=/\= SB Kinsi =/\= Acheson wanted to punch the door. The override consoles weren't available and it was locked, encrypted for a certain password. The internal sensors would soon probably come online and they were running out of time. "Do you have any ideas on how to get this door open, Ensign ...." he hesitated for a minute, trying to remember: "Idrani?" "No, Security seems too tight. I could normally bypass the whole panel and manually override the security protocols and have it opened, but I have no tools but my hands and you have a phaser, which will not do much against a duranium door this thick." Idrani said, sighing, seeing their escape attempt stopped at the first locked door. The turbo lift doors hissed closed and Rangi hesitated. Where exactly to begin searching for Chimera crew. She had no idea where they were or, in fact, how many there were. She knew of four. {Shane...Lieutenants Acheson and Blackburn...and Athena are here...but where to begin?} she asked herself and stood uncertainly staring at the seal of the door. Remembering Acheson's combadge communication Rangi thought: {He would head for a shuttle...others might too..its the obvious place....but security will know that too...but if they're there...} The decision was made. {This deck...section 8.} The lift hummed into movement. Athena's head was beginning to hurt again and she couldn't wait to make it to the quiet of the arboretum. Her stomach growled as she looked around the park like area. She didn't want to share her bread with anyone, so she looked for a good place to hide while she ate. She picked a weeping willow with a v that was prefect for sitting in and so full that she was totally hidden from view. She wrapped her blanket around her and began to nibble at the bread. She brushed a hair out of her face and winced from the pain it caused. She gently touched her eye and felt its puffiness. She took another nibble of the bread and heard a noise. Athena sat still fearing she would be discovered. She even held her breath for fear that might give her away. She just wanted to be left alone and to close out the confusing thoughts and feelings of the others. Acheson nodded. "Let's try a different deck. There is bound to be a cargo transporter." He walked the deck cautiously, looking in every which direction for starbase security to try to respond to the incapacitated guards on the deck. Approaching the turbolift, he noticed a woman wearing civilian clothing. However the face was so familiar ... Who was it. He thought for a fraction of a second, as a million faces seemed to pour through his mind. Is that the Doctor, he thought. Looking both ways down an adjacent corridor, he called out to this woman. Just in case she wasn't who he thought it was, he concealed his phaser behind his right hip, to stop her from calling for backup. "Commander? This is Acheson, from the ship." He waved her forward, before returning to a concealed position. Rangi took two or three steps towards the figure which seemed to melt into the wall. She stopped. Then, hurrying forward and in a lowered voice said: "Lieutenant?" With a sigh of relief she gave a weak smile as Acheson made his presence known. "Am I glad to see you!" Rangi said and not giving the man time to reply went on: "Have you seen any others of the crew? ...Commander Guzman?..Lt Blackburn? ..the counselor?...I need to round them all up. I have a ship." She saw his expression change."...and a man who will take us to Chimera. We need to get there as soon as possible. He will wait for little more than an hour. If we're not there, he will leave to find Chimera himself. Tell me...who have you seen..and where?" He shook his head, frowning. "Just you. I got a call from Guzman to run, so I ditched my combadge. I found Ens Idrani along the way and we've been trying to find a shuttle, but the shuttlebay is secured." He looked over to Idrani: "Have you seen anyone from the ship?" The big Andorian nodded. "I saw Commander Guzman, he came to spring me out of the brig. Legally mind you." He added, to stop the not so legit ways they had been going about, but hard times called for hard measures. "Last time I saw Mr. Blackburn, he was in a mess hall on the station, but it was before I was jailed, so I do believe he would be elsewhere by now. Besides that, I know nobody else from the senior staff of the Chimera, by the way, nice to meet you commander" He said to Rangi. "I would have hoped it would be in a different setting considering what is going on, right now." Rangi gave the Ensign a polite smile. "Indeed" she replied and thinking he offered a hand shake, extended her hand in response. There was a somewhat embarrassed moment of formal meeting. "So..." Rangi said, glancing back along the corridor, "...we're all scattered." She looked back at the pair. "Any ideas?" she asked. Athena shivered as the tall dark figured passed by the tree. She wished they would hurry on by; she didn't know how much longer she could hold her breath. The figure moved slowly but finally moved away and soon Athena stopped feeling their presence. She shakily let out the breath she had been holding and took in a deep one to refresh her lungs. She snuggled further into her blanket and shivered a little more. Acheson thought for a few moments: "If we could get access to the internal sensors, we could try to scan for the Chimera members biosigns. Or if we got access to a shuttle, we could evac the others by site to site transporter?" Rangi looked doubtful. "Right" she said and switching her attention to the Andorian she said: "Base security is looking for us...it's going to be really difficult to access anything undetected...what have you in mind?" "I do agree getting a shuttle would be the best thing, for the site to site transport as you said" He explain looking at Acheson and Rangi. "And we could use it as a diversion. If the Chimera is out of range of the starbase, then I would guess any leaving ship would be in serious danger since it seems all docked ships are grounded until further notice, and a shuttle is no match against a starbase. Maybe we could program it to fly away at the same time we do from the other ship, that way we would have enough time to get away." "That's a great idea." Rangi felt a flicker of confidence that, after all, they might all escape from the base together...and in on piece. A movement caught in the corner of her eye made her turn suddenly. She sighed and looked at Acheson. "I saw you earlier lieutenant...when you fired on the security guard." She paused. "I have my own hallucination now," she added despondently and indicated the empty corridor where the Luggage was apparent to only her. Rangi turned to Ens Idrani. " Have you...been hallucinating too?" she asked. He frowned, taken back by the question. "No, I don't hallucinate, Commander." He said drily. How could she believe that he, Gaalen Idrani, be under the influence of drugs or anything of the sort. "And it's no hallucinations, Acheson did indeed fire on a starfleet officer, it was the need of the moment." Athena fell into a light sleep clutching her blanket, bread and cookies. Her head hurt less when she stayed away from the others. JL of: Lt Athena Washington Counselor Ens Gaalen Idrani Asst Engineer LtCmdr Rangi Summers CMO 1LT Nathan Acheson CTAC & USS Chimera -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm