Episode 2 Chapter One: Objectives Joint Post

This is a wiki page dedicated to the Joint-Post writing of Chapter One in Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative.

Writers will find the objective(s) they've opted to describe/document achieving on this page and will have until a set date to write In-Character segments. This set up will serve to increase the pace and alacrity at which this epic multi-vector episode is depicted.

Rules:

• The order of the slots has been inputted according to the Cosmic Imperative calendar of events.
• The chapter GM will "fluff" and weave the individual posts once all the objectives have been depicted.
• Write as much as you like and use as many NPC's as you like. Just remember that if you choose to kill off an NPC, the same rules apply here as in regular threads: get permission from GM first and, after the fact, update that NPC's wiki page to show the deceased.
• Once all the objectives have been written, the GM will alert chapter writers and they will then have the opportunity to look back through the objectives they did NOT write to and add in In-characters thoughts/responses to that objective if they feel so inspired
• Continual corrections and edits are encouraged to allow for a better flow.

Any continuity errors and discrepancies will be sorted out after the ending date and before the JP is posted in Chapter One, Episode 02. The GM will handle any latent formatting issues and conversion from wiki markup to forum BBC code before posting.

Escape Romulan Space Station

Now that the triggers have been successfully scanned, this objective should depict the evacuation from the station back onto the Apache and/or any stolen vessel. Take creative license determining if you have any defectors with you, prisoners, stolen tech, fallen comrades, injuries, as well as the fate of the station itself. If you have questions or ideas you'd like to run by the GM, reach out via PM/DM.

Dree

[Lt Reika Sh’laan | Maintenance Corridor | Romulan Space Station | Romulan Space] ATTN: @Stegro88, @Number6, @Ellen Fitz, @RyeTanker, @P.C. Haring, @Hans Applegate, @BipSpoon

As soon as Reika heard the words, she activated her comms. “Triggers have been found. Everyone, we’re evacuating now. Let’s move!”

She moved to the hallway, supporting the rifle with both of her hands as best as she could. While the pain of her injury had been deadened, her arm was only functioning at 75% capacity. As she peeked around the corner, she saw a Romulan holding a phaser rifle on a member of the Theurgy crew. She didn’t hesitate. She simply shot the Romulan in the back - right between the shoulder blades. “We’re heading out,” Reika called to the member of their crew and tipped her head toward the exit. Reika had seen the crew member before, but she wasn’t sure of her name.

But as crewmembers headed for the doorway in which she stood, there was a crackle in her helmet followed by an unfamiliar voice. “Lieutenants Ashby and Sh’laan. This is Petty Officer 3rd class Kaudia Cheung.” The woman rattled off a correct authentication code and stated that she was from Starfleet intel. After more necessary background information, Reika heard what the woman had called to give them in the first place. “I’m currently coordinating with my team to bring them to a shuttle bay twelve decks up from you to secure transportation for exflitration…Please advide on your intentions as my team has been ordered to join you for your return to Theurgy.”

Reika paused for a moment. So this was how they were going to get off this Romulan monstrosity. But twelve decks? That was a lot and everything could go wrong between here and there. But seeing as how they were dropped off, Reika knew that this was their best chance.

“I copy you Cheung. We’re going to meet you at the shuttle - assuming we can get there.”

To the rest of the group with her, Reika, turned to face the ones that she could. “In order to get off the station, we need to head twelve decks above us. Starfleet Intel is waiting to get us off. Let’s see if we can find us the equivalent of a Romulan Jeffries tube and climb our way out. Let’s move people!”

Something in her had switched back to her Tactical training. She stepped outside of the doorway and pointed her rifle in the opposite direction of where the others were headed. Once everyone was out of the room in which they found the triggers, Reika took off at a jog after them. One by one, she saw the crew members disappear into what she could only assume was a Jeffires tube. Bringing up the rear, slipped her rifle around to her back and ducked into the aperture. Doing her best to hold on with one hand and wrench the door shut with her hurt arm, she winced. With one more pull with bad arm, she was able to get the entrance closed.

It was then that she looked up. This ladder appeared never ending. Checking out the deck number that was written on the inside of the door, she started up after the rest of the crew. Right arm and foot, left arm and foot. Right arm and foot, left arm and foot. Over and over. They were only six deck in and Reika found it hard to continue to push herself. Whatever pain reliever Ashby had given her was beginning to wear off and the pain in her injured arm was growing by the moment. The more the pain grew the less she was able to effectively use it.

She looked up again. Everyone above her was still climbing. She paused trying to catch her breath. She groaned loudly as her injured arm loudly protested against further movement. “Breath, Reika. Just breathe.” She did heed her own advice. “Get off your ass, Lieutenant,” she told herself. “You can do this. You have to do this.”

But as her self-pep talk died on her lips, she heard the metalic clink of a hatch opening, and looking down, she saw a head of dark hair and angular eyelashes looking up at her. “Shit,” she said as she saw someone climb into the ladder with them. “Move it everyone. We have visitors on our six.” Sure they were a good six decks above them, but with Reika’s arm, this was going to be a race to the finish.

She shouldn’t have found it amazing that she was now able to move better than she had before. Nothing like you’re life being on the line to put some umph in your step. Reika climbed - just one rung at a time, but each rung was one closer to her destination. After another deck or two, she looked back down. The Romulans were gaining on her. She activated her comms. But as soon as she did, she started back up the ladder. “Cheung, the first of our people should be exiting a hatch near you shortly,” Sh’laan paused her speech for several large gulps of air. “We took a ladder up, but we have some Romulans hot on our tail. I’m brining up the rear and my arm was injured, so be ready for a quick take off once we’re with you.” Once again she drew breath quickly. Two decks left to go. She didn’t want to waste time looking down to see how close the Romulans were, she just climbed as quickly as she could. When she was only one deck below where they were exiting the hatch, Reika’s bad arm gave out, but she caught herself with her good arm - well, it was her good arm before she wrenched it to catch herself from falling.

Her feet searched for a rung, and it was a good three seconds before she found her footing again. As her feet tried to gain their footing again, her eyes glanced down. “Damn!” she said. The Romulans were only about two decks below her. As she placed her feet down and started up again, this time a shot hit the inside of the tube just to the right of her head. “Oh, shit!” She had no time for any injured arms - let alone two. Pain was no longer a factor, Just living was. She was only several rungs below the opening. Another shot missed her by inches. By this time someone’s head emerged above her and offered her their hands to help hoist her up.

It was a good thing they had because this time the rung on which her feet were planted had been hit and gave way, but by this time she was pulled through the opening. Sh'Zahn had a tight hold on her. Reika nodded her thanks. Once she was sure Reika was on her feet, she slammed the hatch shut and wedged a piece of metal across the door. If the Romulans got through, it would take them awhile.

With Sh'Zahn helping her, they made their way to where Cheung was waiting for them. Without a word, they - the last two of the group entered the shuttle. Whoever was piloting wasted no time detaching the docking clamps and getting the group away from the station as quickly as possible.

RyeTanker

[CPO Dominic Lau | Maintenance Tubes | Romulan Space Station | Romulan Space]

Chief Lau and Bessir kept on alternating between crawling and descending as they moved through the station.  The Intel chief mentally shook his head ruefully as he thought about the sequence of events that had led him to this point.  It was fair to say that the entire operation was a failure since there had been nothing remotely covert after the operation on the station had fallen apart.  Now they were on another station, making their way out after leaving a mass of wreckage behind.  This wasn't a covert op, this was mayhem.  It was a positive they were so good at it since he wasn't sure how likely he was to be able to get on another covert operation after this.  Maybe his boss needed an excuse to pull him from the field.  That would be unfortunate. 

That happy thought carried him to a level with a junction that had a full size door when Cheung's voice came in over the comm system.  "Okay Chief.  That's the door you need to exit.  I'm still making my way down and guiding a few other groups towards the shuttle area. Just a heads up.  The Theurgy group has evac'd the station on their ship, but there look like several runabout type shuttles we can use to get everyone else out."

"Acknowledged.  How long till everyone is out?" The Chief queried as he unslung his rifle. Bessir did the same shortly after landing like a cat.

"I'd say maybe about 5 more minutes Chief."  The tech specialist estimated. "Oh. By the way.  The Romulan security team that was chasing the Theurgy crew is standing nearby to the left of the door, aboouuuuut 15 meters away."

Chief Lau nodded at this data. "Got it. See you soon." Looking at Bessir, the two gave each other a grin. "Flash and boom?"  Bessir nodded. "Sounds about right. On 3?"  Chief Lau plucked a grenade off his belt while the sniper pulled a flash bang.  "Of course. 1...2....3"  The sniper hit the door control revealing a mostly intact corridor beyond.  A quick look confirmed a gaggle of targets and an underhand toss delivered the pyrotechnic device into the midst of the group.  Chief Lau tossed the armed explosive grenade to the half breed and the bomb soon followed as both men opened their mouths and covered their ears for a moment.  An explosion and screams followed and the two men exited the maintenance junction with rifles raised.  The two swiveled their eyes quickly identifying those that had escaped the blast.  A few were trying to crawl somewhere, anywhere to escape the devastation visited upon them and the operatives shot them before moving on.

With the bay secured, Chief Lau and Bessir waited for everyone else to show.up.  It didn't take long and the Chief moved to split the group amongst as many of the ships they could steal before giving the order to launch.

Catalog/Compress/Share Thalaron Data back to the Helmet

While onboard either the Apache or a stolen vessel, detail the process of working through the encryptions and safeties surrounding the data on the triggers before showcasing the efforts taken to relay that information on to the Helmet (long-range at this point so may have to have a time jump in the post). Will need to coordinate with the Oneida NPC's, who won’t be returning for the battle, for info from Bak’u Rings. Again, creative build-up of in-game canon is always encouraged and welcomed, and if you have questions or ideas you'd like to run by the GM, reach out via PM/DM.

P.C. Haring

[Lt. Kestra Pren | Evacuation Coordinates | Apache] ATTN: ATTN: @Stegro88, @Number6, @Ellen Fitz, @RyeTanker, @P.C. Haring, @Hans Applegate, @BipSpoon, @dree

Kestra took in a deep breath as she fitted the mask over her nose and mouth. Almost immediately her vision became less loopy and more realistic, a sensation that all but confirmed her suspicion that her perception problems were due to some kind of psychotropic hallucinogen the Romulans had inserted into the air. Although she couldn't know for sure, the trill suspected the Romulans might have used it as a countermeasure against their incursion. No matter. The call that the trigger data had been recovered had come through and all the teams had received verbed evac orders.

According to the data Cheung had fed her before she lost contact, Kestra was closest to the Apache, a support ship from Theurgy which had ferried blue and red teams to the outpost. She had lost contact with the Mary Baldwin, the freighter that had brought her, Lau, Knox and the others. Given the state of the ship when she had disembarked, Kestra did not hold out much hope the ship was still in one piece.

Fortunately Cheung had had the opportunity to perform the required IFF handshakes so Red and Blue teams would recognize the crew of the Baldwin, Purple Team, as friendlies. That, she figured, was a small victory since she had been separated from Lau and everyone else from the Baldwin since she'd dispatched that Romulan Mech. Still she was glad for the opaque mask as it covered enough of her face that she could avoid questions and confusion about why she looked like one of their pilots for just a little longer. At least the cuts and wounds, she had sustained bled Trill red and not Romulan green. That, at least, should buy her a little credibility that she wasn't a Romulan spy. It didn't take her long to board the Apace once she arrived at the extraction coordinates. Already there were a handful of Federation crew aboard and she wasted no time stowing her weapon and getting out of the way.

[Pren, you there?]

Kestra's hand shot to her combadge. "Cheung! Damm it's good to hear your voice. Thought you were gone."

[Not Quite, though we came close.]

"Status?"

[The Baldwin is gone We had to find other transportation out]

"Do you need support?"

[Negative. We commandeered a Romulan runabout. Even managed a quick sweep to beam over some of the personal effects. Didn't get everything. Best we could do though.]

She didn’t give that any more thought. Saving personal gear was nice but hardly a priority. Plus, the only thing that mattered - her research and her orders, were on isolenear ships chips tucked into pockets inside her tunic.

Outside, weapons fire drew her attention as more people boarded. The Romulans were not giving up so easily. Kestra had no idea as to the tactical capability of this ship and she suspected the Romulans could track their own Runabout, even if it were cloaked. They had gotten the data they wanted. but it was useless they were all killed before they got back to their ship... her ship now.

"Cheung," she said as she pushed gently through the growing group of people boarding, "none of this is going to mean a damn if we don't get the data back to Theurgy. We need to send them what we have now!"

[No good L.T. The Romulans have jammed all subspace frequencies. We only have short range comms.]

"Can you break through?"

[Maybe. But the window won’t be that big. The data stream will have to be compressed.]

"How small?"

[Small as you can make it.]

The deck shuddered beneath her as the engines came online and the Apache began to withdraw from the ravaged station.

"I think we're on the move?”

[You are. We're matching course and speed]

Again, the deck rocked, but this was far more violent. Kestra recognized a weapon strike when she experienced one.

"Cheung. Get on it. I'll work on the compression.”

Kestra was no communications officer nor was she and intelligence operative, but her time during the war had left her with more than a few tricks up her sleeve. Still, between the unfamiliar interface on the console, the rocking from the attack and her own sense of urgency, she slipped up far more times than she cared to admit. Her first attempt only achieved a 10% reduction in size: Not enough according to Cheung. According to her, they needed at least 40%. She reprogramed the compression algorithm. It wasn't perfect, she knew, but the last time she had used this one was years ago-and on the unfamiliar interface, she couldn't rely on muscle memory. This attempt yielded better results but at only a 27% reduction, still fell short of the mark.

"Damnit." then, she remembered the subroutine she had forgotten. Being such a small part of the overall process, it was easy to overlook. But with the way it functioned within the algorithm, it could provide such effective results. She keyed it in and ran the algorithm again.

[L.T., this is Cheung, I hope you're ready with the data stream. I’ve managed to cut through the jamming, but I don’t know how long I can keep it open.] The algorithm completed, achieving only a 32% reduction.

"I don't know I'm not at 40 yet."

[Send it L.T! When I lose this, I won't get it back] She didn't think when she pressed the transmit button. The progress bar cycled as the data was sent back to the Theurgy. It progressed faster than she said track before it blinked out only to be replaced by a message indicating the connection had been lost. [I just lost the frequency L.T. Did you get the data stream sent?] Kestra looked at the blank screen. 'I don't know.”

Travel back to Helmet dealing with unfriendlies

There is no feasible way that our characters are going to go from wrecking a super secret Romulan research and development station to traveling back to the Triangle without some unfriendlies on their tails. These unfriendlies can come from the station itself, from nearby patrols, or even from Romulus. They can be whatever class fighters/ships you'd like, and as with all the objectives, wreck and maim and kill as you see fit. Just give a heads-up to the GM and update the wiki pages accordingly.

Writer Name Number 6

[Lt. Vanya| Checkpoint | Romulan Facility] ATTN: tag all chapter one writers

“Alirght.” Said Vanya. “Can I trust you, at least for now?”

The woman nodded. “I... want to tell the story, but I think that we don’t have time.”

She shot a bitter look at the corpse on the floor. “Suffice to say, he killed the only person who I ever loved, and the death was completely covered up.” She looked back at Vanya.

“My lover was shy, artistic, and he wouldn’t hurt a single person. For his murder to be unanswered, I can’t live in a state like this.” Vanya wasn’t about to kill this stranger who had helped her, and chances are she would be discovered for what she had done. And yet, if she followed Vanya to the Federation, it would be tough.

She put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I was sent away – not by choice, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. But its not easy. Being away from all that you have known, seeing the ideas that you have been taught as real are proven to be false, or unpopular. You could turn around now and run and say that I killed him, and live your life.

“I want to help. Zoin was my love, my world my life. This… is nothing to me without him.”

Vanya wasn’t sure that this stranger knew what she meant. However, her first point was the most important they didn’t have the time.

“Alright… if I know my crew they are already getting the data that we need. We need to make it easy for them.”

“Easier said than done.” The unnamed Romulan said. “They will already be on us… wait… I need to access that console.”

Vanya held up her phaser. If this was some bizarre trick or game, then she would quickly step in. With a single look, she gave her a sign that she would be able to stop her if she showed a single form of betrayal.

“I’m a low level data technician. When one of these pigs file the wrong report, they come to people like me.” She said. That certainly explained the fact that she didn’t take out Vanya as well as the apparent killer. “I was here when they installed this system. Sure there are parts I can’t access… but a few permissions weren’t quite deleted when the system came on line.”

The young girls fingers moved like a pianists on their keys, an artist doing her thing. Finally Hundreds of alert klaxons started to go off. Vanya watched as a rotating wall of personnel photos filled the screen, each with the word “Wanted” on their photo.

“I have uploaded the base roster minus myself into the wanted criminals database. Now every crewman’s clearance code is uploaded to the system as wanted criminals. They still have weapons, but the few automated defences we do have won’t tell friend from foe. Oh, and the shock of having hundreds of criminals on board will probably overload the system.”

Vanya was still worried. There could be more ships still on the way, and someone might be able to put everything back where it was. Still it was a start. She tapped her combadge.

“Vanya to all personnel. I suggest an immediate retreat back to the Helmet. I’m bringing a defector that might have just made this shindig a lot easier.

Arrive at Triangle in time for epic battle

After a harrowing journey with unfriendlies on tail, this objective can be perfect for recapping all the losses, personal or professional, as well as all the gains made in the duration of the chapter. Details on damages, injuries, fallen comrades, as well as new hopes/fears, are also good for this objective. Approach it as you like, just end the objective with the chapter characters arriving at the Triangle and alerting those on the Helmet of their arrival.

Writer Name (replace with writer's name)

[Regular Character Tag | Location Detail | Location Detail] ATTN: tag all chapter one writers

WRITE POST HERE FROM YOUR CHARACTER'S POV ONLY AND UTILIZING NPCS