The End

[kawalskyeffect.livejournal.com]

[[OOC: Read this before tagging.]]

Shiva was about to scream some more at the council’s representatives when he heart the sound of his devices powering down. The force field flickered and shut down, which meant the power dampener was also inactive. The “god” had suddenly become very much a mortal, very much vulnerable…

And oh so very screwed.

“DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER!” This time when he yelled he was not smug or disdainful. He was terrified. “I WILL KILL THEM! I WILL—”

It wasn’t clear if it was planned. With the way Kawalsky’s body was twitching, with the way the sweat poured down his face, it could have been a mistake. Or it could have been intentional, if misguided. However it happened, it was a profound mistake, one the goa’uld would pay for with his life.

He pressed the trigger for the bombs. He had no way of knowing they had all been deactivated. All but one.

And though he was voiceless, though no one could hear him save for two telepaths, Kawalsky screamed. He had tried to help the crew. Communicating to the engineers any advice that could help them disable the devices. They wouldn’t have been able to deactivate them without him, not for a while. So many months after he had broken, he thought he could stop the goa’uld from killing.

He was wrong.

Comments

Detonation

[staturity]

With Cowabunga’s guidance, Cassie had removed all of the ignition sources and passed them onto her partner to move to a safe distance. All but one. The area was surrounded with lead, preventing Cowabunga from seeing it, and the wires were not only tangled together, they were welded. Still, Cassie was sure she could get it out. She just needed a little more time.

That was when several lights came on, a bright red, and she could hear the inner mechanisms of the bomb whirring as it came to life. She knew immediately what was happening, and she knew she had only seconds, if that, before it exploded.

Everything slowed. She could feel her blood rushing through her, feel her heartbeat almost double, pounding against her ribs. There wasn’t enough time to get away, even if she grew the explosion would take her out. There was only one way out of this.

«GET OUT NOW!» She screamed at Cowabunga through the comms.

This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t die. She didn’t get to see her father come out of the pods. She hadn’t finished any of her engineering projects or showed Luis she could do more than just clean test tubes. She hadn’t proved herself yet. Hadn’t done anything.

There were too many people who needed her. Her friends, Kate- she was her best friend. And Nate— oh God, Nate needed her more than she could imagine. What was he going to do? He had gone through so much all ready, needed something stable to keep him from becoming Kang. That couldn’t happen. She loved him too much, had worked too hard to keep him grounded. It couldn’t happen because of her. It just couldn’t.

And then there was Jonas. Jonas, who had always been there for her. Who held her when she had been shot, found her after she had fought the Ohm, kept a close eye on her when she was drinking. Who’d put up with so much from her from getting too drunk. Who she’d pushed away because she didn’t want to think about how much she needed him. How much she actually did—

No. No! It couldn’t end like this. But there was only one way out of this and she wasn’t ready. There was only one way out…

So many thoughts were going through her head in seconds, possibly milliseconds. She didn’t have much time left but she used it to reach out to the one person she needed at the end. «Jon—»

Re: Detonation

[staturity]

The bomb exploded. The two pods closest to it shattered and were consumed in the flames.

Re: Detonation

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas had been checking for anything the crew and command could possibly have missed when Cassie's voice came through over his comm ring.

«Jon—»

Then silence. Then Stacy's announcement. Jonas did not actually have blood, but he felt it run cold none the less.

«Cassie? Cassie?! CASSIE!»

Stacy did not like it when Jonas used his phasing abilities to travel between levels, she had made that very clear the first few times he had tried. But right now the amount he did not care about what Stacy preferred was so indescribably vast that it could contain the entire multiverse. He dove down to the Pod Caverns, dodging Stacy's tentacles until he reached the site of the explosion.

"[CASSIE!]"

Announcement and Reactions

[kawalskyeffect.livejournal.com]

Stacy spoke. ||An explosion has occurred in the Podcaverns but it has been contained. There has been no damage to structural integrity.||

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[saint-sami.livejournal.com]

"A-An explosion?!" Sasami said. "The Pod Caverns?!" Sasami started to worry a bit - were there people in the pods? What happened to them? Could they have been...?

Sasami began to fumble with her omnicomm. She wanted to find someone, anyone and try to get in touch with them in a panic.

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[governmentninja]

Shit...

«All teams from the Pod caverns, report in.»

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[talks2stoplight.livejournal.com]

[[Ratchet reporting. Starfire and I are safe. Bomb deactivated.]]

Don't think about it right now. The risk was there... everyone had to know it... had to know this could happen...

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[cow-abunga.livejournal.com]

«...Cowabunga here. We limited the blast radius, and it only took out two pods...but...Cassie was inside when it exploded.»

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

He's not on the Pod cavern teams, but Jono's 'voice' comes through the comms.

«Captain?» His 'voice' sounds strained. «The bomb what went off? We lost someone with it. Cassie. The one what could grow and shrink?»

A pause, then, «'M sorry.»

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[kitbashurgundam.livejournal.com]

"No, no, NO!" Lowe shouted, thumping his fists on the panel. They were so close. So, so close! The bridge was saved, but the pod caverns...

[Lowe...] 8 uttered, trying to calm his companion.

"So close..." he muttered.

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

Tenaya held very still when she heard the announcement. The possibilities hit her too. Someone may have been killed. Dillon or one of the others, maybe.

But she'd been a Venjix general. She knew what happened if she let her emotions get the better of her. Call her a heartless machine, but she knew when she had to set her humanity aside.

Still, she kept her voice as gentle as possible as she said, "There's no time for that yet. We're still in danger."

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[genociding.livejournal.com]

"No..." Euphemia had been sitting on her bed, but she stood straight up at that announcement. The structural integrity being safe was fine, yes, but did that include the pods?

"Lelouch, do you think that means the pods are all right?"

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

Nate was in engineering, pacing. He'd come down to tweak the armor, just to do something with his hands to keep his nerves steady. There was no use in worrying, Cassie knew what she was doing, he knew she could handle it. But accidents happened. He should have been there with her, but they'd had enough volunteers hadn't they? Besides, he was running his own sweeps and diagnostics, looking for something they'd missed.

And then he heard Stacy's announcement. Wasn't that where Cassie's team had gone? Worrying his bottom lip between his teeth for a moment, he clenched his fists...and then picked up his comm. Screw radio silence. He needed to know she was alright. She was always getting hurt. And he was never there. God damnit, he'd be there this time.

«Cassie» He tried hailing. No answer. «Cassie, it's Nate are you okay? Cass, screw radio silence, are you alright»

And then, it was clear. Call it intuition. Call it love. Call it whatever you wanted. Nate simply knew. "!@$# this."

Dropping the gauntlet he'd been working on, he turned and ran. Out of engineering. Straight for the pod caverns. God, I've never asked you for anything. But just this once, let her be okay. Please... He kept running.

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[gunslinging.livejournal.com]

One explosion. Eight bombs.

The logical part of Axl's mind immediately considered the fact that if everything was on the same detonator, that meant seven bombs hadn't gone off. If there was no damage to structural integrity, then the explosion might not have been as big as they'd been expecting. All in all, things could have been much, much worse.

But reploids weren't built to think only with logic. And the emotional part of his mind was running through some very nasty curses and thinking about how much he wanted to punch Shiva in the face. It was better than thinking about who might've been in those pods --

No, don't even go there!

"How many?" he asked instead. "Stacy, how many pods were caught in that?!"

If Stacy was even listening. God knows they all had enough to worry about right now.

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie was pacing around the obs deck, trying very hard not to feel like he was completely useless in this situation - he knew perfectly well that all he would have done is get in everyone's way anyway. He just hated waiting, not knowing if his friends were going to be okay.

When Stacy spoke, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked up with a rather worried expression on his face. "An explosion?"

His mind racing, he tried to remember who was told to go to the Pod Caverns. Not the Doctor, so that was a small relief. But the others...

"Hey," he said, turning to the person beside him. "Do ye think everyone's alright?"

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

There was someone that was just as much on edge as Jamie, if not more: Katara, who was usually the type to go down fighting in this situation, could do nothing but watch and listen...for now. She wasn't going to deceive herself: this situation meant that there was going to be a LOT of injured people, and she had to be ready for that. In the pocket of her suit she held a card knowing there might come a time where she might have to use it.

And then came Stacy's announcement.

Katara paled. Oh no. Was everyone ok?

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[is-the-ultimate.livejournal.com]

Something wasn't right. As much as he had finger-pointed and mocked in jest over the whole thing, it seemed that things were okay... until that message.

It didn't help that he was the only speedster on the ship - meaning that whatever happened, he wasn't around to pull the person out.

He tried to keep his emotions in check, but even seeing Katara worried and worked up made things a bit tougher...

[morphitudinous]

Every one of Billy's muscles tightened with fear. They had used their hand too soon. One of the bombs had gone off. A number of podlings may have perished, and whoever had been working on it---had Renne been in the cavern? He was sure he would have felt their bond sever if it had been him, but he needed to know.

But now wasn't the time to fall apart in the absence of further observation. They needed to hold steady and prepare for whatever else was thrown at them, or more would die.

...In hindsight, it would become a very good thing that he didn't know.

[starbolts]

Starfire did not need to be informed. She knew.

Ratchet had successfully deactivated their bomb with her help, but her elation at success had not lasted more than a few seconds. They were off, out of there, but...there were others still here.

Before she could fly back in the other direction to check, the explosion was heard. It happened so quickly that her eyes were too slow to see who might have perished, only to realize that someone had.

She rocketed off after Ratchet, her powers surging to their absolute peak through a sudden, fuzzy grief. Somehow, someway, this injustice would be punished.

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex clenched at his pants and gritted his teeth. A bomb went off. It being contained didn't mean people weren't dead. And it was in the pod caverns. Mikel, Loretta, Amanda. They could have been caught in the blast.

Alex was showing a rare fit of anger- an anger he learned from his father. "Schisse," he cursed as he punched the nearby wall weakly, tears in his eyes. They all tried so hard, yet someone had still died.

It also gave the whole scenario, the whole ship, slightly more of a sense of reality. People could die. It wasn't just some sort of dream he would wake up from. If he had failed, well, it could have just as easily been his bomb that had not been diffused in time. He could be the dead one.

He sent a quick call out over the comms to Five, Katara, and Luna, "is e-everyone ok-kay?" the stress could be heard in his voice, but perhaps it was the adrenaline still pumping through his veins that was helping him keep his head. He wanted to be sure those he could check on were alright. He imagined they might be concerned too.

[belongstoydna.livejournal.com]

Komali had to be safe. Komali wouldn't have been anywhere near the Pod Caverns.

The Pod Caverns. That was where everyone was kept before they woke up, right?

"Bonnie," he muttered under his breath. "Andy."

So far, the idea that one of his owners wasn't in the pods had never even occurred to him. At least one of them had to be for him to be here. He had to think that both had to have been saved for him to just to function. The idea that one or both hadn't was unthinkable.

How bad was the damage? How many pods had been destroyed? Was it a lot of them? A few?

Woody frantically scanned the traffic on the omnicomms and listened to his stolen comm ring for the passing messages to see if anyone knew, and while he did, the waiting for answers was killing him. He only hoped Komali wouldn't come back to his room anytime soon so he could keep listening.

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[chosenfamily]

Sam's head snapped up at the announcement, but it wasn't really him that spoke.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Nonono, it wasn't supposed to happen like that! The bombs...they should have all been able to be deactivated! Nobody was supposed to get hurt!"

Re: Announcement and Reactions

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Jono had gone to the Obs deck, the same as most of the crew. He honestly wasn't cut out for the bomb stuff and others were already dealing with the parasites. For his part, he 'listened', keeping track of what was going on because he hated not knowing. And somebody on the Obs deck should have a clue.

So he was wide open when the bomb exploded. The panic and fear caused by the explosion would have been enough to put him on his knees. Underneath that, though, drove him to his hands as well, head bent as he tried to shove his shields back into place.

Death wasn't new to him. He'd felt it before. So many had died around him over the years, but that one was specific. One he knew very well because it had been one of the first. And he knew the name.

He had to let the captain know.

Shiva

[kawalskyeffect.livejournal.com]

Shiva’s eyes darted back and forth between the people assembled before him. “You forced my hand and your crew members have paid. And now, if you do not give me access to a ship, I will kill this girl. Any attempt to harm me and I will snap her neck and flood my host with a poison, killing Charles Kawalsky instantly.” Even if they got Sheryl away, there was still Kawalsky as his trump card. There were some crew members who were ruthless, but there were some who would never allow an innocent to die.

Re: Shiva

[itsaboutaction.livejournal.com]

Superman's face turned into a scowl. He heard the explosion (damn his hearing) and he knew someone got hurt. Or even worse.

"Right now, you have a bigger problem than that, mister." Superman said. "You've just made the biggest mistake of your life and if you don't stand down, I will make you wish it was your last."

There are a few things you don't do. And that's piss off Superman.