendous, almost vomitive. Entrails, burning carcasses, Bugs sectioned in half, screaming at them and menacing with their razorsharp claws. Under the crossfire, the bugs had lost their orientation for a moment, trying to avoid Aidans and Bretams team at the same time. They were still more in number, but they had no suitable cover and were falling under the constant phaser fire. Aidan shouted with wild relief. "Yeah! Great! Get 'em, ladds!" he screamed incoherently, not really knowing why. He felt the blood rise inside him, replacing and mixing with the panic that was roaring in his brain and guts. For a moment, he wasn't able to think, he just kneeled behind the tactical console and shot blindly at anything resembling a bug. The noise was piercing his ears, the smoke crept into his nose and blinded him to tears, yet he shot on. Suddenly, he was thrown back brutally, as a body fell on him over the console. Aidan wheeped and tried to get the body off him. It took him several seconds to recognize the inert body of the General. "SHIT" he screamed and stood up, shooting wildly into the room. The phaser fire was now so intense, that the smoke seemed to have caught fire and was glowing unnaturally in bright white light. Shadows of giant bugs towered in front of Aidan, who just shot and shot, feeling the phaser getting hot in his hand. "They got the General!" he screamed violently at his team, who were shooting calmly and efficiently into the fog. Keylor's head pounded from the concussion he received, thanks to the captains chair. {How ironic.} he thought. As his conciousness started to return , so too did the sounds of the battle he had temporarily taking a break from. He opened his eyes to see an X'chi standing too close to him, being filled with several rays of phaser fire. Now fully aware of his surroundings, Keylor stated to look for his rifle which had left his hands when he was flung about like a rag doll. Rolling right, and then left, he finally spotted his rifle. Keylor tried to grab it but it was just out of his reach. With a loud thud, an X'chi landed behind him, most likely the one that was being perforated by phaser fire. Keylor struggled to get to his feet . Aidan was completely out of his mind. "DIE YE UGLY BOLLOCKS" he screamed wildly and uncontrolled. To his left, the ODA member where now taking the bugs down one by one, methodically, cold and efficiently. Aidan didn=B4t notice though, since he saw now a huge silhouette coming out of the fog, stepping slow but directly towards him. He swore and directed his fire towards the huge bug, hitting it square and repeatedly in the chest. For a moment it seemed that the X'Chi would get him, as it raised its sharp claws over his head and towards Aidan. "DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE" screamed Aidan and shot a continuous stream at it. Just then an X'chi landed in front of Keylor, between him and his rifle. Keylor could hear Adian yell something, but he did not listen to closely, because he was otherwise occupied with staying alive. He shuffled his feet backwards to gain a little distance between him and his foe, when he stumbled over the X'chi that had fallen behind him. With a thud he fell on to his bottom, legs propped over the now rotting, and rather warm carcass. He watched as phaser fire light the slowly advancing X'chi that separated him from his rifle. {I need a weapon, some thing, ANYTHNG!} He thought. Keylor scrambled back a bit to enable him to get his feet back on the ground. Franticly he searched around him to find some thing to defend himself with. As the creature fell with a loud noise and an earpiercing screech to the floor, it hacked its lower appendage into Aidans leg and took him with it it. Half buried under the mass of insectoid barbeque, Aidan lost it completely. He shot again at the creatures back, hearing it scream with wild pleasure. Completely out of his mind, he realized he was enjoying the kill. It was him or it. And he would prevail. He shot and shot. Finding little to use, Keylor reached down and grabbed the base of a claw of the carcass. Keylor raised the claw up a half a meter form the floor. He then took his left foot and stomped on the appendage just above the joint. The exoskeleton made a strange crackling sound as Keylor freed the unlikely saber form its previous owner. In the process of securing his weapon, Keylor sliced the palm of his left hand. With goo dripping from the broken appendage, he grabbed like a terran baseball bat. With blood dripping from one hand, and his shoulder, he watched as the X'chi that had landed near him was still alive. Looking closely at the chest , or what ever you called it, of the X'chi he noticed the exoskeleton heating up. Keylor the looked at the meter long appendage in his hand. {Hrm. I wonder} he thought. Not worrying about Aidan and his constant stream of phaser fire, Keylor Held the claw in front of him and trust it towards the glowing red hot spot. Aidan tried desperately to free his leg from the claws, fearing it would rip him apart and continued to fire. "Why don't you die!" he shouted desperate when the molten back of the exoskeleton burst open, revealing the pointy tip of another claw, which stopped inches before Aidans chest. "SHIT" he screamed, as the creature finally rolled aside, releasing his leg. Aidan took a second to look at it, then tried to stand up. He had managed to kneel, when his wounded leg gave way, making him fall sideways. "That's it." he muttered. "I'll never see Aidan Junior" he added, his head slowly clearing up, as the panic ebbed off, giving way for the pain that pounded on his shoulder and leg. He grasped the console near him and drew himself up, leaning against the backwall of the bridge. Slowly calming down and feeling number by the minute, he looked around. Chaos prevailed on the bridge of the USS Gott, but the ODA was winning. They had now encircled the remaining bugs and were making a massacre of burned insect flesh. Aidan looked up and saw the General, whom he had believed to be a gonner. "What the hell am I doing here!" he muttered, but couldn't avoid a grin. "At least I'll have Summers taking care of me again" he smirked to himself and lifted his phaser, taking good aim, and shooting another bug in the head. It felt almost good, but he let the phaser fall again, as his shoulder couldn't take the weight of the arm anymore. He leaned his head against the warm wall and waited. Having fallen the foe, Keylor quickly raced over and grabbed his rifle. Now with some thing more substantial to fight with, he looked over at Adian who now was leaning against a wall. Keylor looked Adian up and down. "You look a mess." he said with a smile. Aidan couldn't avoid to grin. "I haven't had time to redo my make up, Sir." he smirked. "And you look like shit yourself, mind you" he added, still grinning and pointing at the Generals shoulder. Keylor chuckled and looked at his right shoulder. "Comes with the territory I suppose." He shrugged his other shoulder. Looking back to the rest of the bridge he could see everyone was fairly beaten up. Pointing to the door he yelled at the two standing at the rear of the bridge. "Secure that door. I don't think we could take to many more unwelcome guests." Looking back to Adian he walked over and placed a hand under an arm. Lifting slightly he helped him support some weight. "Why don't we sit you down over here." He motioned to the helm console. Looking down at Adian's leg he remarked, "You might have to deal with that for a while. Think you can make it?" "As long as necessary. Looking forward to be in Ms. Summers capable hands again, don't I?" he answered smiling and pointed at the Helm Console. Keylor grimaced, "If you say so. She is nto a bad doctor. Just don't care for all that poking and prodding she does." He said helping Adian to a seat. "Want me to try and make this work?" he asked, trying to ignore the waves of pain. He was still not sure if the battle was over, but he needed to keep himself busy, else he would be reminded of what just happened and inevitably throw up. Which didn't seem like a wise move, considering that his boss was right in front of him. "Would not hurt Petty officer. We are still moving, though not fast. If you could get that screen working, and may be some thrusters just in case, that would be nice." He said. Watching Adian nodd he turned to the rear of the bridge. The doors were now closed and the two men were using a phaser rifle to weld it shut." Keylor pointed to the Jeffries tubes they had emerged form. "Secure those next. We don't want them popin on on us. Then tend to the wounds while we wait for Lt Foster to get force fields on line. Once they have cvontroll of engineering, we can stat sweeping the remainder of deck 1 and then work our way back down. " he orderd the remaining members of the team. Stepping over several smoldering X'chi carcasses, he worked his way over to the captains chair. Sitting down in the captains chair he looked at all of the x'chi strewn about. He had had stopped bleeding but his had was throbbing, his shoulder stated the throb as well. Letting out a sigh, and then breathing in, he choked at the smell of the place. {I cant wait to get out of here, the smell is really more than I canre to take.} he thought looking at the blank screen. Keylor waited for Adian to conjure up some engineering magic. -------------------------------------------------- BGen. Bretam Keylor CO USS Chimera & PO3 Aidan Lynch ODA Eng. Spc. USS Chimera