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Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Episode 04: Simulcast | Chapter 07 "Cost of Truth"

"The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake."
- Meister Eckhart

[ Captain Ives | Vector 01 | Main Bridge | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

After Jien gave her order to the Fighter Assault Bay to launch all the drones, the voice of Captain Kendrick was heard, patched through from the Resolve. [Kendrick to the Theurgy the last of my crew should be getting to you any minute now, soon as I'm free I'd like you to feed me the coordinates for the biggest target you have, this warp core is set to breach and I'd rather it... someone else's problem.]

Jien's oaken eyes snapped to Aisha S'Iti, and the Cardassian got the cue immediately, already laying in commands in her console. "Theurgy helm here, I'm on it, just stand by to jettison the core on my mark. I'll aim it for you since you need to evacuate your crew." She looked towards Commander Trent, who had urged that they'd detach from the Resolve as soon as possible, and then to Ives. "I can do it, Captain."

Another voice from the Resolve came through, and since it sounded like it was two people speaking, Jien guessed that it was an Efrosian. They were informed that the warp core of theirs would breach in two minutes. Jien frowned, finding herself in a situation where she had to gamble, seeing how there was a great opportunity at great risk. Weaponizing the Resolve's core might be excessive, though, at least at that point. "Keep track on the countdown for now, S'Iti. Stark, coordinate with your people in the transporter rooms, try to get a lock on their remaining crew."

On the viewscreen, Jien watched the development of the battle. The USS Chester had set a course towards Vector 03, but it was being attacked by two of the fighter pilots from the Resolve. One of the fighters were severely damaged by the heavy pulse phaser cannons on the Defiant-class starship, but the valiant pilot seemed determined to not let it go unpunished. Whoever flew that fighter set his Mk II Valkyrie on an intercept course and crashed right into the Chester's shields, and when the craft's core detonated, the blinding conflagration ought to have made quite an impact on the shields. Interceptors still harried all the Vectors, and Starbase 84 was still firing on them - many beams missing them now when the tactical array was gone. Behind her, Jien heard the chirp of a message arriving, and she could but hope it was the evidence on Hawthorne that the officer on the SS Sabine were to send, and it was Sarresh Morali that got it.

By that point, the USS Orcus had opened fire too. Yet as her pulse phasers hailed odd purple bolts against Vector 02's shields, they did not shimmer by the bombardment, but rather absorbed the energy, which made Jien frown - not quite sure what Captain Slayton was up to. Of course, Vector 02 answered in kind, returning fire. That did not stop Slayton from sending another message, however. [Mister Ives, my government gave you one chance for you to do the right thing for once and surrender but instead you chose to speak the same words as every other traitor to the Federation from Rittenhouse and Leyton and to now you. You say that you speak of preserving the Federation and you speak of infiltrators yet you attack a Federation starbase full of civilian while claiming to be righteous. That is not the actions of the righteous, Mister Ives. That is the action of someone who is a coward and an arch traitor. I actually held out a hope that you wouldn't cause me to do what I must do now..but I see that you leave me with no choice. You tell me to test you at my own peril, you think that this is just some kind of game..this is war, Mister Ives, and you will have to live with starting one. Orcus out.]

Obviously, Slayton mistook their attacks to be upon civilians instead of the base's weapon systems and targeting array, but there really was no point in arguing. At that point, it became obvious what the Orcus was doing, because Vector 02's shield emitters overloaded, leaving the Vector completely bare to enemy fire - the crew at the mercy of hull plating and hope.

It settled Ives' decision. "Do it," she said to Aisha S'Iti. "Target: the USS Orcus. Trent, redirect the fighter elements here to protect Vector 02, and to stay clear of the Orcus. I want quantum torpedoes ready in all launchers."

"Aye, Captain," said the scaled Lieutenant at the helm, and quickly set a new course. "Stark, redirect power to the symbiotic tractor beam, else the Resolve will tear itself loose from us. " Immediately, Vector 01 moved straight for the Orcus - the Resolve still docked underneath her. Even the inertial dampeners couldn't completely compensate for the increased velocity, all aft RCS thrusters propelling them forth along with Thea's biggest impulse engines, and Jien stumbled before she returned to her chair in the middle of the bridge. There was a loud groan felt through the entire Vector from the stress against the docking pylons. "Theurgy helm to Captain Kendrick, stand by to jettison core on my mark!"

Of course, Slayton would try to do something in response, but it would be too late. Aisha was almost upon her already, rolling the wide saucer section over and avoiding incoming pulse phaser bolts. Their point defence system was working at full capacity to target any incoming torpedoes, and it might just be their saving grace that their jamming field was stronger the closer they got. The plasma venting from the Resolve left a fiery trail behind them as they bore down upon the Orcus without any sign of slowing down. "S'Iti..." warned Jien with her teeth clenched together, not sure the Cardassian would be able to stop in time, all the while the ship shook and the hull of the Orcus became bigger on the viewscreen.

"Three! Two! One! Mark!" called S'Iti and broke off from their trajectory, baring their ventral side against the Orcus - no more than three hundred meters between the ships. She did not slow down either, instead going to full impulse in order to put as much distance as possible from the Vesta-class carrier.

"Trent! Aft torpedoes, full spread!" shouted Jien over the stress of their velocity, "Then come about and give them the same from our forward launchers! Stellar Cartography, what's the ETA of the rest of the reinforcements?"

OOC: Posting order in response to this operation above: 1) Brutus with Stark & Morali 2) Kaligos with Kendrick 3) CanadianVet with Trent 4) DocReno with Slayton 5) chXinya with... chXinya. :) I will also be making slight edits to the first post in No Cosmic Justice in reflection of this re-written post. I will be informing about the situation in the newsletter to so that everyone are on the same page.

More posts to come!

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #1 –
[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark and Lt. (jg) Sarresh Morali| Main Bridge | USS Theurgy - Vector 01 ]

It wasn't at all unexpected to Natalie that the captain of the Resolve was still on board. She knew almost nothing about the man, beyond the service record that most of Starfleet had read when the Luna-class explorer had vanished years back. But there was something simply right about a Captain being the last one off the ship, and it meshed with what little she had heard of the man. She wasn't at all surprised by the idea of launching the warp core from the battered ship at some likely target - the Chester perhaps, or like as not, the Orcus. The brunette Operations Chief hated the thought of the kind of damage a warp core breach might do to the men and women of those ships, whom were only doing what they saw as their duty.

She hated the idea of what the warp core breach would do to her vessel if they didn't send it elsewhere, however, and when it came down to it, it was the Theurgy, her people, that mattered most.

"Aye Aye, Captain," Natalie said sharply, pressing her finger into the earpiece she wore as she opened up a channel. "Stark to transporter rooms 1 through 3, I need locks on every person still on the Resolve. There are at least two in main engineering -" she had only heard the Captain and his engineer, "But I assume there are more. I'm sending in a coordinated sensor sweep of the vessel now. Be ready to beam out as soon as the warp core is jettisoned, on my command."

While she issued instructions, new data was being transferred over from the gunship Sabine. Lt. Morali leaned over his own console, pulling up file after file as it came across. The computer let out a little chime as it finished uploading and he immediately began parsing it for something he could use, some thing to give them an advantage. He read through it as fast as he could, his face paling. A curse broke past his lips and his head shot up, mouth open to warn Captain Ives, but by then the Orcus had stripped away Vector 02's shields and the captain had more important things to focus on.

"Roger that, S'Iti," Sarresh could hear Stark's reply even over the den of the battle. The human woman adjusted the ships powerful stealing from Peter to pay Paul as it were. The whole of the Vector seemed to shudder under the sudden strain, as the tractors on the Resolve intensified, and the ships moved in tandem, arcing along the field of battle to align with the Vesta-class carrier vessel bearing down on them.

The Chester shuddered under the impact of a micro-warp core from a fighter, and soon, Natalie thought, the Orcus would suffer the same fate on a much grander scale. "All transporters, prep for beam up on my mark," she said again, as the ships closed the distance. All around them space exploded with light, the burst of phaser and photon fire mixing with the fury and death of those trying to both kill them, and save them. Everything seemed to hang for a moment, for Natalie, to freeze in one crystal clear image, before the ship was banking hard and the Resolve's core spun out, end over end across space.

Her stomach seemed to crawl right up into her throat as the ship turned hard, and the aft weapons arrays opened up. "Energize!" She ordered, shifting the power again, lights dimming in other parts of the vector as she kept the tractor beams in place just a bit longer, and still provided that extra boost to the transporters. One by one the lifesigns remaining on the wounded ship vanished, torn from where they lay, hid, or ran, only to re-appear in transporter rooms across the Theurgy's Helmet.

Only then, did Sarresh manage to get the Captain's attention, his words barely heard, when Ives had moved back towards the rear of the bridge. "Its Hawthrone, Captain. What I'm seeing here is sound." Ens. Henshaw really was walking into a trap, the former Ash'reem thought. And what followed into his mind next was a logical leap, gripping his chest with a fear her did not suspect would arise - If Henshaw was walking to her doom, then so to was Ryuan Sel. While he'd only had one tryst so far with the Bajoran, he felt worry bubble up, nearly blinding him.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #2 –
[ Cir'Cie | Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Kaligos & Mathis

Being a botanist, however proficient in her performance as such, Cir'Cie's expertise lent meagre aid in a battle such as the Theurgy fought at Starbase 84.

Therefore, it was only prudent that she undertook tasks that complemented her main field of study - volunteering in other departments to do tasks any Starfleet officer could preform. Among them was aiding Operations in the allocation of resources and other assorted tasks. She had been standing by to receive orders, and once she got them, she acted without emotional inflection towards whatever assignment it might be. At the onset of he battle, she had been waiting in the hydroponics lab, and when the battle began, she had aided in bringing injured to the Battle Sickbay on Vector 01.

Her newest orders were unexpected, but simple enough to carry out. The notification had reached her that a shuttle were to dock in the Upper Shuttle Bay, and that the shuttle carried an officer from Starbase 84 that brought sensitive evidence against the base's commanding officer. Intrigued, she had made her way to the unique, U-shaped bay with its tiered landing platforms - a necessity due to the MVAM functionality of the ship. The Vector shook from being fired at, and yet Cir'Cie did not miss a step when she stepped on the platform that the SS Sabine landed on.

With her hands clasped behind her back, she stepped up to the starboard airlock on the unique craft, and waited for the newly arrived to come out to her. Because of the high-velocity movement of the Vector, which the inertial dampeners couldn't completely compensate for, Cir'Cie shifted her stance, but did not otherwise move or concern herself with what was going on in the battle. She could not do anything about it, rendering any concerns moot.

Once the airlock opened, she raised her chin and spoke, eyes halcyon. "Greetings. You are vers Aldnoah and Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak?" she enquired and raised en eyebrow at the level of dishevelment the two appeared to be in, and for her nose, the sharp odour of sweat. Nonetheless, she believed she could be hospitable enough. They had, as far as the message went, been an aid to the mission, not only carrying important intelligence but also salvaging an ejection pod from one the the Resolve's fighters. It currently sat on the platform below the Sabine, taken care of by a triage team led by the EMH Mk I.

"Thea, kindly arrange for emergency site-to-site transport for three people to the Conference Lounge on Deck 01. Energise when ready."

[Acknowledged, stand by.] There was hardly any pause before the A.I. had locked on to them. [Energising.]

[ Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Present Resolve Bridge Crew

When the three of them materialised in the Theurgy's mission briefing room. Cir'Cie couldn't help but noticing on the large live-feed from the Bridge how the Vector seemed to be about to ram a Vesta-class ship. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what tactical merit there could be in such an overly drastic choice-of-action at the current juncture of their mission.

Then again, she was a botanist, not a tactician.

OOC: Since Kaligos is next to post, I figured Hi'Jak could be next as well from this vantage point? (Mathis might post with Sera too, of course)

This is also a prompt for free posting in reaction to the development for those present in the room. I think it would be best if Kaligos and CanadianVet posted first, though, then Hastata-Nerada, Vystori, DocReno, Mathis and Arista can chime in freely afterwards. At this point, I may also have been able to set the scene in one of the transporter rooms for Suq, Six and F'Rell with a post of mine with Liam Herrold, but I still think Kaligos and CV should post next.

However, more posts are to come soon for Engineering on Vector 03 and Main Sickbay on Vector 02! :)

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #3 –
[ Nurse Maal | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: 1) The Counselor 2) Zenozine

In Main Sickbay, Maal was supporting Hylota Vojona in the slow progress to the isolation ward, which had been set up as some kind of birthing pool for the pregnant Ovri. Maal had not been involved in any part of the gestation period, besides the conception of course, and it was surreal how quickly the Ovri carried her eggs to term. But when Hylota said to Doctor O'Connor that she wanted him present, then he would be there for her - not having expected that Hylota had truly forgiven him for what he had been forced to do to her brother during the mutiny. He did not quite understand what Hylota meant that it was good he was given an order, but he would not let it distract him.

"Just a little further," he just said, getting out of the corridor and into the area where the isolation wards and the surgical suites were located. He nearly managed to tackle down Doctor Lahkesis Saugn in the doorway, and he apologised to the Teslyliac Duplicate in passing as he pushed on towards the destination. His sole focus was to get the Ovri woman past the doors to the surgical suites and to the birthing pool, as if this great responsibility would be an immediate solution to rid all the pain Hylota was in. Little did he know what was happening in Surgical Suite 02 when the small entourage passed it by.

Reaching the end of the corridor, Maal repeatedly tried to dial his authorisation code while still holding up Hylota, only being answered by angry chirping and Thea's dispassionate rejections. All the while the ship shook from sustained phaser fire, which certainly did not make it easier to concentrate. [Access denied. Security authorisation required. Access denied. Security Au-. Access deni-. Access deni-].

"Arrgh!" he roared, sounding very much like the Klingon he was, despite how he'd been raised with humans, and he slammed his big fist into the bulkhead next to the control panel in panicked frustration.

OOC: The Counselor and Zenozine, you are next in this scene! If you'd rather have Hylota dial the security clearance code into the control panel, I am sure The Counselor wouldn't mind if you posted first, Zenozine.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #4 –
[ PWO Rihen Neyah | Main Engineering | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: MasterRat, DocReno & Nolan

When Doctor Duv gave the order to try and get the fire suppression systems online in the room Lin Kae was in, Rihen Neyah quickly nodded and ran back to where Chief Nolak Kalmil was at - her heart beating quickly in her chest. The stress of the situation, mixed with the acute concern for Lin Kae was getting to her, making her feel like she couldn't breathe. The undershirt was suffocating to her too, the brand new uniform she wore quite different from the overalls she used to wear. Since it was so unbearable, she unzipped the undershirt as far as the closed uniform jacket allowed her meant set to work by her console next to Kalmil again.

Yet she she slammed right into a forcefield erected around the core and Chief Kalmil, bouncing back from it and landing on her bum. She looked at the invisible thing, bewildered at what was going on, and realised the Chief was trying to keep the warp core contained. Even as she looked at his back, the Vector rocked from incoming enemy fire - unbeknownst to them being fired at by the USS Chester.

"Oh, no, nononono," she siad, holding on to the railing for dear life. What should she do now? She had to help Kae. Somehow. With sheer urgency propelling her, she got to another duty station.

"Okay, okay, fire suppression systems, right, right..." She thought she had a handle on the LCARS system by then, but it was hard to concentrate, and she ended up in the wrong system folders all the time - the beads of sweat upon her skin lit by the colours on the touch display. When she finally ended up where she wanted to, all she got was a system failure message. "Right, no panic. I'm restarting the system, hoping it will..."

No, same message. Well, not quite. Now there was only a problem with the forcefield emitter in the room remaining - the same used for the holographic grid. She had repaired the very same emitter in that room after the mutiny, but now it... "Oh, okay, the emitter just has no power. Where is the broken relay, where is it, where is it, where.... There!"

It was a twenty meters down the hallway. But how was she to...? "Chief, please, can you hear me?" she called through the force filed. "You have to help me, or Kae, I mean. I need to repair an EPS relay, and when I tell you, you need to try and activate fire suppresion, okay? I am leaving it here for you like this. I'll contact you soon!" And like that, Rihen ran as fast as she could, away from Kalmil and past Doctor Duv, pausing only to snatch up a conduit replacement part in her sprint, leaping down a short flight of stairs and leaving Main Engineering.

Behind her, Thea spoke to Kalmil on the intercom system, letting everyone hear. [Warning. Warp Core integrity failing because of antimatter containment failure. Magnetic field destabilised. Warp Core overload in ten minutes.] Then the A.I. resorted to more personal advise. [Master Chief Nolak Kalmil, I recommend you climb down the core structural beams and calibrate the magnetic fields manually at the antimatter tank intake. You can still save this Vector of mine. Please... hurry.]

Question was, could he save both the ship and Lin Kae?

OOC: Suggested posting order in this scene: 1) MasterRat 2) DocReno 3) Nolan. :)

Furthermore, Doc M. Tessa and Rawley are supposed to defend Vector 03, and they are right now up against the USS Chester. Can you set the scene were the Chester is trading blows with Vector 03 in No Cosmic Justice?

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #5 –
[ Lt Hi'Jak| Sabine | Theurgy Docking bay  ] Atten: Auctor, and Mathis

Jack never did find his underwear, from the time they had landed to the point where the Sabine's door had opened Jack had basically ran around the cockpit and managed to find his uniforms pants and belt but not the boxer shorts he normally had on under them. As uncomfortable as he was going commando he was pretty sure he would be infinitely less comfortable going pants-less so he forwent the comfort of boxers for the outward shell of his normally regulated uniform.

Brushing and patting his hair down he seriously did not want to look a mess right now. Even so he knew he was, the largest offender being his uniforms collar which despite his attempts to adjust it refused to correct. Finally he gave up in time to address the new comer greeting Cir'Cie with a bit of hesitation.

He was standing on a ship of traitors and pirates, standing against the Federation. After today that statement held a lot less weight then he thought it would considering the number of crimes the Federation could probably hit him with, but still he had no idea what was going on. Oddly he had not expected to see a Vulcan among the Theurgy crew. They were usually only swayed by logical arguments so treachery tended to not be in their nature at least until the moment it was logical and then it was their entire nature.

A bit of Xenophobia but these were the kind of creatures that would cut off his arm if it meant saving themselves so he didn't have much love for the Vulcans.

"Greetings." For the moment there was no outward hostility in his voice. When she asked for a site to site transport beam he grit his teeth half expecting to be treated to a visit to the ships brig, but was surprised when he arrived in a briefing room.

[ Lt Hi'Jak| Briefing room | USS Theurgy  ]

"Haven't been in one of these for a few years." He said looking around the ships conference room the display showing the resolve and the situation they were in. Looking around he saw a lot of unfamiliar faces that made him wary to speak to anyone for too long. There was a battle going on outside so one had to assume that this was probably the crew of the resolve.

Unsure of the company he was keeping Jack quickly stepped towards Sera wanting to keep her close. She had proven time and time again that she was a survivor and if he was going to survive today then he was going to keep with her for as long as she would have him. "Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak, pleasure to meet you all."


[Captain Tristan Kendrick | Engineering| USS Resolve ] Atten: All

Engineering was heating up. Kendrick honestly wasn't sure if it was the impending warp core breach, a random radiation leak from the number of cracks that had been forming along the walls, or the fact that his ship and home was falling apart but it was causing Kendrick to sweat. As much as he wanted to remain the calm collected captain that he always projected the situation around him was causing him to mutter under his breath, his eyes dark from a day that felt like it was never going to end.

Typing out the last commands and avoiding something that sparked over head. He heard the voice of the Theurgy's captain saying that they would aim the ship and he smiled he was really going to enjoy watching this be someone else's problem. Of course the lack of a boom wouldn't save the resolve. "Life support offline, remaining oxygen levels at 2.6%"

"Thank you computer!" Suffocation was not how Kendrick wanted to die, but it was becoming a very real threat with the number of plasma fires, hull breaches and a number of other things that were currently walking the void around his life. Literally every step he took at this point could be the moment he just died from opening the wrong door and venting whatever area he had into space.

When he was told to stand by he had his hand over the fire button. "Ready and willing any second Theurgy Helm."

"Three! Two! One! Mark!"

Kendrick had never pressed a button so hard in his life. His fist slammed on it after all his paswords and safties were entered. The Warp Core in front of him disconnected and was plunged into the void of space, causing all lights in the ship to go out, a shock wave of power outages through the resolve. The ejection of the warp core shook the resolve, and threw Kendrick head over heals for a moment tossing him backwards as he hit the ground his eyes closed for a moment after hitting his head feeling cold, and tired.

A moment later there was a voice, like an annoying alarm clock, his breathing was heavy, the oxygine in the room warm from plasma fires and smoke now that the ship no longer had power to use the fire suppression system. He coughed choking on the hot air. Opening his eyes revealed an engineering bay transformed by hell.

"Captain Kendrick, can you hear me? This is Chief Petty Officer Kowalski of Theurgy."

Kendrick groaned into his com. Less of an answer more of an acknowledgement as he pulled himself up.

"Kendrick, the room your in is too flooded with radiation, we can't get a clear lock on you're signal."

Kendrick chuckled, how much radiation was he being exposed too then? He was a little too old too worry about cancer at this point. He shut his eyes one side of his forehead was cut, he was bleeding and his left eye was seeing red at this point practically useless. He wouldn't make much of a difference at this point, but he could walk.

"Don't worry about me Kowalski, get my crew off this crypt. I'm gonna... I'm gonna... find an alternative." He coughed for a moment thinking things through, was their even an alternative?

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #6 –
[ MCPO Nolak Kalmil | Main Engineering | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]

Main Engineering hummed with action. Read out of all sorts flickered and flashed on the monitor screens; exposed wires flared to life sending mini fireworks of sparks dancing into the air; small jets of steam hissed out randomly from damaged piping, giving the atmosphere a humid feel. The occasional leaflet of paper or a picture of some false idol leafed its way down the main engineering levels from above. The Deltan Chief was finally feeling he had control of the situation, the gravity wells were holding up, and he was rerouting energy back into a phaser bank which appeared to be reading normal again. The local repair crew reported they fixed the problem.  The only major problem was with the fire extinguish system, and the doorway to the gravity control room finally shocked its self ‘out of order’. He was still juggling with minor issues throughout the ship, but everything was relatively stable considering the situation.

The Deltan was starting to smile to himself as he started to focus his attention on the fire suppression systems. He was mapping and narrowing down to which mainlines were severed, when the ships alarms suddenly started blaring as the USS Chester began targeting Vector 03. Kalmil looked up at the tactical display and reviewed the data from the ship which seemingly appeared out of thin air. He said out loud, “Where the hell did this Defiant class ship appear from? Oh expletive deleted!”

The ship rocked violently as the USS Chester, unleashed its full fury against the ships shields breaking through the ventral shielding and slamming against the hull of the ship itself. This time it wasn’t a computer glitch as the bottom shields fell, again! The concessional blast caused Nolak Kalmil to lose his footing and he fell to the floor. Pain shot from his neck outward and his mind was clouded for a moment from white pain. When he came to moments later he discovered that he had somehow wrapped his legs around the base of the instrument panel. While he stood up he saw Rihen Neyah also returning to her feet. Seeing that she was alright he returned his attention back to the computer console. He heard her shouting to him about the fire suppression systems, but there was little he could do now to help from his position. The problem was the relay systems and perhaps she could figure out a way around it. He was far more concerned about the damage report which was now flooding into his computer console. Everything seemed to be flashing all sorts of new series of data as systems were failing in the area of the recent attack. Worst off it spiked a critical error in the lower part of the warp core. The magnetic field had been disrupted a few decks down by the antimatter intakes. He noticed this just as Thea was reporting the situation to him. To the computer he said, “Thank you Thea, and end silent mode, I now need to hear your lovely voice to help me monitor things.”

The Deltan Chief hits the intercom to the bridge, “Master Chief here, we have a serious problem. Warp Core is nearing critical levels and the USS Chester just ripped open our ventral shields so you know the drill by now.  So you better deal with that vessel and quick. Get any available fighters to protect Thea’s belly first.  I’m doing down to do everything to keep this warp core from going critical and get shields up at the same time. Tactical officer, you better make every shot count, as the old expression goes, we are now running on fumes. Engineering out.” He said keeping his voice calm and cool.

Looking down he saw the work belt still attached to the computer panel next to him. He reached down grabbed the belt and slung it around his body. Next he reached up and unwrapped the towel around his neck. The scars from his recent surgery tingled more intensely as it’s now exposed directly to the temperature of the humid conditions of the area. He reached up and lightly runs his fingertips over the scar for a moment while he thought out his next course of action. Speaking to the computer, “Thea, hold the fort to the best of your ability. Rihen Neyah might try to send you some sort of command or activate code, if possible aid her in getting those fire suppression systems back up, and get that fire in the gravity well room out ASAP. I’m going down on you and tickle your lower naughty parts. Let’s hope not for the last time.”  Nolak Kalmil took the towel from both ends and walked over to the ladder perched alongside of the warp core. Using the towel he gripped the railings of the ladder then hopped on placing the heels of the sandals along the railing sliding down the ladder rather than rung by rung.

While Nolak Kalmil progressed down the warp core he could see some of the actions between decks. The medical team had found Ensign Abner, who appeared to be slumped upon the floor as the medics still appeared to be recovering from the attack by the USS Chester. He couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive as the deck flew by him. The next deck down crew members were struggling with some toppled over equipment trying to move it off another member pinned underneath it. As this scene wiz by he began to grip the railings slowing his decent down. The next level was his destination. Once there he slammed his feet into the ladder rung and he came to a sudden stop jarring his body again. Another sharp pain emits from his neck as he hopped off the ladder and onto the service deck. He wraped the towel around one of the rungs a couple times on the ladder and left it there as he walked around the gangway to the main service panel of the deck.

Standing a mere few meters away from where all the magic happens, the two very large containment tanks which feed into and from the Vector’s two nacelle warp engines. It’s here where the antimatter reactant injectors were located. The large cone shaped bottom of the core extends only a deck or two more below him as he stood at the apex of where core meets the injector. Nolak walked through the somewhat maze of piping and dangling cables, as he worked his way to the service monitor and reviews a couple of data screens before turning to the large core in front of him. To the computer monitor he said, “Okay Thea, I’m here and about to remove the antimatter injection panel and access the core’s gas injectors and magnetic suspension plasma separator. I might need to have you help me a little since I normally do this while the ship is powered down. Not while in full combat mode.” 

He took a couple tools off his belt and took the small scanner and scanned the panel. To himself he said, “Damn, this is going to make my day a living hell. It looks as though there is a small breach in one of the gas injectors.”  He turned and opened an emergency gear locker next to the injectors and took out some heavy duty EVO gloves and breathing mask then puts them on. Making sure his tools are close at hand he began to remove the protective panel. A bright light and a rush of steam and gas rush out of the compartment when the panel was taken off. Nolak shielded his eyes for a moment from the light before continuing his work. The ship rocked again from another strike, this wasn’t as severe as before but it wasn’t making life any easier.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #7 –
[ Commander Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Manning Tactical and managing the battlespace as he was, one might have a hard time believing this was the same Carrigan Trent who had come out a wreck and a mere shadow of himself from the loss of his first and only starship command.  When he was speaking into his boom mike, his voice was low but confident and calm, his hands were moving across his console.  But when he saw Orcus coming about and letting loose a burst of phaser-fire at Vector 2, his eyes narrowed as he watched the shields first absorb the energy, and then collapse.  A quick look at the readings, and he knew exactly what had happened.  Clever bastard, he thought of Slayton. 

Trent had a healthy respect for the carrier captain's abilities already.  But to see him applying them in action, that was interesting all right.  But he had surprises of his own all right.  And mostly, he knew there was no way he could know who was manning Tactical on Theurgy.  But when Arisaka's voice came through his earpiece, loaded with what approached panic as he reported his shields had collapsed, the XO spoke firmly.  "Mister Arisaka, hard skew turn and break off and re-establish your shields.  Donovra, break away from the Starbase and give Vector 2 some cover.  And keep moving, don't let Orcus line up on you like they did Vector 2."  Oh no, you're not going to do this again, though the amputee as he gave his orders. 

As that happened, he was aware that they were lining up for a pass on the carrier, and his fingers moved with fluid ease as he redirected power to shields and re-prioritized point-defence to get them through the carrier's fire, and then the Resolve's warp core was released as the did a very close pass, and as soon as the firing solution for the aft torpedo tubes rang solid, he released the ordnance at the carrier.

A starship's the navigational deflector was an immensely powerful system; it had to be in order  to shrugs off dust, particulates, radiation and random bits of space debris, which at relativistic velocities could impact with the force of nuclear weapons.  But one's shields, meant to protect from the obscene energy levels of starship weapons and extreme-velocity impacts from explosive ordnance were in another order of magnitude altogether.  But even such a powerful system could not deal with the close proximity of a warp core detonation.  Let alone a direct impact.  Some of the most advanced shielding designed by Starfleet could do little but try to slow it down before the energy release completely overwhelmed them, and when the wave of energy struck the Orcus, her ablative armour boiled away, exposed to several times the amount of power it was meant to withstand and the hull beneath could do little to stop what had obliterated both lines of defence.  Outer hull panels were vaporized, as were internal bulkheads and structural frame members bent and broke under the massive transfer of energy.  As the blast wavefront lost momentum, its effects started to lose energy, and instead of incinerating everything in its path, it started fracturing whatever it hit, and entire compartments were swept by shrapnel. 

And then the torpedoes hit.

The quantum torpedoes struck hull directly, and then their own plasma-fueled fury was unleashed against Orcus.  More hull breaches were opened, and a pair of torpedoes striking the port strut, nearly severing it and it was only a few shreds of hull fore and aft that barely held it in place, but it was clear that the nacelle itself had lost power and plasma streamed freely into space from a severed conduit.  Other impacts hit the secondary hull, carving long tunnels of destruction  that reached deep into the carrier's guts, and one that hit the saucer section where the hull had already been compromised by the warp core detonation near her foremost edge left a hole clean through.

But it took a moment for the damage to be compiled by Theurgy's sensors, and when they came back around, the sight of the battered, if not to say butchered, Orcus filled the viewscreen even as Trent consulted his readings.  She did not have a warp signature at the time, a sign that her warp core had been shut down and the decay of her subspace emissions told him that it had not been an orderly, step-by-step process but an emergency crashing of the system to prevent a breach; her sensor emissions had completely ceased, therefore they were no longer trying to maintain weapons lock, and one impulse engine was firing fitfully, the other being little more than a crater where a quantum torpedo had struck.  And the hull was streaming atmosphere, debris, smoke and water vapour, as well as poor souls (or parts thereof) who were caught in decompressing spaces before the forcefields could snap into life.  The power readings were erratic and weak. 

To Trent's practiced eye, one thing was clear: Orcus was out of the fight, and a lesser vessel would have been completely obliterated or turned into a hulk only good for the breakers' yard.  But given enough time in drydock, she would be fit again...  But as Vector 01 came about and the firing solution was green on his board, the XO's hand came down... then stopped before letting loose another barrage, one that would certainly end with Orcus as no more than a cloud of rapidly cooling wreckage.  "Captain, holding off on the second volley.  I am reading no active weapons, no tactical sensor, weak power emissions and no shields left on Orcus.  Extensive structural damage and no warp signature anymore.  Sir, Orcus is out of the fight, and looks like life support is failing.  Recommend hailing them, and offering terms for their surrender."  

As he spoke, there was an undercurrent to Trent's voice, an entreaty to Jien Ives to listen to him, and not actually make him destroy that ship and every member of her crew that was still alive.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #8 –
[ Liam Herrold | USS Theurgy | Transporter Room 02 | Vector 01 ] Atten: Hastata-Nerada & SummerDawn

Odd, how the feeling of dying - consumed by a roaring cloud of fiery plasma - felt so familiar. That was the last thing Liam thought.

Then the flames were gone, cool air against his face, and he let go of F'Rell - eyes wide. When he released her writhing body, F'Rell's appendages could not quite hold on to him, and he dropped down upon a glass-like surface. The hum of a ship, and a voice was heard, transmission poor in quality. [...about me Kowalski, get my crew off this crypt. I'm gonna... I'm gonna... find an alternative.]

Liam could barely hear what was said, however, because someone cried out if fright. "Jesus fucking Christ!" said the man, and Liam traced the sound to someone standing behind a duty station. Only then did Liam see, as he looked around, that he was in a transporter room, and the officer at the controls had clearly not expected to see something like F'Rell when he energised the transport protocol that had saved them. The T'fanrell filled the air above the transporter platform, and Liam - his jumpsuit singed and smoking faintly in the cooler air - lay beneath her. He coughed, only now realising how much smoke he had inhaled, and crawled off the slick platform.

"What the hell are you?" demanded the officer, looking as if he regretted not having a phaser at hand, and that he expected F'Rell to breathe fire upon him. Liam picked himself off the floor and raised a hand, forestalling anything rash from the man. A CPO, like himself, he saw.

"Wait," Liam said thickly, smoke still in his lungs and making him have another fit of coughing, "She's no threat. Tell me, was that the Captain's voice?"

"Well... Yes," said Kowalski, still not looking entirely convinced about F'Rell not killing him any second, "I can't get a lock on him. Too much radiation. He'll have to get on the Theurgy himself, unless its too unsafe to keep your ship docked with ours, and we have to close the airlocks. Then... he is on his own..."

The prospect of Kendrick dying hit Liam hard, and he looked to F'Rell before returning his attention to the man at the duty station. "Did the rest make it?"

"Yes, we even have one of your fighters' ejected cockpit pods sitting in the shuttle bay. A triage team is trying to cut their way into it now. Unless they are still out there fighting in the battle, or didn't die before we could get a transporter lock on them, we've got them all... except for your Captai-."

"A fighter cockpit?" asked Liam, suddenly getting a bad feeling, the image of Neko flashing before his eyes. "Which fighter?"

"Sorry, I have no idea. Wait, where are you going?"

"Come on!" called Liam to F'Rell, already heading out into the Theurgy's corridor, looking for an LCARS terminal so that he might learn the way the shuttle bay. There was no security guard in place to stop them, and Liam wouldn't have cared either way. He just hoped that it wasn't K'Ren, and if it was, that she was all right.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #9 –
[Doctor Hayden O'Connor| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]  Attn: Zenozine and Auctor Lucan

"You would never be a bother," Hayden reassured Hylota, "but we should get you where you can be more comfortable," Hayden added as she began to lead the way to the isolation ward, once reassuring herself the male nurse had a steady enough grasp of her. Still, O'Connor made a point to not be too many steps ahead just in case the female Ovri faltered from the pain. Even as she led the way, she hadn't forgotten Hylota's surprise decision and admission in front of the Klingon nurse she was giving birth to his potential children. The paternity of her potential offspring wasn't exactly a secret, Hayden knew, but it was really the first time she'd heard Hylota reference his role in her pregnancy out loud to anyone but her.  If Maal hurt, however, thankfully, he hadn't let the the reality of what was happening prevent him from helping to get her to the birthing pool. With the chaos of the battle still raging, O'Connor was acutely aware they needed to get Hylota to a place of relative safety as quickly as possible. From what she remembered in her conversations with Vinata, it was absolutely critical to the offspring's survival that they emerge into a birthing pool filled with water that contained just the right amount of nutrients and was just the right temperature to foster continued growth until it was time for any potential offspring to hatch.

Mentally reassuring herself she had prepared the area as well as possible in advance of just this event, Hayden reminded herself to stay in the moment and to try to block out the battle as much as possible. As Hylota had already remarked, Maal already seemed frazzled, and although his nurse's training would come in handy, she also knew as a potential father, he had to be filled with all sorts of thoughts and feelings, even if he wasn't verbalizing them. Under such circumstances, she knew she couldn't plan to depend on him entirely as a medical professional, and given the potential for impending fatherhood, Hayden really didn't want to. The significance of what was about to happen aside, O'Connor knew the female Ovri had had mixed feelings about having Maal involved in her pregnancy at all, and she wasn't about to make him her assistant, attending to Hylota at her most vulnerable, just because O'Connor was delivering her first Ovri. This would be a new experience for the doctor, but after everything she'd been told, she knew there weren't too many differences between the Ovri and other laboring humanoids.

Inwardly relieved they had made it to the Isolation Ward without incident, Maal made it to the control panel before Hayden and as she watched him key in the code unsuccessfully, she took a quick mental inventory and realized it must be nerves preventing him from entering the right code. "Here, let me do it," she reassured in a calm low voice as she watched guardedly while Maal vented his frustration and panic. She didn't want to make it worse by commenting on it, but she met Hylota's eyes as she said, to both of them, "Everything's going to be okay."

As expected, in his excitement and distraction, the Klingon nurse must have been keying in the wrong numbers unintentionally, because when Hayden punched in the code, the doors opened immediately, a small breeze of humid air hitting them all as soon as the doors parted. O'Connor led the way into the ward, which had been configured into a birthing Suite 2 days prior to battle in accordance with Vinata's and Hylota's instructions thanks to the holo- emitters in the room's ceiling. Certain features, such as the temperature in the room and the flow of the water in the birthing pool, weren't programmed to set until the door code was entered and internal sensors indicated there were Ovri life signs present. This insured ship's resources wouldn't be utilized until absolutely necessary, as Hayden anticipated based on what she knew of Hylota's gestation, they could be in the midst of battle by the time Hylota went into labor, and O'Connor knew efficiency was going to be key if they were going to survive the battle.

The most resource intense item in the room was, of course, the large rectangular shaped birthing pool in the center of the room. For the most part, it didn't look much different from a regular swimming pool except for its nutrient rich and PH rich water,  its smaller size and its attached reclined chair at one end that was sloped so Hylota's lower body would remain in the water as she labored and laid her eggs. The chair was adjustable, as per Vinata's instructions, with a ledge surrounding the pool so Hylota could have leverage as she pushed. Based on her experience working with other laboring mothers, Hayden had also added additional features just in case Hylota felt like laying in different positions, including a birthing stool, a U-shaped chair that would allow Hylota to lay in a more upright seated position while her lower half was still submerged in water, and a few squat bars to hold onto for support while laying in a squatted position. She had seen both used effectively in other deliveries she'd managed, as both tools allow the mother to give birth with the help of gravity. She'd also replicated several mats just in case Hylota wanted to push on all fours. Vinata had explained laying eggs was not as painful for Ovri females as giving birth to a humanoid child would be, but Hayden also knew this would be the first time Hylota would be laying eggs with potentially viable offspring, which they anticipated would make for a more intense labor and birthing experience, given the larger size of viable eggs and perhaps more complicated positioning.

In any case, Hayden wanted to be completely prepared, so Hylota could focus and not experience added stress which would only compound any physical discomfort. In addition to the birthing pool, another smaller pool was attached to the birthing pool, with an opening joining the two pools. This would serve as a holding area for the eggs as they emerged. Hayden knew in advance some of the eggs in the clutch would be dummy eggs, those which had properly formed well enough to even potentially support life, and nonviable eggs, those which hadn't been fertilized even though they were perfectly suited to become potential offspring. Then, of course, there were the fertilized eggs, those which showed evidence of viable developing offspring. After Hylota released her clutch, it would be important to separate the viable eggs from those which were not, and to dispose of them properly.  Hayden would take care of such a responsibility, but her first priority had to be Hylota. The eggs would be safe for some time, as Hayden made sure the water contained the same collection of nutrients and with that at just the right pH to support life, just like the water in the birthing pool itself.

All of this ran through Hayden's mind like lightning as she turned to Hylota. "How about we quickly get you into a more comfortable gown? Then, would you like to labor directly in the pool right now, or would you like to wait and sit on the labor ball?" O'Connor wasn't sure how quickly things were progressing and she wanted to give Hylota as many options as possible. She would continue to assess the female Ovri's progress discreetly via scans and manual exams as necessary, but the most important thing right now was to give Hylota some control and to help her feel safe. Hayden would need to change in her own birthing pool friendly suit, but she would worry about that once Hylota was properly settled.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #10 –
[ F'Rell of the Twelfth House | Burning Corridor | USS Resolve ] Attn: Auctor
[Show/Hide]

Bright lights filled her vision as F'Rell felt the fiery plasma surround both her and the humanoid creature she now clutched within her tendrils. But just as quickly as the feeling had come, it left. Suddenly she was feeling... heavier... much heavier. And it was cooler now? There was some sort of loud noise that seemed to follow a strange sort of pattern as well. She twisted around in confusion, suddenly realizing that she had lost a good amount of the gasses which kept her afloat. Before long she started to realize where she was as her snout ran right into a slick glassy surface, which seemed to enclose much of the area around her in close proximity.

Now realizing that she was in a transporter, she tried to orient herself into tight coils and locate Liam and the source of the strange noise, which she now realized to be shouting. Liam at least was easy to locate, he was not far off, and his jumpsuit emitted rather acrid particles into the air. He seemed to be negotiating with the other human who was clearly startled by F'Rell's appearance on the pad. A number of possibilities rushed through F'Rell's mind while she tried to stabilize herself, eventually reaching the conclusion that they must be on the other ship, the Theurgy? The next words uttered by Kowalski, the transporter operator, made her heart sink. So to speak.

"I can't get a lock on him. He's too close to the Resolve's warp core. He'll have to get on the Theurgy himself, unless its too unsafe to keep-" Were they talking about the captain? F'Rell thought she heard some mention of him... This must be the other ship at least, she was sure the crew of the starbase would have seized them first and asked questions later.

Either way, Liam seemed intent on leaving somewhere, and indicated for F'Rell to follow. She saw no harm in doing so, she was basically out of the direct danger for now, and she could do nothing else to help the situation at this point. Before leaving the room to follow Liam, she turned towards Kowalski and sent a few utterances through her translator. "I do not mean to cause alarm." Before snaking out of the door after Liam.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #11 –
[ Surgical Suite 02 | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Joint Post by Triage & Auctor Lucan
 
On again with the charade... Lucan took a deep breath, slipping into the mannerisms of his host as if donning an old, worn shirt, and he raised his hand to his combadge.
 
"Nicander t-to Surgical Suite 01," he said, the slight swelling on the left side of his face affecting his voice, and he made sure he sounded as beaten as he looked. He might not feel the pain the way the host did, but he knew it well enough to enact it, "I'm next door, in 02. Doctor Maya, she struck me down... I think she disabled the door."
 
The ship shook again from enemy fire, and Lucan wondered who might come to his aid... In a way, since the host was finally suppressed, he had come to relish the opportunities presented. His old self had been all control and no joy, but that was about to change, provided the ship actually made it through. Perhaps this might be his last chance to live out his denied fantasies, taking full advantage of the isolated room once the saviour came to him?
 
[ Surgical Suite 01 | Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ]
 
Like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off, Heather McMillan was no less akin to that when in the midst of excitement, terror and life-or-death situations. On the Theurgy, that was nearly every day. The young woman was of utmost confidence that she would not die of old age but of sheer fright one day, if she were to continue in this manner. Dainty and amazingly inept, she frequently leapt about to compensate for the tremors that would otherwise knock her to the ground. Some had begun to notice she almost preemptively jumped before the ship even began shaking from impacts. That she was able to administer treatments or help anyone at all without causing additional grievous harm was a miracle in and of itself, something for which she was grateful for.
 
Just as she was about to seek out Dr. Maya for further instructions, having lost track of Hebert and Maal, but she had lost track of the diminutive Vulcan as well. It was a wonder that anybody would be able to keep track of anything for long in all this chaos. All races except the Radiant were such incredible and astounding folk in how they were able to handle the chaos like it was so normal. Maybe it was for them, but McMillan would like nothing more than to have a nice quiet dwelling to live in, with her love by her side, and together they would live out in blissful peace and quiet. That was assuming she lived through this next battle, and the next, and the next...
 
The chimes on the Surgical Communications caught her ears and she whirled around immediately. Doctor Nicander! Thought McMillan, Good! I should tal...what? Maya?!? The Radiant felt frightened at this revelation. She thought the Vulcan woman was particularly friendly and peaceful, like her. This sounded uncharacteristic and particularly dangerous. Vulcans were even stronger than humans, not to mention decidedly smarter. If she thought of humans as gods, the Vulcans were something above that. What do I do now??? thought McMillan. Going after Maya would be suicidal, even if she thought she might have a chance of figuring out what happened, what if Maya decided to attack her? It would be sheer murder, and the young woman didn't fancy trying to see who was a faster runner.
 
No, logic dictated it would be more sensible to get help, and to render aid to the good Doctor Nicander first. He sounded hurt, by the sound of his voice, and that was probably just her empathy, but she would be remiss to ignore a call for help. She could always just alert Thea to Dr. Maya's actions, which might help bring more security. So many things to consider. Touching her combadge, she said, "Thea, would you be so kind as to tell me where Dr. Maya is, presently?"
 
[Doctor Maya is in Jefferies tube junction 45-C,] came the reply from Thea, which didn't tell her anything at all.
 
"Thanks, Thea."
 
Next she went over to the door to Surgical Suite 02, and examine the extent of the damage. "Oh bollocks," said McMillan. Touching her combadge again, she said, "McMillan to Nicander, I'm right outside...Dr. Maya made a mess of the door. H-hang on, I'm going to try overriding the controls through an auxiliary, okay? Bloody hell, how am I going to do that? Oh! Uh...Heather out! You weren't supposed to hear that...or that either...uhm...excuse me. Terribly sorry!"
 
Tapping her combadge multiple times, muttering to herself, the young woman finally just gave up and hoped for the best. Otherwise, Lucan cin Nicander was going to get a blow-by-blow action sequence of yours truly. Because McMillan's mouth tended to work alongside her brain with no filters in between. "Okay...okay, first, remove the panel...uhm...was it this one? No, this one...AH! COCKROACH! Oh God...no, just wires...wires! Where's that thing...uh...hey, has anyone got a...a...I don't even know what it's called, just bloody brilliant Heather, and you want to help the doctor? Oh my Lord, I can't even help myself. Oh, there it is, never mind, everyone. Uhm...as you were. I've got this!"
 
Blushing by glowing a furious red and pink, McMillan's body was alight as she set about rerouting the command and controls to open the door. Tapping her combadge, she chimed, "A-al-most done, Nicander! I mean doctor! Doctor Nicander...sorry...uhm...just hold on. Is it bad? I mean...a-are you hurt?"
 
Hearing who it was, the small grin on Dr. Nicander's face drained away. Her.
 
Why did it have to be her? What could he do? He had to keep her out. The host never knew the truth, unaware what he'd found hidden aboard the ship. Her. She was just outside. Cursing under his breath, Lucan edged away from the door and propped himself up against the bulkhead. There was no escape, not unless he went out the same way Maya did. There was no time either. She was about to get in, and there was no way to stop her. He had to strike fast. Quickly, he searched through his lab coat's pocket for an exoscalpel, but he had left it on the tray - out of reach on the other side of the biobed. By the winds, she was about to get in!
 
Working furiously with the wiring, with Bunny the bunny hopping up and sniffing at her feet quizzically, McMillan finally twisted the last wire with a soft grunt. Well we'll need an engineer and a technician to make proper repairs to this thing later, but I'll help out...or maybe I shouldn't...anyway!
 
"Okay! It's done!" said McMillan excitedly after tapping her combadge again, "Is this how the combadge works? Oh God, I hope I'm not just talking to myself here...wait I do that all the time...uh...I mean! Oh, bloody Nora, uh, let's see..."
 
Standing before the door, she looked up at it expectantly, with a half-smile, and when nothing happened, she finally resorted to knocking on it, and it suddenly opened with an almost human sigh. That was odd, she thought, I might have connected to the Holodeck too...and all thoughts left her when she saw the doctor's face. "My word!" She shone with a mild flare of shock, her light extending past herself in soft cascading glows of iridescent light. "Doctor..."
 
She stepped forward, reaching for her medical tricorder.
 
Grinding his teeth together, Lucan saw what he had come to fear since the host encountered the Radiant during the mutiny. Her powers were growing stronger, and she had no means to control it. For him, the light that hit his face was like the caress of cessation, even though he hoped she did not possess the means to fully reach his plane of existence. Her shock equalled his own trepidation, and finding himself cornered, he did what his host did so much better - try to remain calm despite any situation at hand. He wanted to lash out, but he feared she might loose whatever meagre control she had on her powers. "It is nothing, I am fine, I... There is no need to worry about me, just..."
 
"...panic, yes," said McMillan, interrupting the doctor in an uncharacteristic moment. Her body was glowing, but she wasn't concentrating on holding it down. It was more important to make sure he was okay, which he clearly wasn't. Moreover, why did he seem afraid? Why did that make her uneasy? Well, more to the point: What didn't make Heather McMillan uneasy? She moved closer, but making no sudden actions, lest she find herself in a dangerous situation. "Doctor? It's all right to let me at least look you over...I mean...I'm not going to accidentally hack your arm off...I hope..."
 
Something was off, beyond the obvious fact that a peaceful Vulcan had hurt him. It was almost as if she was causing his added distress? Maybe it was a pride thing? Nothing like being a big tough guy, only to get beaten up by a small Vulcan woman, and then promptly rescued by a tiny pacifist girl who didn't know the first thing about...a lot of things. Maybe that was it. She approached him the rest of the way, raising her tricorder to start her readings.
 
Eyes widening, Lucan tried to get away from her, but the solid bulkhead behind his back stopped any such attempt. She was already there, and he covered his eyes, not wanting to see the light. Yet it was not the sight of the brightness that pushed against him, repelled him from his long-earned hold on the host. For years, he had fought to overcome the Câroon and claim his body for his own, yet Lucan cin Nicander had - because of his species' natural immunity towards possession, telepathy or empathetic powers proved the toughest host to claim. It had made him the perfect host in the sense that his mind was intact enough to serve them to the capacity he had, yet he had also been the one hardest to compel. Now, after the attrition had come to an end, he was facing the yore resistance once more, and he his hold was slipping. Breathing coming in short gasps, it felt like he was drowning - returning to the slithering darkness from whence he had come.
 
"I'm sorry doctor," said McMillan, "but I really must insist you lower your arm. You've got head injuries."
 
It honestly took the last reserved of her nerves to speak so boldly to the man. Like just about anyone other than Commander Trent, the doctor naturally intimidated her. Gently raising a frail hand to place on the rock solid formation that was the Câroon's arm, the Radiant gently coaxed him, and at the same time finally began to control her lighting, bringing it down to a bearable level, little more than a visible glow against the existing lighting in the place. "That's better, now just hold still a moment, while I finish the preliminaries."
 
As if waking up from a dream, Lucan met the brown eyes of the Radiant.
 
And with instant clarity, he felt himself returning to his own body - having been pushed away more and more until he could but watch from inside. He had seen it all, and knew what was about to happen. He knew, and he... He could now see how he couldn't allow it. Blinking he looked between Heather and the ceiling where Maya had left. Perhaps he was already too late? No, he had to... Even if he still felt the thing that had possessed him, hiding deep down, he had to defy it. He could not let it happen. Not once more. Not again. "McMillan," he grated, voice thick. He could talk again. At any other time, he would have rejoiced, but not then. "Maya, she vanished through the grate in the ceiling, over there..."
 
He pointed to where the grate was, and then he reached out and put his surgeon's hands around her shoulders. He blinked his pale grey eyes, watery from an odd sense of releif and urgency. He could only see her, and since it was his ultimate nature, he just kept on lying. Kept on manipulating. There was no time for anything else. "She attacked me. Why? If she has been a traitor for this long, she must be after something. She must use the battle to her advantage. Her cover. I fear the worst. We must... we must follow, and stop whatever she is up to. It can't be good. it can't..."
 
She was able to identify the injuries and the appropriate treatments to apply, which she was carefully doing, still fresh with the memory of what she had done to Vojona, and thus she was now twice as cautious. Never know what might be harmful to a Câroon, and she didn't want to accidentally kill him, or she'd have to take her own life, by then. She listened to him and nodded or muttered a response. She was paying attention, but she was more interested in making sure she got the treatments right, and that he didn't strain himself any more than he already had.
 
She squeaked when he rested his hands on her shoulders, and she looked at him nervously. She felt the urgency in his words, but what he was suggesting had her spluttering. "F-follow her?!? With respect, sir, are you off your trolley? She's a Vulcan! A-and you're in no shape for another confrontation with her, and-and-and...I mean... I'm just a Radiant! What can...if we go after her...well...I mean, we should get a few other people, maybe ten or twenty security officers?"
 
Oh, yes, you are a Radiant, and that is exactly why you must come along. I should have known... Lucan thought, but he couldn't tell her why. How was he supposed to tell her that she alone could shed the alien's presence from Acreth? "There are not that many security guards left aboard, and by then, she might have already done whatever she means to do. We'll speak to Thea along the way, and she can alert the guards and send them ahead of us, but if she is one of the enemies, or some kind of saboteur, this battle is her perfect cover."
 
Just as it had been for himself. Truth wielded in untruth. "She will have some kind of plan, but we won't be a part of it. There is no time to argue. If we take away our medical tricorders and lab coats, we are wearing Starfleet uniforms, and we have to protect the ship as best as we might," he said, getting up on his feet and climbing up on the biobed. He reached for the grate in the ceiling and ripped it down. Then he reached his tattooed hand down to help her up. "I will inform Doctor O'Connor and Doctor Saugn, even call Doctor Duv back here, but I can't do this myself. Please, help me stop her."
 
"Oh Bollocks," said McMillan, "you just had to bring that up..."
 
She meant that she now wore a Starfleet uniform and bore the responsibilities of a true officer and all that entailed. She supposed if it all ended and she made it back to Earth to her parents, she would be the very first Radiant to reveal herself to the Federation at large. She wondered how this would affect all Radiant on Earth and across the universe. She didn't have time for much thought as she was soon looking at the offered hand by Dr. Nicander, and how it was against all odds, a tough elemental being of sorts, presently injured and semi-incapacitated save for what little aid she had managed to administer, and her, one of the frailest beings in existence, trying to stop a Vulcan, a being easily double the strength of any human, and rogue.
 
"If you're going to go get yourself hurt again, I suppose I better come along," said McMillan more to convince and rationalize her action of taking the offered hand and climbing once again into unknown peril.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #12 –
[Ensign ch'Xinya | Theurgy Vector 03 | Deck 15| Stellar Cartography]

Holding onto the console for dear life, Shall rode out the latest round of weapons fire raked Vector 03.  Still strapped to the chair, the Andorian wasn't at risk of getting tossed out of it again but the constant barrages were making it very difficult for him to work.  He'd long given up on trying to use the holographic projections, between the unsteady deck and his balance issues he just couldn't keep it under control.  The large screens in front of him still gave him an excellent overview of the battle, even if he kept it to a tactical view.

Small dots signified the different fighters that were buzzing around like insects, each color-coded to match their respective home ship or base.  Larger symbols marked the different ships currently in the area: Theurgy (split between the three vectors), Resolve (currently overlapped with Vector 01, something Shall still couldn't believe), Orcus, and now Chester.  And of course there was the massive dome of Starbase 84 in the center of it all.  It was almost chaos out there but Shall did his best to keep up.  Of course he didn't forget the entire reason why he was in his lab instead of out on a damage control party, every spare moment he had Shall kept track of the incoming reinforcements.  With the buffeting the Vector was taking make it much harder to pinpoint details, but their subspace signature was unmistakable.

When the Chester started on his Vector it was a bad time for the scientist.  Currently focused on his latest readings of the inbound fleet he didn't have any warning.  Something hit the ship hard, and the Andorian's head dove into the console in front of him, bouncing hard before hitting it again.  Shall wasn't sure how long he was out (if at all), but all he knew a moment later was blinding pain in his forehead.  A moment later the first drops of cobalt blood dripped past his eyes.  Quickly pressing his hand onto the cut (biting back a hiss of pain in the process), he saw the cracks in the control surface where his head met the surface.  "Great, something else to fix..."

Trying to recenter himself, Shall wiped the blood away from his eye and tried to ignore the discomfort.  Changing the control board to work around the damaged panel took a few seconds, and of course that was when the Captain's call came in.  "Stand by Captain." he responded, still trying to regain his bearings.  Shifting the lab's focus away from the battle around it, Shall brought up the latest readings from the long-range sensors.

There it was, a massive conglomeration of warp bubbles, tearing through space and subspace to get to Starbase 84 as fast as they could.  They were close too, at current speed..."Stellar Cartography to Bridge, we've got a minute, maybe a hair more."  His antenna drooped at the thought.  Unless the boarding teams got the communication systems under their control very soon this was the end.  Then it got worse.  Thanks to the much closer range the sensors could make out individual signals among the massive warp distortions, and Shall quickly ran them through the computer to see if anything matched.  A quick count while the computer worked only deepened the Andorian's fears, and the names that started appearing on the screen in front of him only confirmed it.  "By Lor'vela..." he whispered.

"Captain, the incoming fleet is Task Force Archeron."

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #13 –
[ Captain Ives | Vector 01 | Main Bridge | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

After the Theurgy had made its first pass, fired the two aft torpedo launchers and come about, Captain Ives saw the extent of the Orcus' damage.

She was reminded of how the late Rennan Cooper rigged a remote-controlled Danube-class runabout to detonate its warp core close to the Calamity. The tactic's success was the sole reason why they had been able to make a tactical retreat and allowed the Theurgy and Harbinger to go into hiding on Theta Eridani IV. That had just been one shuttle, whereas this had been the USS Resolve's core, with a wide blast radius. What Jien saw on the viewscreen was the devastating aftermath of a close proximity detonation. Slowly, she rose from her chair.

[Stand by Captain,] came the disembodied voice from Stellar Cartography, but Jien barely heard it. She was seeing how sections of the Orcus' hull had been peeled off, and secondary explosions had vented even more compartments of the ship. One of the pylons, a major structural frame, had been fractured and bent from the stress. The other one, closest to the blast, had all but been severed, hanging on by plating alone. Then, their quantum torpedoes it, and they dug deep into the secondary hull. The lights went out at that point, likely an emergency shut-down of the core. She could even see through one part of the saucer section. Hearing Carrigan Trent recite the tactical readings, Jien could but imagine how it had to be inside it. There would be spaces turning into meat grinders by shrapnel, or ovens from flash-fires and plasma leakage. There would be casualties ship-wide, either from the shockwave, or getting sucked into space.

"Sir, Orcus is out of the fight, and looks like life support is failing. Recommend hailing them, and offering terms for their surrender."

Since Vector 01 had four forward-facing torpedo launchers, she was certain that all still alive on the Orcus would die. Trent did not have to beseech her to stay her hand. Jien felt like she wanted to throw up. She knew she'd had to respond hard and swiftly in order to keep Captain Slayton from disabling the shields on the last two Vectors of the Theurgy. Had she delayed her attack, then the Chester and the remaining swarm of interceptors would have destroyed them without any further help from the Orcus. Yet seeing the outcome...

"Belay the second barrage," she said quietly, clenching her jaw. This was not the time for regrets. As sickened as she felt, she had to remain steadfast. "Captain Ives to the Orcus, if anyone can hear me... While we came here hoping to avoid casualties while we sent our message, your Captain forced my hand. In terms of your surrender, I have but one condition I would insist upon. Namely, that you evacuate your ship and focus on saving as many of your crew as you can... instead of taking up arms against us anew. Ives, out."

Turning from the viewscreen, Jien raked a hand through her hair, if nothing else to keep it from shaking. At that point, Ensign ch'Xinya's voice was heard again.

[Stellar Cartography to Bridge, we've got a minute, maybe a hair more.] Unless the simulcast got out before then, and the shields were lowered so that they might beam back the boarding teams on the base, Jien knew she faced the decision of staying at the peril of her crew, or leaving the boarding teams behind in hope that they would get the message out in their absence. With the Orcus disabled, the base having to resort to manual targetting, and the USS Chester at the mercy of their remaining fighter elements, perhaps they could linger. Jien's hopes were vanquished when the Andorian continued.

[By Lor'vela... ] A whisper of fright on the intercom. [Captain, the incoming fleet is Task Force Archeron.]

The sun was setting behind the planet, casting the space around Starbase 84 in twilight darkness. Their hopes for the boarding teams were dying with the sunlight, but could they truly abandon them? The fact that it was Admiral Sankolov that came, his fleet likely restored by the Orcus' software, put the idea in question. If the teams were left at his mercy, Jien doubted they would face trial. Rather, Sankolov and Hawthorne would have them tortured out of sight, and whatever tactical information the teams held would - eventually - be known by the enemy.

"I need ideas, people," Jien said bitterly to the present crew. "Tovarek, have the drones activate their false Valkyrie signatures and form up to distract the fleet when it arrives. Trent, be ready to send the Asurian signal on my command. Morali, what about that intel on Hawthorne that the shuttle arrived with. Anything we can use? Bridge crew of the Resolve, I know you are listening in, do you know anything we don't? We need options and we need them now."

OOC: Posting order on this bridge scene (+the conference lounge) is very loose here, so please all you with characters present, chime in as soon as you can write a reply. :) That is, unless I am missing anyone, CanadianVet, Brutus, Nolan, Hastata-Nerada, Vystori, Arista, DocReno, Mathis and Kaligos.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #14 –
[Hylota Vojona| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]  Attn: the Counselor and Auctor Lucan


          Hylota tried her best to keep herself focused and to remain calm, she had birthed unfertilized clutches before, it had been easy, just get int he pool and let her body push them out, hells she had been able to control herself and knew she needed to do the laying, but this time things were completely different. She was dealing with quite a bit of discomfort as her body worked to push the eggs out, she could already feel that they were much bigger than an unfertilized clutch, and to top it all off she was not able to maintain her stability, she was sure she could crawl, but she would be damned is she let that be the way she was getting around, she would much rather keep Maal at her side and assisting with transporting her about. Of course with how much he was panicking he was continuously fumbling with his door code and just being unable to act cohesively, this was part of why Hylota was glad he had gotten orders, having an objective set to focus on helped to reduce panic and gave an end goal to work towards, rather than Maal just standing there panicking as he looked for someone to help.

Hylota was getting pretty close to just yelling at Maal her own code to make him stop messing up, but thankfully Doctor Hayden came in to take charge once more. As she entered her code into the door and allowed Maal to guide Hylota inside, Hylota looked to Hayden and gave a thankful nod as she did her best to walk along with Maal. As  she saw the tank she let out a sigh, it was not exactly what she was used to with the Ovri setup, but to be fair she could not expect them to fabricate a special tub for her for a single use and just keep it around to be filled with water at a moments notice, it was just not practical, and at least this setup had some conveniences built in, she would be able to sit and relax through this for the most part.

As they moved into the room proper and Hayden began to talk about the steps that they should be taking Hylota huffed and lifted one of her legs. She had to put a lot more of her weight on Maal, but as she did she reached own and undid the clasp on her boot letting it loosen so she could slip her webbed foot out. Without the boot Hylota was actially surprisingly more stable as her toes spread out wide and she lifted her other boot up to be undone. "I think I can get most of this stuff off on my own, but I will need some help getting over to and getting into the pool." Hylota looked to Hayden and huffed as he slipped her other foot out of her last boot. "I think it would be best if Maal were to be the one helping me with that. He has already proved himself quite the useful structural support." Hylota let out a chuckle and squirmed a little as she reached into the waist of her uniform's pants and began to push them down. "Also please do not waste time on gowns, I am not exactly squeamish about my nudity, and I do not feel that either of you might try and take advantage of me as I am." She began to breath a bit more heavily as she pushed her pants off of her hips and exposed her slit.

Hylota's sex was parted and slick with natural lubricant and her internal walls were flexing rather regularly. "By the mother, M-Maal, please help me into the pool, I do not care if my top gets wet, we can jut pull it off when I am in place, I am sure I will not be needing this again." Hylota let herself be guided to the edge of the pool and as she was helped into place she sighed as she felt the water on her scaled skin. "Oh sweet mother that is so good, I cannot remember the last time I had access to this much actual water." As she no longer needed Maal for support she gripped the base of her top and lifted it out of the water and pulled her last article of clothing off. Her body was smooth and looked  like it was getting smoother as it was exposed to the water, as she threw her top to the ground Hylota began to rub the water over her body. "This feels nice." Hylota let otu a sigh and settled into the recliner in the pool.



[Vinata Vojona| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]  Attn: Auctor Lucan

          Vinata was so absorbed in his actions, sorting out patients and assisting with the triage process that he began to shut out the world around him as he focused on his readings and charts. He was going form patient to patient until he realized that his sister was no longer giving out orders or notifying people about patients, looking up and about he tried to locate his sister and Vinata tried to figure out where she had gone...had she gone into labor? Oh by the stone mother he needed to locate her and assist in the birthing. "Dammit Hylota why did you have to come in to duty today." He bit his lip and was about to head off to find Hylota when he heard the door open to the sickbay and he figured he could take care of one more concussion before finding his sister, turning around Vinata was not expecting what he came to gaze upon.

Vinata's breath caught in his throat as he looked at the crewman, the poor man was clearly in shock, his uniform was speckled with burns and small tears all spreading out from about waist height, but that was not made Vinata stare at the crewman, it was the arm he was carrying that caught his attention. This crewman had been caught in what had most likely been a terminal explosion, the explosions usually were small but very hot, and the blast had ripped the poor man's arm off at the elbow and likely cauterized the wound, the shock that it caused, well it was amazing the man had managed to get this far. Vinata was so lost in the sight that it took the Crewman speaking to snap him out of his daze. "I-I need h-help...it came off."

Vinata's eyes widened and he rushed to the man. "Yes, Yes over here, please come here I need to inspect you right away." Vinata was quick to get a hold of the man and make sure he got support, he did not want them to fall down suddenly if the adrenaline wore off. Vinata moved the man to a bed and quickly began to take the vital scans, their body had suffered some small amounts of minor trauma from the shock wave of the blast, lucky for the crewman they were not a major threat, there were also some bits of metal shrapnel peppering his skin, but the cauterization made it clear that they had been red hot when they had sunk in, but the big thing was the arm, there was a lot of damage, but nothing that could not be repaired with intensive care. There was still metal over and inside the wound that would need to be removed, but the bones appeared to be in tact for the most part.

Swallowing hard Vinata began to look around. "A-Alright I think we will be able to save the arm, we just...we just..." Vinata's eyes widened in mild panic as he noticed that most of the doctoral staff was away. Looking about frantically Vinata managed to spot Doctor Saugn and he rushed over to him...at least he thought it was a male in his panic. "Doctor, Doctor I need your assistance sir, please there is a man with his arm blown off, we need your assistance to clean up the wound and begin the process of reattaching it." He motioned to the patient and then looked to Saugn. "Please we must move to save the arm. I will get the supplies we need, we need to clean the metal out of his wounds and then begin the process of regenerating the tissue to reattach the arm sir." Vinata waited for instruction as he prepared to grab the tools they needed.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #15 –
[ Liam Herrold | Corridors > Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Hastata-Nerada & SummerDawn

Even if he was on an unfamiliar ship, Liam Herrold did know Starfleet ship layouts, and it didn't take him a minute to find a control panel in the corridor and key up the interior layout of the saucer section that he had ended up on together with F'Rell. A quick glance over his shoulder told him that the T'fanrell was still keeping up with him. "Here! I know where to go. This way!"

It was more or less a curved line down the corridor, and he sprinted down its length, barely bumping into anyone since people were at their battle stations. With smoke still in his lungs, he had to pause and take a few deep breaths, cough his lungs out, and let F'Rell catch up with him. She was cast in the Red Alert lights in the corridor, making her iridescent glimmer distorted. Once she caught up, he set off again, the last fifty meters covered as quickly as he could given the state of his breathing. "Here it is!"

Passing through the sliding doors, they emerged on the second level landing platform of the Theurgy's upper shuttle bay. It seemed that because of its MVAM capability, there was no room for a shuttle bay that stretched far into the hull, the layout instead being U-shaped around the negative space where Vector 02 would fit once back in standard operation mode. At the particular platform that Liam and F'Rell emerged upon, there was a single craft sitting on one of the landing pads - a sleek thing that kind of looked like an old shuttle design, but had undergone a recent refit. The sight of it made Liam pause, frowning at the oddity of it, but he dismissed it right away since there was supposed to be a fighter cockpit from the Grey Wolves somewhere in the bay.

"Maybe it's below," he said to F'Rell, and ran past the sleek gunship and to the railing that overlooked the bottom level of the shuttle bay, and as he suspected, there was a Valkyrie cockpit pod sitting there, with a small team of Theurgy personnel trying to get into it. They were mostly teal-collared medical personnel, so they were having some difficulty. Adrenaline still pumping through his veins, he looked for a lift that would get him down there, and while it was likely at either distant end of the platform, he turned back to F'Rell. "Can you give me a lift down? Its definitely one of ours, and they not even gotten the pilots out of it yet."

He had another fit of coughing, and behind him, the massive shuttle bay doors closed - hiding the development of the battle.   

OOC: Another post comes up tomorrow for the Sickbay scenes. :)

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #16 –
[ Sera vers Aldnoah | SS Sabine & Theurgy Conference Room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Kaligos & All
[Show/Hide]


As the adrenaline began to subside after their somewhat rough landing. Sera quickly went through her normal shutdown procedures and also locked the ship down with her personal passcode. She knew that since it was a Federation ship, any dedicated engineer would eventually be able to crack it, not to mention if they had a universal backdoor override, but it gave her peace of mind nonetheless. As she grabbed her clothes and equipment she wanted on her still, she noticed Jack's underwear near her pilot's seat, but she just grinned playfully to herself and didn't say anything. She'd make him come back for it if they survived the battle, and she got a kick out of knowing he was going commando.

They were greeted within seconds of arrival, or so it seemed, and their greeter initiated a site-to-site transport before Sera had time to object or ask where she was being sent. She would not go to their brig, she had entered this ship on good faith! She raised a hand in protest as the transport began, and then slowly lowered it when she saw her surroundings. They were in a conference room with other, somewhat disheveled-looking crewmembers. Other survivors from that other Federation ship, perhaps? She zipped her leather coat up a bit more to hide the amount of cleavage and midriff her usual outfit normally showed.

She felt and saw Jack come up beside her after the transport and was somewhat comforted by his presence. Their arms brushed each other and she trailed her hand down his forearm for a moment to acknowledge and express gratitude for his presence. They'd known each other for such a short time, but he knew her better than anyone else, and he might need to vouch for her among his people.

Sera took in the room, taking note of each person present. Among others, there was a formidable Andorian who had a commanding, 'don't mess with me,' air about him, two Cardassians, one not in Starfleet uniform, a human female in the same color uniform as Jack, as well as an attractive human male with dark hair. Their eyes met briefly as she scanned the room. He was interested in her, but it seemed more of a threat analysis than anything else.

Sera had been hesitant to introduce herself, content to wait until the battle was over in silence. However, when Jack did, she felt everyone's eyes turn to her and felt compelled to. "Sera vers Aldnoah, captain of the SS Sabine." She'd never called herself a captain before, but her ship was a bit more impressive, and everyone else in the room, she assumed, had a flaming rank, so she might as well give herself one.


[ Ens. Derik Veradin | Conference Room | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]


Derik looked up, surprised as three people began materializing in the conference room via transport. As first he tensed, worried about a possible boarding party, reaching for the knife he carried in his boot, but before his hand got down very far, he realized they were not armed, at least not that he could tell. One of the two females looked very calm and at home, so Derik assumed she was a member of Theurgy's crew who had accompanied the other two there. One of the newcomers was an easy on the eyes junior lieutenant in science green to his side was a fierce, and fiercely beautiful woman not wearing a Starfleet uniform. Their eyes met briefly as she scanned the room, she seemed surprised to have found herself where she did. If he was into women, she would be on his radar. Her tattooed hand was exotic and the outfit hidden under the zipper of the coat she was raising looked fun.

She introduced herself and he recognized the name of her ship from one of those that had been involved in the battle outside, having escaped from the station, also being chased by interceptors. They'd had that in common, and he remembered being impressed with what little he'd been able to see of her piloting.

Everyone's attention in the room though was suddenly turned to the brilliant blue-white explosion of a warp core up against the Orcus, tearing into the ship's shields and then hull, like a terrible burn. Derik winced, knowing his ship's core had just done that. The Resolve's heart had just been sacrificed in its dying breath to give them an edge to hopefully survive.

He had no answer for Captain Ives' question of ideas. If he couldn't punch it or fly it, he was more or less useless.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #17 –
[ Maya | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Jeffries Tube between Decks Seven and Eight]

Meanwhile, in the Jeffries tube between the Theurgy's security center on Deck Seven and the holodecks on Deck Eight long slender fingers danced across an LRCS screen connected to a junction box attached the conduit powering the network of sensors and holoprojectors for Decks Seven and Eight.  Doctor Maya's large hazel eyes were glassy and unblinking as she typed in the combination Lucan had taught her.  Once she had access to the maintenance screen, she waited until the ship rocked with the impact of an enemy shot against the shields before cutting power to that section of the hologrid as well as the intercom.  If she timed it right, it would just be considered a malfunction caused by a power surge.

[ USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Deck Seven | Security Center | Gym ]

Minutes later, in the gym in the Theurgy's security center on Deck Seven, a panel in the floor opened a short, lithe figure crawled out of the opening carrying a box that was almost large enough to contain a human head. Moving in a smooth yet jerky style reminiscent of an android, the greenblooded physician closed the access panel, sat on the little gym's bench press, set the box beside her, and removed her shoes, revealing feet so pale as to be almost bone white.  She had already discarded her combadge so that her movements could not be traced; it was located several decks below in the Jefferies tube near junction 45-C.  

The little Vulcan then picked up her box, rose from the bench with an eerie smoothness and left the room.  Her footfalls were completely swallowed the sounds of the ship, the thudding of impacts against the deck, and the hiss of the doors as she glided through the head, the locker room, and into the corridor that circled around the chamber where the main security work center was located.  The hiss of the door bisecting the corridor near the deputy chief security officer's office seemed deafening, but no one seemed to hear it over the general quarters alarm and the vibration of the superstructure as the Theurgy's second stardrive vector nicknamed "the sword" maneuvered through the void of space in an effort to avoid a direct hit.

The people in the main security work center would be monitoring the decks of the sword right now, checking for ship damage or injured crewmembers in need of assistance.  The odds of anyone checking a monitor in the security center itself was quite low, especially given the understaffed position the security department was currently in due in part to the late Declan Vasser's aborted coup.

[ Ensign Colin McArthur | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Deck Seven | Security Center | Security Lobby ]

At the main entrance to the Theurgy 's security center was a lobby with waiting area with chairs and benches to the left and three doors leading to interviewing rooms on the right.  Facing both the waiting area and the door was the aide duty station composing of a console and a chair.  Behind the chair was the door to the circular room where ten security specialists could monitor the ship or get some desk work done.  Curving around the circular room to the left and right behind the aide duty station were two corridors, one leading offices the armory, the lounge, the gym, and the evidence locker, and one leading to the brig.

Sitting at the console at the aide duty station was Ensign Colin McArthur.  A young and gentle soul with a strong moral center, he was still kicking himself for mutinying while under the mental influence of T'Rena, the first officer of the Harbinger who had let her despair at the realities of the corruption of Starfleet push her over the edge.  He could only be thankful that he hadn't really hurt anyone while under her influence and that Doctor Maya had managed to remove T'Rena's mutinous influences. 

But right now his mind wasn't on either of those two women.  Currently he was thinking about the one in the brig that went by the name of Sonja Acreth.  If the scuttlebutt was true, she had killed the Harbinger's chief security officer with her bare hands before killing a half dozen more people before she was finally recaptured.  Colin really didn't know how many people she had killed; every time he heard the tale the body count got larger.  And when the lights flickered he damn near had a panic attack.  He tapped the screen on his console to change the view from the corridors outside to the brig to assure himself that Acreth's cell hadn't lost its force field and that Warrant Officer Devon Striker was still alive.

Sonja Acreth was still in her cell but looked like a lioness poised to spring.  She was waiting for the brig force fields to drop and if they did it was obvious she was going to kill everyone on the way to the door.  Or maybe she was simply staying alert to see if the ship would blow up.  Either way she was waiting for something, and Colin was hoping that whatever it was it never came.

He never noticed Maya sneak up behind him until he felt her cold fingertips on the back of his neck, and then he was paralyzed.  He was awake but couldn't move!   By a heroic feat of effort he managed to blink but all he could do was watch helplessly as the raven haired woman as pale as death moved into his field of vision and stared at him with glassy, unseeing hazel eyes.  One look into those eyes and Colin thought There's nobody home.  He could only sit there with the fingertips from her right hand pressing down on the back of his neck and watch the little Vulcan's left hand open and cover his face with long spidery fingers.  He was almost grateful when her right hand removed itself from his neck to pinch the trapezius nerve bundle between his neck and his right shoulder and sent him into merciful unconsciousness.

[ Maya | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Deck Seven | Security Center | Security Lobby ]

Once her mind touch had given her the security codes she needed Maya rendered Ensign McArthur unconscious with a nerve pinch and gently pushed him so that he was leaning backward in his chair.  Searching his person, she extracted a small concealable type I phaser from his pocket and set it on stun before turning her attention to the console before her to open the doors to the security gate and the interrogation rooms so that she now had four different ways into the brig proper.  

[ Warrant Officer Devon Striker | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Deck Seven | Security Center | Brig ]

Warrant Officer Devon Striker had the brig shift today and he hoped that the Theurgy's second stardrive vector nicknamed the 'sword' didn't suffer major damage during the fight.  He knew he was being ridiculous, but on a personal level even the destruction of the sword would be better than the brig force field losing power and his being killed by a possessed prisoner who called herself Sonja Acreth.  From his view at his duty station, the row of cells extended out in front him with the doors the interrogation rooms behind him and the main security gate to his left. 

He knew something was up when the doors to the security gate and the interrogation rooms opened all at once.  He rose from his station to glance through interrogation room three to ask Ensign McArthur at the aide duty station a question when he realized that he had turned his back on the row of cells.  How could he be so stupid?  If a power surge caused all the doors to open, what if they caused the force field sealing Acreth's cell to fail?  Whirling, he faced the row of cells and drew his type II pulse phaser pistol so quickly and smoothly that he could have been a holodeck character.  No one was there.  He checked his console.  Acreth's force field was still up.  He breathed a sigh of relief and reached for his combadge to ask McArthur if he had opened the doors.  He had been so sure that a raven haired woman who only appeared human would put out his lights...

...and that's exactly what happened as Maya crept up behind him and pinched his trapezius nerve bundle with her long slender fingers.  He dropped his weapon with a spasm and collapsed in her arms as she gently lowered him to the deck.  She then went back into the room with Ensign McArthur where she retrieved her box and returned to the brig, daintily gliding down the row of cells until she arrived at the one which was occupied.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #18 –
[ Nurse Maal | Isolation Ward 02 | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: 1) The Counselor 2) Zenozine

At a complete loss with what he was supposed to do, Maal leapt at any task he was asked to preform. So when asked to help Hylota into the pool, he would have tripped over himself and more or less hurled his past Ovri lover into the water. What stopped him was the highly uncomfortable situation where the Head Nurse exposed herself so freely in front of him and the Chief Counsellor. Mouth agape, he realised he didn't really know what he had expected. Of course she had to undress, but the last time he had been with Hylota when so bared to his eyes, the circumstances had been altogether different. The most surreal thing about it all, obviously, was that it had only been a bit over a week ago, and now she was about to have his offspring! Seeing her body exposed in the height of her pregnancy that soon afterwards made his mind reel, and he felt light-headed.

Shuffling his feet, eyes wide, and with his hands shaking, he tried to keep both their balance as best as he might, even if the ship rocked from sustained phaser fire. There was a loud scraping noise too, as if something almost collided into the hull but managed to change course. Weren't they supposed to be protected by shields? Was the Vector's shields gone? The idea that they might all die any moment in the battle were not exactly ideal circumstances for Maal either, even if he did actually keep Hylota upright and managed to lower her into the seat of the birthing pool.

The rocking if the ship kept him unbalanced however, so it only took the sight of Hylota removing her top and tossing it aside, along with the most nominal of impacts of enemy fire, and Maal lost his footing. With an indignant cry, he ended up falling head first into the birthing pool, right next to Hylota, and came up gasping and soaked, his short-cut, coarse hair on end. His mind narrowed down on the blood-curdling crisis he faced. He didn't know whether it was the birthing about to commence, the battle or the combination. He directed himself to Counsellor O'Connor as if she knew exactly what he should do.

"Hurry, Human," he beseeched her, coughing water, "Haul them out of her! Do you need assistance?"

Of course he knew he wasn't making sense, somewhere deep down, but right then, his mind drew a blank on all the hours he'd spent being taught obstetric and pediatric care.


[ Doctor Lahkesis Saugn | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: Zenozine

As well-versed Doctor Saugn was in medical and surgical care, regardless of her lack of experience and short life-span, she was also quite nervous around strangers - especially any new species she hadn't encountered before. Of course, she'd had some dealings with the two Ovri from the Harbinger before, something that had been unavoidable since Hylota Vojona replaced Eve Jenkins as Head Nurse, but the female-looking brother had just returned to duty in Sickbay recently, so Lahkesis only mustered to say "Okay..." before the didgitgrade alien continued to talk about what needed to be done.

Wringing pale non-flesh hands, her mind caught up with the situation, seeing the patient who still was sitting on the edge of a biobed in the ER with his arm in his lap - looking at everything and nothing at the same time. The patient was clearly still in shock. "Okay, the surgical suites are occupied, so we need to stabilise his condition, first, and if we can, we should prepare him for the surgery. You have to... You have to kindly ask and take the severed arm away from him. Once you have it, put it into a stasis container. We'll see how much we can do for him right away, but regardless, the metal must be removed and the wound cleaned. There are more patients coming in, and if such an operation can be postponed without consequences for the patient, that's what he have to do."

Other medical personnel came to her, asking her about other patients, and that was when the Ensign realised she was on her own in Sickbay. Her being the ranking officer, she heard the words of the other staff. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and turned back to the Ovri. "I'm sorry. You have to try and take care of the wound and remove the metal yourself. Do you think you can do that? We have patients with more critical injuries, and the other doctors are unavailable. I can, hopefully, guide you with my combadge if you have difficulties. Do what you can for him, Nurse, but I can't make him my priority right now."

Then she walked away, stumbling when the ship was hit by phaser fire. Not looking back, Lahkesis hoped the Ovri brother was up to the task. She had acted as she had been taught in the Academy, even if it had been an unprecedented situation for her. Lahkesis could but hope she'd made the right choice.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #19 –
[ Lt.Com. Martin | Conference Lounge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Anyone in the conference lounge
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As far as ideas for the day went, Martin had exhausted her supply. She was no longer aboard the Resolve, now within the conference room of an unfamiliar starship with an unfamiliar configuration. She could simply think of nothing else to help the situation they were currently faced with. All of a sudden, her thoughts were abruptly wrenched away as a brilliant blue-white flare erupted into her vision, as the beating core of the Resolve released the full force of its contained fury upon the ship that was assailing them. It was a beautiful yet haunting sight, the last hurrah of the device which propelled her now former starship, tearing apart in a dazzling display of atomic forces and neutrino scatter, like a syzygy of beauty and despair. There was no turning back now, Martin knew that, the Resolve was finished and her crew beaten. Their hope now lay in this last remaining vessel within which both she and her fellow crew currently found themselves.

Martin wrenched her thoughts away from the exploding core and returned to the conference room, noticing that a few new individuals had arrived. One was definitely not Starfleet, though she did seem to have the swirling tattoos characteristic of the natives of Câroon. After briefly entertaining ideas regarding what she could have possibly done to find herself in this disastrous situation, she moved on to the individual next to each other, who appeared... Was this man a hybrid? He certainly seemed to have the characteristic cranial shape of a Human-Klingon hybrid. This one was clearly Starfleet, and Martin wondered what connection he held to the Câroon woman. Whatever the answer, Martin said nothing for now, preferring to absorb the unfolding crisis in grim contemplation.


[ F'Rell of the Twelfth House | From Corridors to the Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Resolve ] Attn: Auctor
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With the danger feeling (relatively) distant for now, F'Rell's thoughts turned to other things as she swam through the air in following with Liam. It appeared that no matter the ship, the primitively constructed Federation vessels were drab and simple without fail. As much as the T'Fanrell preferred to remain isolated, she did feel that the Federation's engineers could stand to learn from the beautiful and flowing designs of T'Fanrell vessels. Intricate glass-like nanopolymers woven into graceful shapes and gossamer strands, with a soft luminescence lighting up the entire vessel like a mysterious creature of the lower seas. Much preferable to the stark and plain walls which consistently surrounded her.

A fit of coughing from her companion made her approach steadily and pause, looking down. She had seen this happen to many humanoids before, it seemed to be tied with smoke, leading F'rell to theorize long ago that humans could not handle specific densities and particulates in the air. Regardless, it raised some concern, but before she could speak, Liam seemed to recover and continue on his journey expediently. F'Rell was not quite sure what Liam's motivation was, but assumed it had something to do with the fighter cockpit that Kowalski had mentioned. She assumed that there might be someone important to him involved; or perhaps he was simply very proud of its construction.

Entering the shuttle bay, F'Rell was momentarily relieved to see an apparent improvement in Federation designs when she noticed the sleek and streamlined hull of a small ship located nearby. Just as F'Rell began to hover towards it, Liam made it clear that there were other plans, but stopped at the edge of their current level. Following where Liam was looking, she saw a cluster of humanoids that had gathered around one of the Resolve's combat craft. Without needing to hear Liam's request, she swooped around to the front of the ledge and hoisted him into her tendrils, before she began swimming to the lower level where the fighter pod awaited.
 

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #20 –
[Captain Marcus A. Slayton/ Main Bridge-USS Orcus]

Following the dual blow from the Theurgy, slowly the surviving bridge crew started to pull themselves together as they took in their surroundings.

"Status Reports!" snapped the Executive Officer as he looked around the damaged room, trying to spot any sign of their commanding officer amid the rubble.

The Operations Manager pushed the debris off of her station and worked quickly to try and bring up something, anything really to see how badly their ship was damaged, one of the still functioning systems showed a text read out of the enemy commander's last hail. "I got something, apparently the Theurgy's command sent one last hail saying that if we back off, s/he'll let us live." the Ops Manager stated after a quick read.

"How quaint..doesn't excuse hir for being a traitorous, terrorist bitch." came the slightly raspy voice of the ship's commanding officer as he worked to pull himself out from under some of the wreckage.

"Help me here." The Executive Officer shouted followed by the Ops Manager, the sole surviving security officer, and the chief of sciences helped to get the large chunk of debris off of their captain and what they saw made them wince.

As Captain Marcus Alexander Slayton stood up, the Orcus' navigator moved out from under her captain who had shielded her from the falling debris and moved to quickly help her captain to sit down in the center chair as he was moving slightly gingerly.

The right side of Slayton's face was a bloody mess, his hair was slightly matted and it was completely covering his right eye which no one could tell if the eye was still there or not due to the apparent damage there and from the way that he was holding his left forearm, something there might be damaged as well.

"I believe the First Officer demanded a situation report?" Slayton said in a bit of a growl due to the inhalation of smoke.

The Operations Manager nodded as the security officer came back with a medical kit and started to work on their captain. "From what little I can see, sir, is that we'rd dead in space. Life support is struggling to stay active but most of major systems from tactical on down to propulsion."

The guard looked over his readings and then grabbed a dermal regenerator. "Sir, you have a major laceration to your scalp and have lost some blood and.." the guard started to say, unsure how much more he should tell his captain.

If it bothered him, Slayton simply let out a snort and said "This ship may down but she is not out. Operations I want you to contact the starbase and start evacuation operations to the survivors of the crew, if the rumbling that I am feeling that's coming up from the deck plates is any indication then I think we have about less then thirty minutes to do something about it."

The Operations lead simply nodded and headed over to her station to do as her captain ordered before Slayton turned his head to look at his XO. "I want you to contact the rest of the crew, anyone from security once beamed onto the station is to help track down and neutralize the boarding teams from the Theurgy. I am ordering that all phasers from this ship that go across is to be set to heavy stun.."

Slayton stopped speaking as he doubled over in pain as he clutched the bloody side of his head at which point the security guard dropped the regenerator and picked up the tricorder. "Captain, your right orbital and socket bones were damaged by the combination of impact and debris, we need to get you to a sickbay and surgical team or you'll loose that eye."

Slayton's good eye locked it's ice blue gaze upon the young officer in front of him and held his gaze for a moment at which point the guard simply looked away before his captain simply nodded in agreement. "I want my orders followed, Number One. I also don't want any quarter shown to any officer or crew member known to be apart of the Theurgy. I want them stunned first and then we'll consider asking them questions later."

Slayton's eye then fell upon the navigator who was looking at him with some concern and his own gaze softened. "Navigation, if you can use the thrusters to move us into a better alignment with the station it will help us to get a better transporter lock considering any possible interference from the Resolve's warp core explosion."

The young trill woman simply nodded and started to input the commands into her station as she attempted to do just that.

Slayton's gaze then shifted over to the guard in front of him. "Give me something for the pain, just strong enough that I can walk without falling down in pain."

The guard nodded as the remains of his bridge crew went about their duties, leaving Slayton himself to lasp into a thoughtful quiet as he tried to ignore the intense pain that he was starting to feel.

His pain was so great that he was shuddering every so often just hard enough that it made goosebumps appear across his exposed skin as he went to hold his left forearm again as he thought about what had happened and it only served to make him even more angry.

"So this is what George meant by the rage he felt when the Malinche was damagd by the Maquis.." Slayton said in a low tone as he glared with his one good eye at the view screen which flickered with a vision of the Theurgy's primary Vector starting to pull away, he glared at it hard enough that he prayed that Ives could feel it through the void and slap hir with the intensity of it.

"One way or another, Ives..your ass belongs to me, I will run you to ground and ensure that you pay for every single death this day." Marcus Alexander Slayton swore as his left hand flexed into a fist.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #21 –
[ Dr. Silim Parnak | Corridor | U.S.S. Theurgy ] Attn: FollowTomorrow, Vystori, Anyone else 

Turning a corner, Silim Parnak found himself face to face with yet another empty corridor.

"How does anyone find anything around here?!" He sighed exasperated. After accidentally being separated from the bridge crew of the Resolve, Silim had walked for an indeterminate amount of time. He had followed from corridor to corridor, only stopping once to ask that infernal computer for the location of a conference room, only to be told that there were over 20 different conference facilities aboard Theurgy. He didn't understand why the Federation insisted on programming their computers to such unhelpful devices. Then again, he didn't much enjoy his own people's foray into artificial intelligence. This was probably yet another reason why he was a Exobiologist rather than a Computer Scientist. If there was something to find out or an issue to fix, it would only take a quick scan to get the answer. No need to climb through miles of tubes fault finding.

Down the corridor, he walked, following the long curve which seemed to lead to yet more doors. As per usual, Federation facilities lacked the common sense of a Cardassian layout. If this had been a Keldon class Starship, he'd have found his way by now. Then again, Parnak mused, if what he had seen on the Federation News Network was correct, then this ship was nearly the length of a Nor type Starbase. Perhaps, in that case, should he just start opening doors? Probably not, he lamented, it'd most likely be that he'd find umpteen cafés, beauty salons and cinemas rather than his desired location. Federation ideals on what to place on a warship was rather, well, alien.

Up ahead the doors parted and out came the first people he had seen since leaving the airlock. It was the Efrosian and the cybernetically enhanced Brunali from the Resolve. He was saved! Jogging to catch up, Silim thought back to the time they had spent together in the briefing room of the now abandoned vessel, searching for their names.

As a child of the Union, Silim had undergone the extensive education befitting his upper-middle class family. This included the rigorous mental training that granted him the eidetic memory he so cherished. Probing over the events which had led him to this place, he found the name for the long-haired engineer when Kendrick gave out assignments.

"Suq!" He called, closing the final gap between them. "It's about time you showed up..." Parnak started, as if he had been waiting for them all along. It just wouldn't do to let them know he had gotten lost; After all, he was a welcome guest, not a first-year cadet. "... We should along get to the conference room. The others will be waiting for us."

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #22 –
[ Liam Herrold | Corridors > Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Hastata-Nerada & SummerDawn

Holding on to F'Rell, Liam hit the deck running once they got down to the lower platform and the fighter cockpit. There was an EMH there, same kind as they'd had on the Resolve, who had assisted Doctor Lyhn during the years away from Federation space. Liam just realised that the trusty hologram would likely be destroyed now that the Resolve was no more. Furthermore, even if he knew the balding projection in front of him was not the same, it was nonetheless a reassuring sight... despite his poor bedside manners.

"Can I help you and your... friend?" asked the EMH when Liam and F'Rell arrived by the cockpit pod, "We are quite busy here, with patients inside this that needs medical attention."

Liam didn't answer at first, his eyes raised to the markings below the edge of the cockpit canopy, stating:

WOLF-03 NEKO & MERLIN | GREY WOLVES SQUADRON | USS RESOLVE NX-91985

While he cared for all the pilots among the Wolves, it was K'Ren that had advanced their working relationship in the Fighter Assault Bay to something a bit more intimate, and with all the feelings involved in the mutual interest, seeing her callsign on the cockpit pod caused Liam more distress than he'd thought it would. Ignoring the EMH, Liam brushed past the hologram and climbed up the side of it, trying to look into the interior. It was dark inside, all power cut, so he jumped down again and raked his fingers through his hair. The medical personnel only had medkits with them, but there was one operations officer present that he walked up to. "I need that cutterbeam to get them out."

"Hey, you'll need a bipolar torch to get that open," protested the officer but Liam would have none of it. He was already climbing up on the cockpit pod.

"You are not familiar with these Gryphon-class fighters are you with your pilots using those Mk III?" he said rhetorically, pushing himself on top of the smoking pod. Without pause, he applied the cutter beam to the aft edge of the canopy glass. "The stand-alone power generator has been damaged by phaser fire, and their life support system is offline. We need to get air into the cockpit else they'll suffocate. I will free the canopy but I need help flipping it over to the side once it's come loose. You three, begin pushing upwards when I say so."

It took him less than 30 seconds to make the incisions he needed, then he put the beam cutter aside and wrapped his weapon's greased fingers underneath the freed edge of the canopy. "Three, two, one, now!" he said and tried to lift the heavy glass canopy as best as he might, and he could feel the physicans and the operations officer beginning to push too. The first attempt failed, Liam loosing his grip, but the second time, he asked F'Rell to help them as best as she might. With their combined strength and buoyancy, they eventually managed to flip it aside, revealing Neko and Merlin in their seats - helmets still on.

"Neko!" called Liam, climbing across the damaged cockpit interior and reaching the half-Caitian pilot. The helmet was intact, and hopefully her exosuit had kept her alive. He released the pressure seal and removed the helmet just as the EMH had climbed up as well, running a medical tricorder over her. "Will she be all right?"

OOC: SummerDawn is next! :) Feel free to NPC the EMH in giving the reply.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #23 –
[ K'Ren | Shattered Cockpit > Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Hastata-Nerada

The world following her order to punch out had been one of tumbling and flame followed by darkness and the weightlessness of space as she tumbled, a small pod adrift in a maelstrom of fire and combat. K'Ren knew her chances of survival were slim as damage to the pod had been extensive, leaks in the pressure seals bleeding air from the pod, her suit all that sat between her and the cold vacuum of space. A small reassuring jolt bumped her craft minutes later, a shift in the tumble, somebody had picked her up and was hauling her to safety.

She was injured, she knew this much given the pain screaming at her from several points on her slight frame. A bone or two broken, bruises all over from the massive jolt that threw the cockpit clear of the warp core. That definitely wasn't the ejection motors that separated them from their doomed craft. She felt herself drifting in and out of consciousness as the air in the craft became thin, her own suit compensating as best it could but it wasn't designed for long term vacuum exposure, a few minutes at most before a SAR team snagged her with a transporter. The escape pod was designed to retain the atmosphere long term and it had been compromised.

A second bump, harder then the first and K'ren felt the addition of gravity in the pod, meaning she was back on safe ground. Gravity meant though that her body slumped back in the chair, her broken body taking the force of gravity again, broken ends grating against each other, causing K'Ren to cry out in pain. She couldn't hear her backseater which meant he was unconscious or dead, hopefully the former. She had more pressing matters though as she could hear the sounds of voices outside the cockpit, and the hissing noise of a torch near the aft of her pod cutting the craft open. She could feel the fresh air rush in, replacing the thin acrid air, and she took a few deep breaths, regaining her senses slowly. Very quickly, the canopy was freed and with a screech of damaged mag-hinges, K'Ren could see past her smoke blackened cockpit and knew she was on a flight-deck.

The sudden flood of light and sound was almost too much, an assault on her senses but K'Ren heard a familiar voice calling her name. She struggled to undo her restraints, only to discover one of her arms was broken and she winced at the pain. One of the deck crew hurriedly pulled her helmet off and as K'Ren's eyes adjusted to the light, she could see Liam, his face looking down at her, a worried expression on his face, her helmet in his hand. "Liam." She called back. She so wanted to leap into his arms in that moment, hug and kiss the young man. He'd survived, she'd survived, and she wanted nothing more then to curl up in his arms and forget the whole ordeal. But she was still strapped into her fighter and could barely move for the pain though.

And that blasted EMH, as if on cue started scanning her over. "Multiple contusions, deep tissue damage, several broken vertebrae, a broken leg and broken arm. She needs to be taken to sickbay Petty Officer. She will survive." He noted, having observed this sort of interactions between in times of crisis, that these two obviously were close. The EMH began to scan over her RIO, "I am afraid your RIO did not make it Ensign. His death was mercifully quick," the hologram noted.

Stepping aside, the EMH let the rest of the flight-deck crew, who were versed in cockpit recovery, take over and it wasn't long before K'Ren felt herself surrounded on both sides as several deck hands began to unhook her from her fighter, and began the careful but quick extraction process. She was soon strapped to a body board, head and neck restrained, lying on the deck on a stretcher as med techs cut into her flight-suit, easing the work they had to do. She saw Liam nearby and took his hand. "The ship?" she asked, unsure where she was, as this flight-deck was far larger then the one she called home.

Re: Chapter 07: Cost of Truth

Reply #24 –
[ Lt. Jg. Suq | U.S.S. Theurgy ]

He saw the unnamed crewman, drifting toward doom in space, it was Kendrick's face, Kendrick's body, the bodies of every single man and woman he just bombed to smithereens using his stupid, stupid warp core idea, his mental walls crumpled like Federation grade sheet metal against years of strife--

"Suq!" The voice snapped him back to reality. He hasn't been on a ship this nice and clean and well formed in years. But who the hell was this guy? Should he know him? Ths Cardassian knows his name, but he's only ever met one Cardassian in his life. He thinks.

"Uh, hey. Good to see you again. We were just on our way..." He spoke, his voice betraying far more stress than he meant to reveal. He has used to pride himself on his calm mind under pressure, and for a while, he had been doing okay. He never used to break down this quickly. Is his one redeeming trait already going? And above all that--does this guy he apparently should know really need to know about his impending mental breakdown? I wish I could be a little more like Ejek, he thought.

"Right, conference room. That's where everyone is waiting on us. So where is that again?" He stared right at Parnak, expecting maybe he'd know. Cardassians are smart, aren't they? Ejek is.

Realizing that Parnak might not know any more than he would, he glanced over at Six, the first time he had done so since meeting her, and really soaked up the sight. She was a truly lovely lady, a breath of fresh air, really. Though her implant made his stomach twist up every time his saw it. Or maybe that was just the literal war going on around them, and his responsibility in destroying the many lives and families of people who were just like him.

"Uh, let's put some hustle on the, uh, getting to the conference room thing. I feel...that's to say, I know breakfast is coming back up and I don't want to stain our host's carpets. With the vomit. Yeah, let's just go."
 
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