Star Trek: Theurgy

CHAPTER 01: PROTECTORS OF TRUTH [ Day 03 | 1507 hrs. ]

(https://orig15.deviantart.net/cab6/f/2017/138/b/1/mvam_damage_assessment___star_trek__theurgy_by_auctor_lucan-db95xzk.png)

Captain's Log, stardate 57549.21. The Sabine has yet to return, and none of our hails have reached the away team.

They were sent to an old and abandoned Dilithium mining outpost that used to belong to the Klingon Empire. On the promise made by a scavenger that came aboard from Starbase 84, this Coreless Moon they set a course for could have been the answer to repairing Thea's defunct warp drive. With those crystals aboard, we could be ready to go to maximum warp, yet as it is, the dilithium crystals on the three vectors sustained hairline fractures when we escaped Starbase 84. While we managed to get to safety in thanks to the T'fanrell named F'Rell, and Vector 2's starboard nacelle has been repaired enough for testing, we are unable to leave the Azure Nebula. Currently, none of Thea's vectors can go higher than Warp 3 without risking that our current crystals shatter by the stress.

All we currently know is that a woman of the Klingon Empire hailed me personally from the IKS Hakkarl, and before she terminated the transmission, she said she would do what she could to spare the away team. I have no cause to believe that she was successful, or if there was even the slightest intention of hers to do so, and the doubt about their survival grows for me by the hour.

Furthermore, in the wake of the Devoted, the outbreak of Virus 117 and the difficulties of integrating the new crew, the Omega Directive was activated this day - a matter which I cannot detail further in this log. Sufficed to say, I should not be surprised by anything aboard this cursed ship and its mission. Not after all we have been through.

On a personal note, I made the mistake of....

Thea... pause log.


[ Captain Ives (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Captain_Jien_Ives) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]After the Yellow Alert was sounded and she had paused her log, Captain Ives left her Ready Room and stepped unto the bridge. She made eye-contact with Natalie Stark, who'd had the conn by the time the Yellow Alert had been sounded. Jien already saw the reason for the alert being sounded, however, since it was quite plain on the viewscreen whom had found them. "Thank you, Lieutenant Commander."

While Stark returned to her Ops station - relieving Junior Lieutenant Nator - Jien's oaken eye took in who were present, seeing the bridge crew either being present already or taking their positions as they entered through the sliding doors. Next to Stark sat Junior Lieutenant Veradin, their new helmsman from the Resolve. Both Carrigan Trent and Cameron Henshaw were soon ready at Mission Ops, either of them no doubt ordering all Lone Wolves to prepare for deployment with their ear-pieces. Leon Marquez was at Tactical, with Arisaka and Yukimura seated behind him. Suq-Reylin-Efreya Xan - the Assistant Chief Engineer - was at the Engineering station, with O'Riley and Song seated behind him. Chief O'Connell was, of course, in Main Engineering, and the present engineers were his voice on the bridge, as he preferred it when the ship was in Multi-Vector Assault Mode.

At the front of the bridge, on the starboard side of the wide viewscreen, were the ranking Science Officers aboard in the form of Lieutenant Commander Martin and Lieutenant Tovarek. Sarresh Morali was likely in his lab, but Jien did know that their lookout - Stellar Cartographer ch'Xinya - was calibrating new sensors. She had yet to receive a report about him being finished. On the port side of the viewscreen was another Andorian man in the form of Lieutenant ch'Rayya, and seated next to him was Warrant Officer Ravenholm - a former civilian of many rare talents, but in present capacity handling encryption and having an affinity with Thea's functions after Lin Kae was put into stasis.

Thea - who also entered the bridge at that point - came to stand behind Jien's left shoulder and folded her hands behind her back. She was wearing her black chameleon body suit. "For your information, I detected phaser fire in Main Sickbay on Vector 2 a couple of minutes ago, but Security was informed, and the issue was handled on-site. No report on number of casualties yet. One of the Devoted, Captain."

Staring at the viewscreen, Jien didn't acknowledge Thea beyond a quiet nod - her eyes locked on their visitors even if the news were dire. The Devoted had been a big issue over the course of the past couple of days, but since it was only eighteen hours ago Jien and Trent spoke with their new visitors - this proud lot that had managed to find them among the densest pockets of sirillium gas in the  zure Nebula - she found that she had to give them credit of being the most surprising lot. She had gravely underestimated their abilities to track down their prey in present nebula conditions.

On the screen were seven Overseer saucers, belonging to the Asurians. This people that had lent them almost the entirety of their defences in support during the battle at Starbase 84, only to have lost virtually all them in Thea's protection. The diplomatic incident with this new faction in the Alpha Quadrant had not been resolved, and the Asurian Queen had given leave to those of her people who desired vengeance for the loss of loved ones.

"Incoming hail from two of the Asurian ships, Captain," said Natalie Stark.

Remembering the agreement made with the Queen, Jien chose not to answer just yet. She had some orders to deal out first. "Bridge to Petty Officer Dyan Cardamone," she said, suspecting she would be in the Security Checkpoint just outside, "would you kindly inform Commander Wenn that some of your people have found us, and then you can step inside here. I am sure you might want to talk to them too."

Then she turned her head towards Suq, knowing from the day before how exposed some of her crew were out there. "Mister Xan, order all shuttles out there to return to their bays post-haste. Whatever repairs are underway right not must continue later, or they might be caught as easy prey if our new guests decide to open fire. Lieutenant Commander Martin, that goes for Irna'Shall ch'Xinya too. If he is out there, he and his team must return to the closest airlock. I am certain the new sensors can wait a little longer."

The fact was that the seven saucers, while armed with advanced weaponry, were still tactically inferior to the three Vectors that floated before them. With a squadron of Lone Wolves at the ready too, the Asurians that had found them would not survive an open engagement. Jien could but hope they knew this, and wouldn't sacrifice themselves in the name of vengeance. As slim as the chances were, judging from experience in dealing with them, she hoped for a better outcome.

"Split the screen between them," she said to Stark, leaning back in her chair.

---

OOC: Introduce your characters in this new Episode! If needed, reach out to me and let me know if you want me to tell you some ideas I have for the placement of your characters aboard the ship or on the repair shuttles. Separate threads will be posted for the Sabine and the Fighter Assault Bay as soon as possible.

Lastly, the Main Bridge, for sake of reference:

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/c/c8/CUT-AWAY-VIEW-01.png)
>> Click for Full Resolution (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/c/c8/CUT-AWAY-VIEW-01.png)

Main Bridge Staff:
Commanding Officer: Captain Ives
Mission Ops: Carrigan Trent & Cameron Henshaw
Tactical: Leon Marquez, Jonas Arisaka & Yukimura
CONN: Derik Veradin
Operations: Natalie Stark & Nator 159 in Support Staff area
Science: Vivian Martin & Simon Tovarek
Engineering: Suq, O'Riley & Morgan Song
Int. & Communications: ch'Rayya & Ravenholm

[ Lt. Jg. Suq Reylin Efreya-Xan | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
Thea was there. Thea was there, Thea was there, Thea was there...

His hands had been shaky off and on all day that day. He hadn't slept at all last night, his body ached for sleep. He was past running on fumes by now, he had no clue what he was running on by now. Miracles, maybe.

Focus, focus, Ejek's calming tools. He focused on his body, skin warmer than anybody else's right now, hands resting on his lap as they quivered. The seat he was on was remarkably comfortable, compared to some ships he'd been on. It even adjusted so he could see the console. No more carrying around a cushion for the seat. He felt not eyes, but sensors boring into his skull. Thea knew what he was doing. Thea could see him. Thea could monitor his heart, his blood, his brain--

He hiccuped quietly. Sinead was here. He'd be safe. Now was the time to focus. The captain was here, next to Thea. A situation on Vector two—no structural damage to Thea. At the mention of an incoming hail, he lifted his head. He hadn't heard the name Asurians before...

“Oh damn.” He mumbled to himself. “If I could just get a piece of that...” His talent on the Resolve involved a lot of analyzing the chemical structure of and replicating foreign metals to suit the ship's needs. He probably didn't need to collect from the Asurians, but three years of hoarding scrap metal from ships embedded in him a keen urge to collect more, just in case.

He heard his orders and cleared his throat. He had to pause a moment to collect his thoughts before he spoke. Thea was less dominant in his head when he thought about scrapping, he felt like he could find his tough guy voice again.
“All shuttles, this is Assistant Chief Engineer Efreya-Xan, ordering you to cease repair work immediately and return to your docking bays.” Well, maybe it wasn't as confident as he used to be. How could he be? Thea was listening.

His eyes checked back on Sinead first, making sure she was still near. He'd probably panic if she wasn't, maybe. Then he checked on Morgan. An attractive dude, but Suq stared at him with eyes of a man who's Seen Some Shit and is expecting more. He definitely didn't feel sexy, not right now. When he confirmed they were still here, he could watch the shuttles return to their bays, listening to thoughts so loud that he knew she could hear. Thea is here, Thea is here....

---

[ P.O. Dyan Neleo, Sar-Unga Neleo | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Dyan Cardamone, or Sar-unga Neleo. She had not been grappling with this unpleasant choice until just a few moments ago, and she wished she didn't have to. It feels like an absolute. Damn whoever scheduled her to be here right now. She tapped her badge,
“Commander, it's Cardamone. Feel like meeting some more Asurians? Because they feel like meeting us.” Her clenched teeth were audible. Without much more of a delay, she stepped onto the bridge, grimace made plain on her face.

She surveyed the bridge crew. Looks like the Captain was a lady for now, and Thea was hanging out too. She saw Trent, and when she did she actually felt pretty bad about how much she had hated him earlier. He's just there doing his job. Is that an actual child in the engineering chair, swinging his stubby little legs around surrounded by some random lady and a total hunk? There was Derik. Some Tacticals she's not met and not interested in meeting. Their new chief of science was here she was...pretty. Too pretty. Dyan tried to quell her jealous. Ravenholm, pretty badass, she liked her being here.
Overall, a good set of people, or at least the ones she knew were. The rest, well, she could take them down. The 'Solvies could either assimilate or leave, and she would gladly assist them out the nearest airlock.

Having decided the bridge was a safe place to be, she focused her eyes on the viewscreen. All the saucers looked the same to her, she had no clue who was in there. A small part of her hoped that it'd be her father again, her brothers, even if she knew it wouldn't happen.

But the whole thing came back to the same decision. Should she stay and be Dyan Cardamone, or go, and return to being Sar-unga Neleo? Did she have a life to lead back there? Did she have anything in common with the people here?

Now what?

---

OOC: I'll fix the colors as needed. I don't actually remember which color is which...

[ Sinead O'Riley (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sinead_O%27Riley#Personality_Profile) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow
[Show/Hide]Sinead O'Riley pursed her lips as she studied the reports from the various screens in front of her, at the station she had been assigned to. Allowing herself a moment of distraction, she turned to regard Morgan Song thoughtfully. They'd only met yesterday, but she considered him a reliable man, if a little shy or even jumpy around her. Then again, her tactless honesty and forwardness tended to do that to most people she met. Returning to the monitors, she keyed up some commands for specific information, and frowned at the new reports that came up. This ship had been through considerable damages, with internal repairs conducted to maintain it, but in truth, Thea needed to be brought into a Starbase for extensive repairs.

That wasn't going to happen, obviously.

She wasn't sure if being on the bridge was the best place for her to be, as she believed in a hands-on approach, but Sinead would do her duty as ordered. Besides, she was with Suq, and she thought it would be best to stay close to the Efrosian, after what he'd been through no more than a day gone. When he spoke, she looked at him, then at the screen, where the Asurian vessels were hovering. She did not recall anything concerning Asurians, and was at a loss as to what they were or were capable of. Her eyes lit up with eager curiosity when the captain called for one Dyan Cardamone, who was apparently an Asurian by her guess, and she saw the woman enter soon. She realized quickly that the Asurian was dangerous. The subtle way in which she sized everyone up and seemingly assessed their threat levels. She could safely guess that this was what she was doing, because it was what Sinead did too when she entered any room that had other people in it.

She decided to keep a watchful eye on this Dyan Cardamone from now on. She was certain the Asurian would be doing the same thing in return.

She gave Suq a small smile when he turned to look at her again, as if checking to make sure she was nearby. As if she'd be all that far away from him. When his eyes were still on her, she reached out and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. She wasn't normally the one to offer warmth and support like that, but for Suq, she would make an exception. She then turned her attention back to her station, and read aloud the reports of the shuttles as they came in, corroborating whatever Suq could see, and so that Morgan would be aware, “Worker Bee two 's in. Worker Bee one...”

[ Ens Cameron Henshaw | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

The tea she had produced out of a replicator nearby the Bridge had still been oozing it's essence from the bag as the yellow alert sounded. Cameron's eyes looked up at the viewscreen as a cold clench made itself master in her abdomen. She scurried over to her station, trying to not spill any hot liquid of the beverage she was holding before she arrived at mission ops. She plugged in her ear piece and pressed the button to alert the fighter complement to go into a ready to launch mode.

"Lieutenant Commander Ravon, can you hear me?" she asked as she saw Trent looming up behind her. She gave him a faint smile as she looked more presentable to the first officer than the last time they'd met. With a short nod she greeted him as Ravon remained silent to the ensign for now. She sighed softly as she figured this was probably his first rodeo as an SCO, giving the man some time to adjust to his new position.

In the meantime the captain arrived and Cameron kept her eyes trained on her as she appeared on the bridge and thanked Stark for the alert. She wondered how the captain would handle the situation. Last she heard, the situation with the Asurians was more than just volatile. Anything could literally spark and explode this powder keg... Not to mention the literal powder keg called Azure nebula.

"Wolf Zero-one to mission ops, we're ready to go on your signal."

Cameron nodded before acknowledging "Confirmed wolf zero-one. Stand by for further orders." she said calmly into the earpiece before she told Trent "Fighters are ready to launch sir." She opted to give this information to the first officer instead of the captain. She seemed to be buried deep in thoughts, thus she saw it fit to not disturb her with the rather official yet expected call out.

[ Lt Simon Tovarek | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Tovarek was idly glancing at his console on the bridge as the alert brought him out of his train of thoughts. He looked around to see who else was present as he had completely zoned out. His eyes registered the new faces and the old faces. Eventually his eyes came to rest on the Ops officer. For some reason, Tovarek saw Stark in a different light after his 'demotion'. He couldn't quite well explain it which bothered him.

Since the breakfast they had shared he seemed to have a certain want to see her more often. That didn't necessarily mean that he needed to talk to her or anything, just acknowledging that she was there and taking in her feminine forms was enough for the science officer to smile faintly and nod at her when they made eye contact for the first time. After that, he focused back on his job and hoped that Martin wouldn't have caught on to his lingering gaze.

He scrolled through some screens before he looked back at his CSO "Anything specific you'd like me to do ma'am?" he asked her before he looked at the captain and back to Martin.

[ PO1 Morgan Song | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]
Morgan had known Efrosians were short, but this one had to be setting a new record. The new assistant chief of engineering was sitting near him at the primary engineering station, along with Sinead, who he had known since yesterday. Something seemed to really be setting the new assistant chief on edge, but what it was Morgan had no way of knowing. As the reports of the worker bees filed in, he looked to his left at Sinead, and wondered what would have happened if the turbolift had not malfunctioned the other day. But no matter that, for now there was the matter of these "Asurians", and someone named Dyan Cardamone was supposed to enter the bridge in response to them. Based on their saucer-like craft, Morgan expected Dyan to look like a grey, clammy alien with an enlarged head and inscrutable eyes, but was pleasantly surprised when he saw that she was an exotically beautiful specimen instead. While she seemed to be much shorter than Morgan, the tail and white hair and horns were certainly not something he expected to see. But, he reasoned to himself, he shouldn't be thinking about that now, especially not with Sinead so near.

Morgan turned gave a nod to Suq. "Worker bees three, four, and six are docked." He reported, and then turned back to his console. “Worker bee five, what is your status?” He commed into the console.

---

[ Lt.Com. Vivian Martin | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]
These mysterious Asurians seemed to be the same people who attacked the opposing forces during the battle at Starbase 84, and if Dyan Cardamone was anything to go by then they were impressive physical specimens to boot. Dyan was a pretty one, and while Martin didn't care to admit it, she thought of the possibilities regarding Dyan's more exotic traits. Martin blinked a couple of times, clearing her head, before she turned to her console. "Aye sir," She said, and raised Shall on the comm. "Mister ch'Xinya, please return yourself and your teams to the closest airlocks immediately." Then, turned towards Tovarek "Coordinate with ch'Xinya to make sure that he makes it safely inside." Martin said to him.

Martin looked around the bridge. There were some faces she recognized and some she didn't. Suq was there, as well as Sinead and Keval and Leon and Derik. But then there were others who she didn't recognize. She wondered whether or not the Theurgy's crew would accept them as they were, but so far it has been so good. Sans her being attacked the day before, she felt fairly confident about her integration into the crew. Granted it wasn't without surprises, Thea was a thing, and the captain was some kind of... shapeshifter she had never seen before. But so far it seemed to be going well.

[ Cmdr Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

It was a quiet enough watch for the time being.  And with Stark in the center seat, Trent was catching on his own obligations in his office, keeping an eye on what was happening on the Bridge while pondering what simulation he would throw That is, until security alarms sounded about weapons fire in Sickbay.  And just as that was being passed on, even as he walked onto the Bridge himself shortly after the Captain, a group of Asurian ships let their presence be known.  How did they find us here, thought the XO as he considered their arrival.  Of course, the Queen had given them leave to hunt Theurgy if they were so inclined, but they had been careful with their communications protocols; which meant they had amazing packet-hunting capabilities to trace them so deep in a nebula that rendered sensors useless...

Making his way to Mission Ops, he received the report from Henshaw that the fighters were already prepared for immediate launch, and he offered her a nod in acknowledgement.  "Very well, Miss Henshaw," he simply replied as he retrieved his own headset and connected it to the ship's communications system. 

"Tactical, XO," he started.  "Don't bother with EW; you are weapons tight, use of phasers is not authorized.  Point-defence with mass-drivers only, and do not arm torpedo warheads at this time, reconfigure for strictly kinetic strikes."  To say directed energy weapons and the Azure Nebula were a dangerous mix was much of an understatement.  Which heavily limited Theurgy's tactical options.  And even worse was the radiation. 

The deflectors were not sufficient to keep it at bay, but a reconfiguration of the shield harmonics was sufficient to create a bubble of safety that would prevent rapid degradation of the crew and the ship herself.  But on the bright side, it was a relatively low-power application and it required only one in four emitters to be active at any given time.  However, that particular adaptation made the shields completely unsuitable for combat, and attempting to use a number of emitters for radiation protection and the others for combat caused the entire shield bubble to collapse and would require a solid half hour to bring everything back online... by which time most of the crew would be suffering from lethal radiation poisoning.

With some luck, the Asurians were in the same predicament; but regardless, an engagement would be short and brutal, and rely on the ability to pound each other to scrap. 

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

The second half of hir second day was something Nator hadn't entirely been looking forward to. Bridge duty was always a nice change of pace from getting covered in graphite lubricant and plasma residue, or buried in Engineering PADDs when drafting a new round of components for stocks and spares, but now it seemed to hold a completely different feel. Not to mention the fact that s/he could barely get out of hir own head, when s/he should really think about helping to run the entire damned ship.

Occupying one of the forward stations had its benefits, though. Having to concentrate on voices instead of faces made everything smoother from hir end, and helped hir keep a track of who was present - and who s/he already knew. The Hermat had made the mistake earlier of glancing round to acknowledge one of Commander Stark's orders and had had to search for a bewildered instant for the woman before locating her exactly where she should have been; the captain's chair. It was just that the person occupying it hadn't been at all familiar to Nator.

As the Yellow Alert was sounded, Nator ensured the shield generators were taking the available connections to the wider energy grid perfectly, though s/he did wonder what their use might be. Currently they were keeping the crew from being cooked alive by the nebula, but the nutation required meant they were useless in combat. The number two nacelle was still stubbornly refusing to reignite, still being under repair. There were still a couple of teams inside the thing, though they were pulling out with the alert. The delicate scent of someone's tea tickled hir nose as s/he tapped away at the console in front of hir.

Asurian ships were inbound; thankfully, no real match for the Theurgy even in her current state. Not that s/he particularly wanted to test that.

Ives returned to the bridge and relieved Stark, who in turn came to relieve Nator. S/he slipped out of the seat and nodded to hir superior, then quietly moved to the aft of the compartment so s/he keep an eye on the ship as a whole via the MSD. There were still an unsettling number of amber tags on the plan marking various repair crews and the systems with which they were wrestling.

There's never enough time...

The voices around hir spoke with purpose; they'd done all this before. It was at once a comfort and a wrench - that they'd had to, and that s/he'd missed it.

S/he moved to the shield panel, and wondered if it would be possible to switch the grid between anti-nebula and combat configurations quickly enough that they'd be useful in a fight and so the functions wouldn't overlap and overload the generators... for lack of a better idea, s/he started work on an algorithm in a small partition of the computer. It might not help, but it won't hurt either.

Of course, 'potential live combat scenario' was hardly the ideal testing environment for such a plan, but beggars could hardly be choosers, either.

[Lt. Keval ch'Rayya | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
ATTN: @Auctor Lucan , @FollowTomorrow , @Triage , @Nolan , @Hastata-Nerada,  @CanadianVet , @Top Hat , @chXinya

Keval was sitting at his station next to Ravenholm, his blue eyes scanning over all of the data that was crossing his systems when the yellow alert went up and automatically reflexes from years of being the Resolve's CTO started to kick in as he started to enter commands that would've brought up tactical sensor readings, readying the shields...

Keval's right hand then clenched tightly.

=Old habits...= Keval thought to himself as he started to delete the command prompts and instead opened up a sub-window on his screen to take in the view of the ships that were now hovering in the blued space before Thea and rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he studied these Asurian...ships as they had been called.

He heard the captain's orders and the comments of the others flowing around him as he kept his eyes on his work but a part of the Chaan's mind couldn't understand how they'd been able to hide in this nebula for the last couple of days and then out of nowhere, these ships appear and send out a set of hails from two of the ships...

Curious.

Keval kept his thoughts to himself as he looked over at his counterpart in Ravenholm as he stroked his chin before a thought crossed his mind. "Selena, can you tie in my station to the main viewer?" he asked in a low tone to the cyborged woman.

He didn't say as to why but there was something odd in two different ships belonging to the same faction hailing one ship at the same time and during a time when the Theurgy was hiding and in dire need of repairs, the last thing that they needed was another mystery.

[ Deacon | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triage

Deacon rubbed his eyes as he stared at the PADD, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.  He'd promised this report to the captain and gave his word that it would only take a few hours but he'd never attempted to actually quantify an entire fleet and its collected crew and armaments before, let alone define such things as weapon yields, shield nuances, cloaking devices... all of this was far beyond his expertise, leading to much of it noted as conjecture or anecdotal at best.  But he wanted to make a good impression. 

Fortunately, he'd been assigned a liaison to assist him in cataloging the details of the kzinti warfleet and to help him with the more troublesome numeric conversions between his native octal and the Federation's decimal systems.  A female, of course, but such couldn't be helped on this ship it seemed and at least her green skin helped her stand out from the other humanoid faces that muddled together in his memory.  Orions stood out from the others in that regard, at least.  He'd spent some time during his training to learn their more common dialects and in the process, had reviewed as much as he could about their culture.  Sadly, kzinti were less interested in anything that did not give them a solid understanding of another race's combat prowess -- anything beyond that was a waste best left to servitors and slaves to decipher.

The captain thought it a good idea that Deacon work in one of the conference lounges on deck 1 rather than head all the way back down to his quarters.  It wasn't an unwelcome notion and appealed in part to some amount of inner vanity.  Although he did not hold the same rank on this ship that he once did at home, his initial interactions with the captain had been quite agreeable and had gone a long way in a short time to ease his addled conscience.

He sat back in his chair. "Alright, we've gone over the fleets in orbit of homeworld, Ch'lat, Reesliu, and W'kkai; the ship yards hidden in the polar corona of homestar and Sårng; the mining operations on Meerowsk..." he paused, rolling his shoulder and kneading the trapezius muscle with a free hand.  "Let's turn to other ventures that could play a part in the war effort.  Kzinti genetic manipulation is well documented but of late, the Patriarchy has taken an interest in technology acquired as a result of the recent conflict with the Dominion. Three separate fields of scientific inquiry have opened up in response to this, including the development of a ketrecel white type drug to pacify, control and ensure the loyalty of any captured slavestock.  Given our history with sthondat, I suppose that should come as no great surprise.  Second, also thanks to the jem'hadar, is the artificial acceleration of aging of the young to create a large warrior caste.  The offset to that, of course, is a shorter life expectancy, but let's be honest, what kzintosh wouldn't prefer to go out in glorious battle rather than wait around for old age? Third, this time in thanks to the vorta, is cloning.  On its own, I don't see this particular venture going very far unless it is used to bolster the size of war caste... perhaps to compensate for the low birth rate among kzinti."  It was a pattern that the two had fallen into as the report evolved, with Deacon spelling out several high level points while the orion noted down questions she would subsequently ask in order to help fill in additional details she felt could be useful.

Tapping his claw against the table, he continued, "Next, the Patriach has taken a particular interest in iconian technology-- especially their gateway technology.  Although they've publicly disavowed the Kytharri, Lyran, Grond and Mirak prides, that was all part of long plan ruse to allow 'free agents' to act beyond the borders of Kzinti space.  While the Federation might consider them pirates, back home they are heroes and privateers, securing artifacts, weapon, technology and information from the nose of the enemy.  I don't believe they've made much progress in harnessing, let alone adapting the iconian research they've secured, but if they ever master it, nowhere in the galaxy will be safe.  Now, third..."

There was a sudden shift in the lights as the yellow alert sounded.  Deacon's ears folded back slightly and his tailed twitched as his eyes moved first to the orion sitting across the table from him and then, followed her own gaze, back over his shoulder.  Where there had been only the dancing lights of the Azure Nebula when they'd first entered, several ships now stared the Theurgy down.  "Those ships are similar to the ones that were assisting you back at Starbase 84," Deacon noted.  "I believe someone in Below Decks referred to them as... asurians?"  He cast a cautious glance back at the orion.  "Do you often greet allies with heightened alerts?"

[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark | Bride | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
Attn: @Auctor Lucan ; bridge et all 
[Show/Hide]
Ives swept onto the bridge, making a bee line for the center seat as Natalie pressed both palms onto the hand-rests and pushed herself to her feet. With but a nod of acknowledgement to her Captain, Natalie tucked herself into the Ops station, pulling up status reads on the vectors of the ship as she replaced Nator 159, the hermit thorn in her side from the previous evening. A scowl washed over her face as she worked her jaw from one side to the other. This was not good. This was very, very not good. Way to understate things, Nat. she mentally chaffed as she dry swallowed and squared her shoulders.

She let her eyes sweep around the bridge, from the Trill helmsman next to her, working counter clockwise - though without turning fully around - catching a glimpse of a few others.  Just in her range of view was the Science station, over the shoulder of Lt. Veradin - seated there were Vivian Martin, and the man she replaced as Chief Science Officer, Simon Tovarek. She dipped her head slightly as theirs eyes caught, and swiftly continued her circuit, noting the other officers present - including, just over her shoulder, Lt. ch'Reyya, the Andorian she'd spent an evening (alongside Silim Parnak) making a fool of herself with. And now the ships Intelligence officer. Replacing Cmdr. Trent....who replaced Cmr. Rez... Natalie shook off that grim line of thought. There was no time for that, not with a clear and present threat on the view screen out among they swirls of the Azure Nebula.

A threat that was calling.

"Incoming hail from two of the Asurian ships, Captain," said Natalie Stark. Her fingers splayed out, hovering just over the button that would open the channel, split screen, awaiting the order. But the order didn't come immediately, and rather than risk accidentally brushing her fingertip to the pad, Natalie shifted her hand to the side, tracing a different line of controls. She brought up a personnel list and began scanning it, swiftly, an idea forming. She remembered an announcement, during the morning staff meeting - ah yes, there was the entry.

Flagged for limited duty per order of Cmdr. Trent, related to injuries, Natalie read the notation on the duty roster, and keyed up the individual file. In stasis since Jupiter Station. Sole surviving officer of the Diplomatic Mission to Romulus. And now Acting Chief Diplomat. Poor girl. Nat knew how it felt to be thrust into the shoes of manning a department when you'd just been a cog in the machine before hand. That brief image of Cmdr. Hendricks flashed before her vision, his broad smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. He's gone, and so are all the more seasoned Diplomats. Tough luck kid...

"Split the screen between them," Cpt. Ives said to Stark, leaning back in her chair. Taking her queue, Natalie programmed the request, but before she excuted, she glanced over her shoulder.

"A suggestion, Captain?" She began, her voice soft, but steady and calm, carrying across the near silent bridge. The captain caught her eyes, and Natalie elaborated. "It may be worth bringing in the recently revived Diplomatic officer. This will be a tense enough situation. Anything that might help defuse..." She was going out on a limb - having no real interaction with the Ensign that now represented the entirety of Theurgy's trained diplomats. A week earlier, she wouldn't have dreamed of speaking up. But it had been an eventful week, and both Carrigan Trent and Jien Ives had shown a sense of faith in her ability to grow as an officer.

It was time to put that to good use. The captains only response was to nod her assent, a ghost of a smile on her lips before that oaken countenance froze back up. Captain has her game face on, Natalie thought. Very swiftly - and quietly - Natalie sent out the command.

"Bridge to Ens. Eloi-Danvers. Your presence is required immediately," she stated bluntly, before cutting the channel not waiting for a response. The diplomat would be there when she got there and not a moment sooner. Natalie sent a sit rep file to the girls quarters along with the summons, as short and simple summary of the current tactical situation. Odds are she could see the threat right out her own view ports the Ops Chief thought, even as she punched in the execute command, causing the view screen to ripple and resolve into two distinct faces.

---

OOC: I'll bring Faye up to the bridge in a separate post. Let her show up a few minutes into the conversation.

[ Lt. Cmdr Leon "Striker" Marquez | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

The Theurgy's Chief Tactical Officer arrived to his shift that morning with the resemblance of a smile on his stony face. He’d had some more Katheka for the afternoon, and that morning's breath of fresh air almost made him forget he was lightyears away from home in non-recycled or synthesized air. Marquez nodded at his former crewmates and current commanding officers on his way in earlier in the day.

The yellow alert situation reminded Leon Marquez of some of his old holodeck simulations of World War II Submarine combat. The trick to eluding these Asurians was to stay silent and to create a void, or a semblance of one. It didn't hurt to pull a 'Crazy Ivan'-- a random turn intended to spot any pursuers; not the CTO's call apart from casting random sweeps from all available avenues at the disposal of his console. In this case, Electronic warfare and the ability to jam sensors or intercept Asurian weaponry. That's what Theurgy's mass accelerators were for. "Aye, XO. Electronic Warfare on hold. Kinetic CIWS on standby."

One false move and it would be more of a world war three re-enactment with the potential for mutually-assured destruction. Fortunately, Leon "Striker" Marquez was an excellent shot. Last night, he got some needed rest (mainly for closure) reviewing the Battle of Starbase 84, as well as a brief dossier on the opposing species that slashed through Admiral Slayton's fleet at that battle. Yes, it was the battle where Resolve was destroyed, but there was absolutely no time to dwell on that. The future was the real mission objective, not the past. His job meant ensuring the next tense few moments were to be played out on favorable terms. Especially, given the relative ease and graceful coordination of these Asurians; He'd wanted to interview the resident aboard the Theurgy, but getting to know her species might come off as a debrief, rather than a conversation. One more reason to miss Jimmy, while Klex was operating his station on Vector 3 and Tarsi was somewhere on Vector 2's hangar. There were few others he could reasonably confer with.

Besides, Mariner, Salvo and Bremmer were out there as much as Capt. Ives' officers and crew, with a full force of fighters in need of point defense support. Sticking only to one weapons platform meant he had more responsibility at his direct control, and he was never one to let down his superiors. Neither was Jimmy. For all Marquez knew, Mariner had done his job whilst demonstrating why he was usually the first one to volunteer for an away team. Results.

"Inform the wolves: the den has them covered when the time comes to hunt.". Enough to drop a Borg Cube. Or at least a Parasite. Marquez had to match Kendrick in one aspect, at least.

[Ens. Irnashall “Shall” ch’Xinya | Outer Hull | Deck 15 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

If only I could do all my work out here. Shall said to himself, taking a moment to look at the swirling blues of the Azure Nebula through the faceplate of his EV suit.  Watching space through screens and holograms, filtered through more sensors than more people can count was one thing, seeing it with your own eyes was quite another.  “Ensign!” a gruff yell interrupted his momentary aside.  “We’re just about done here, you plan to help out so that we can finish and get to the other vectors?”  Stuffed into a suit much wider and shorter than his own, Shall was glad the reflective coatings on the faceplates made it that much harder to see CWO Luff’s craggy Tellarite face.  If only the radio could do something about that voice.

“Hang on Chief, I’m coming.” Shall protested, ignoring the hand gesture his partner was giving him through the thick gloves.  They were in the middle of tying the new secondary emitter array into the deflector systems.  About a meter across, the flat dish had a wide, truncated conical protrusion in the middle to project the beam with the remainder of the disk acting as the sensor.  The power taps were all connected, Luff was kneeling by an open panel that held the ODN relays to the computer system.  Fat hands finished connecting the cables into their respective ports and it was up to Shall to run the diagnostics.

Pulling the tricorder off of the equipment belt, Shall knelt next to the Tellarite and started the checks.  “Looking good so far, let’s close this up, we’ll have the full results by..”  Without warning, Commander Martin’s voice flooded his helmet, startling him.

“Mister ch’Xinya, please return yourself and your teams to the closest airlocks immediately.”  No details, no explanation, just a brunt order.

“What? What’s going on?” Before Martin or anyone else on the Bridge could respond, Luff was on his feet and turning his Andorian partner around.  A stubby arm pushed into his field of vision, pointing to something off the bow.  “Ensign, look!”  Antenna shrank into his hair at the sight of seven disks settling into position.  “Airlock’s one deck down, forget the gear, just get inside.”  Magnetic boots hummed and thumped against the hull plates as two clearly mismatched figures in identical white suits hustled towards the airlock on Deck 16. 

---

[Selena Ravenholm | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

Cybernetic fingers tapped up a storm on the console as Selena worked through the logs she’d “liberated” from Starbase 84 just a few days ago.  The revelations in the deleted log she’d found yesterday were beyond disturbing and they needed to parse out any more detail that might be found in the other logs.  The nature of the beast meant that she needed to do a deep search, one that was taking a lot of her skill to dig out obscure references, connect dots that didn’t seem to have any link.  Adding to the difficulty was the fact that a sizable chunk of the logs were still encrypted.  Thea was working on it, but it would still take time.  Frustrating was an understatement in how this puzzle could be described.

It was the kind of job she lived for.

As soon as the lighting changed, Selena looked up in surprise.  Turning to look at the holographic viewer in the front of the Bridge she could see the saucers floating in the nebula in front of them.  “Ah hell.” she muttered.  “A distraction is the last thing I need right now.”  Setting her logs aside for the time being, she brought up the cyberwarfare systems and got ready to move.  Word that two of the saucers were hailing was a boon, with a direct communications link she’d have a wonderful conduit to slip into the Asurans’ computers.  Who knows what kind of nuggets were tucked away in those electronic pathways?

And then ch’Rayya had to decide to work as a pair.  Without breaking stride, Ravenholm tapped a few controls off to the side and shunted the main viewer feed to the Andorian’s screen, giving him a direct tap into the data flow.  “What do you see?” she asked, cybernetic eyes glowing in the subdued yellow light.

[ Lt. JG A'vura Zeshryr (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=A%27vura_Zeshryr) | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @steelphoenix
[Show/Hide]A'vura Zeshryr shifted subtly, hiding her sense of awkwardness as best as she could. Though relatively fresh from her experiences on Starbase 84, and still reeling from the assault on her person by a Romulan, she decided to go with a skirt uniform anyhow. She was a little amazed at how quickly the crew of the Theurgy had accepted her and the rest of the surviving crewmembers of the Resolve, and not only that, but she had been given more or less the same position that she held previously, only now as Assistant Chief of Operations. A duty no less important than acting chief of ops. She was determined to make a good impression.

Working with the Kzinti proprietor of the lounge, Below Decks, to determine the combat capabilities of his people's warfleet, was a little daunting, but not impossible. The humanoid feline was an impressive specimen, in her personal opinion, bearing a build athletes would kill for, and he had a manner about him that set you on edge and also at ease all at once. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but as it was irrelevant to the task at hand, she did her best to pay it little heed. At least, he wasn't making presumptuous statements about her and her race. That was nice. Usually, she couldn't go anywhere without at least one inquiry to her Orion heritage. She looked at him wonderingly when he pinched the bridge of his nose, looking a little pensive.

When he continued his narrative, she nodded and resumed jotting down notes, adding corrections where necessary. The Kzinti's monologue was impeccable, precise, and detailed, but not unnecessarily excessive. Her lips parted slightly as she concentrated on adjusting or making the entry more suitable to Federation basic formats of reporting and linguistic, pausing now and then as she processed what he said and then put it into words, sort of translating it, not that he was speaking a language she didn't know. She did look up silently at him when he mentioned the volume of interest that the Kzinti were taking in Dominion and Iconian technology or research. That was...alarming, at the very least. The other thing she noted was how frank he was, without a sense of hesitation to stating the truth. It was...refreshing.

But he was not given to idle chatter, which again, was fine by her. She preferred it, even, and couldn't stop a small smile from appearing as she continued to make her notations on the PADD, when the alert came, and the young woman flinched visibly, her eyes filling with panic and adrenaline kicking in. The traumas from her three-year journey through hell were far too recent for her to get out of the habit of racing for battle-stations or a battlefield, phaser in hand. She looked past the Kzinti, towards the nebula, and saw the ships. She nodded mutely at Deacon, then shook her head, “Asurians,” she said “yeah, that's 'em...”

She looked at him, her lips quirking on one side, “No, sir...we don't. I don't think the Asurians consider us allies anymore after what happened back at the starbase...”

She sighed and looked at the ships again, one palm lightly pressing on her lips as she pondered what was about to happen.

[ Captain Ives (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Captain_Jien_Ives) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]After Jien Ives had assented to summoning Eloi-Danvers, and the whole bridge crew acted on their orders, Stark lit the split viewscreen with the feed from two of the seven Overseers (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Overseer-class_Research_Saucer).

On the left side was a female Asurian, and unlike others of her kind, she appeared marked with age. She was even scarred, half her bosom flattened by some kind of injury, so Jien had so assume something had happened to her Velrsren sac. Nonetheless, she held herself with authority, shoulders back, and tilted her marked and dented horns in a scowl towards the Theurgy's bridge crew.

"I am Hara Sar-Dia (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Command_NPCs#Hara_Sar-Dia)," she said, as if she needed no further introduction. No titles, not rank, the name alone supposedly holding great meaning. "I speak for Asuria."

On the other side of the screen, a mountain of an Asurian male filled the whole feed, bare of torso and breathing hard through his nostrils. There was anticipation in his eyes, his thick tail whipping as if he was a predator scenting prey. When he spoke, his deep voice seemed to reverberate within his considerable frame. "Viel Erion (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Command_NPCs#Viel_Erion)," he said, looking at the bridge crew as if he saw weakness, and curled his hands into massive fists by his sides, "I too speak for Asuria."

He said it with such contempt, as if he saw no meaning with it, yet a smaller Asurian seated behind Viel Eiron (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Command_NPCs#Jaris-Al_Kaori) - appearing to be the navigator or helmsman - did take great interest in the feed from the Theurgy, and he looked straight at Dyan Cardamone with an unreadable expression.

"Greetings," said Jien as she remained seated in her chair, her oaken eyes shifting between the two faces that dominated the wide screen. There was certainly no need for introductions on her own part. "Have you come to your senses since we spoke last? For you must surely see the futility in your endeavour."

Yet despite the overwhelming odds against them, facing the Theurgy and its fighters, neither of the Asurians ceded that point. The woman - Hara - shook her head, and even though she seemed more cautious than Viel, she did not appear concerned in the least. The navigator behind Viel did frown, but it was hardly noticeable when the large Asurian bared his teeth and tilted his curled horns. The ropes of muscles along his arms shifted as he stepped closer to the screen. "Blind," he said, making a grimace of disdain, "You were blind and craven when we fought alongside you. You are craven still, you remain blind, and you no longer have shields. You will all die for your cowardice."

Hara turned her stare towards Dyan Cardamone. "Sar-Unga Neleo. Do you stand with the craven? Would you die for the cowards, trusting their word, despite their weakness?" she asked evenly, the matter holding little import to her. There was no empathy, merely asking the other Asurian because her Queen had told her to. "Or do you wish to fight alongside us? You will not be asked twice."

Snarling, Viel Eiron stepped away from the screen, obviously indifferent, but that small Asurian in the edge of the screen... he still looked at Petty Officer Cardamone - never having looked away. He alone seemed to care what the Asurian on the Theurgy's bridge was about to say.

Jien turned her head as well, looking up at the profile of her officer. She had suffered grievous losses at Starbase 84, yet despite it all, she had continued her duties. Now, Jien no idea where the Asurian's heart was at - with the mission or with her people - but she did know that if Cardamone chose to leave... chances were she'd die if the Asurians made good on their claim. Jien felt she had lost any right to advice her in this decision... though she could not remain silent and let her put herself in harm's way. Regardless her decision, Jien felt responsible for forcing her to make it.

"Doubt, reason or heart," she said quietly, wanting to say much more, "no one knows your truth but you."

She could but hope the Petty Officer found peace in the battle between heart and mind. It was obvious, however, that Asurians didn't necessarily seek 'peace'.

---

OOC: One more intermediate post from @FollowTomorrow , and then I take us to the next phase with my post after that. :) No need for anyone to post now if you'd rather wait for this hail to play out in full first. It is, of course, perfectly okay to add thoughts and reactions to the first glimpse of the Asurians in this Episode.

[ Sar-Unga Neleo | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Her people filled the screen. She'd heard the names Hara and Viel before; in a race as small as the Asurians, everyone knew everyone. She wondered how much they'd heard of her. Did they know what happened to her family? Did they know about her friendships? Did they know how stupid, even cruel these humans could be..?

They had to know. Ives had it on full display when she murdered so many Asurians that day. She was displaying it again as she spoke. She called the effort futile, but there was no futility here. She thought, but didn't know for sure, that maybe the saucers could raise their kinetic shielding and just tear through the Theurgy like wolves, and then they'd be gone before anyone could engage them. All it'd take was a few strategic hits. Even if they couldn't, they were fast, resourceful, and suicidally honor-driven. All they'd have to do is ignite the nebula around them, if they were really up in arms. It's what she would do.

Would she?

Hara was speaking. She focused on the ugly woman's face and voice instead of her own questions. She didn't want to hear questions. When the ugly woman turned to her, she stared back. It was her security face, no emotion...at first.

Viel stepped away and she finally caught a glimpse of whoever it was piloting his Overseer in the corner of the screen. Recognition lit up her face—Jaris-Al. Once, he pursued her. He wasn't quite so stacked back then. Her face softened, she bit her lip. They used to be so young, so much happier. The biggest problem she ever had back then was her father, constantly telling her what to do. She missed it, she missed those days so bad.

Her stoicism compromised, she turned to Ives. She spoke some sort of worthless wisdom she probably read in a book somewhere. Sar-unga wished she'd just shut up. What could she know of reason or heart when she had neither? She was done, she never wanted to see such a contemptible face again.
“Get me on that ship. Viel's ship.” She bared her teeth.

At first, Jien said nothing, just looking at her. Then, she turned her head away. The silence spoke for itself.

The Captain likely didn't want to do as she was asked. Perhaps she didn't want to put her life at risk? She might even be debating if she'd go back on her word, and not do what Dyan asked. Then again, she already knew Ives also felt responsibility for what had befallen Dyan's family. As much as the Commanding Officer of the Theurgy didn't want to, she would still stand by her word, and do right by her officer's wish.

"Thea, do as she wishes," she said quietly.

Thea turned to look at Ives, her eyebrows raised. "Captain?"

"You heard me," she said, and then rose to her feet. She turned to look at Dyan. "As much as I regret the hurt that has come to you, I also respect your decision. I know apologies are moot, but you have been an excellent officer, Petty Officer Dyan Cardamone. The Asurian people should learn by your example."

She extended her hand to Dyan. "Even if you fight me and the rest of this crew from this moment on... All of what I've said still remains the truth. Thank you for your service."

The Asurian woman stared at her hand, her tail whipping in agitation. She would not deign to touch the captain. Instead she glared, waiting expectantly for her one way ticket back home.

After a couple of seconds, Jien turned her head towards Thea. "Energise." Light and weightlessness replaced Sar-unga's being. She reappeared shortly on the side of the viewscreen bearing Viel's ship. She was still in uniform, still armed, looking so out of place in ship so alien as the Overseer. She breathed a sigh of relief through her nostrils, and breathed in. She opened her eyes and smiled at the brick wall of Viel and the thinner, sleeker Jaris-Al 2.0.
“<Jaris-Al, Viel, your hospitality's appreciated. Jaris-Al--I thought we'd never see each other again.>” She started to walk over to him. She wanted to hug, but...that might not be appropriate. How did he feel about her, anyway...? After all these years, maybe he forgot...?
“<Could you...tell me what's been going on? It's been a long time.>” She hoped he understood. She was full-fledged homesick. Finally though, she was home.

[ Captain Ives (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Captain_Jien_Ives) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]After Petty Officer Cardamone had vanished, Jien slowly turned her head and saw the Asurian on the viewscreen, in the back of the Overseer she had requested. She vanished into the back compartments of the saucer together with one of the bridge staff - back with her own people. She wasn't truly defecting, nor deserting the ship and the mission. Whatever chances there had been that Cardamone would consider herself ought else than the infiltrator she had been, the death of her family had destroyed any such hopes.

She is Sar-Unga Neleo, Jien thought in bitter regret. She always were.

Yet even worse... loosing Sar-Unga's voice, how were they to deter the Asurians?

"Will you not protect your own people, your Queen, rather than waste your lives in meaningless battle?" Jien said, rounding on the two Asurian commanders in a last effort to try and make them see reason. Doing so, she changed.... to his male form, his browridge lowered over his eyes as he tried to make them see their own folly. "Your fleet was decimated at Starbase 84, yet you risk even more lives coming here, leaving your habitats defenceless in the name of vengeance, knowing you are inferior and about to die. What is the meaning of this? Are you blind to reason? Do you think yourselves above common sense?"

Word of his shapeshifting would have reached these Asurians, since neither reacted to it. Hara Sar-Dia snarled in answer, yet offered no counterargument. Viel, however, looked overconfident in his disdain, denouncing Ives'claim with a loud voice. "I told you, craven! You... are... blind!"

"Captain..." said Thea, eyes wide as she stood next to him, but Jien could make no query to her...

....before the lights of the bridge dimmed.

"What's happening?" he called, looking towards his present bridge crew. Loud chirps of warning came from all stations - screens flickering. The LCARS interphases were scrambled and yet accessing sub-systems in rapid succession, without the officers touching their stations. Jien could see information on the corners of the main viewscreen, which also flickered. Communications between all three Vectors were offline. Thea's collective tactical systems had been deactivated, and all three warp cores were slowly powering down, along with auxiliary power systems. The radiation shields were about to give out.

"Thea," said Jien, all his theories coming up short of any explanation, "speak to me!"

"My CoMpUtEr cOrEs aRe CoMpRoMiSeD." Her paniced voice was a digital screech. Her projection was stumbling backwards, raising shaking hands to her head, "tHeY aRe... AcCeSsInG mY sUbRoUTInEs... My DeFeNcEs... ThEy oVeRwRiTe tTeM... ThEy aRe iN mY sYnChRoNiSaTiOn LiNk... I aM nO lOnGeR... I aM..."

"They? Who? The Asurians?" Jien demanded, even though he wasn't numb to the visible plight of the A.I. - quite the opposite.

On the flickering viewscreen, Viel had drawn back his lips from his teeth, donning an Asurian sindt on his forearm, and Hara looked as if she contemplated the fate of dying animals in a cage. Behind him, Jien heard orders shouted, attempts made to revert the sudden assault upon their computer systems, inventive means conjured to try and restore control. They needed no orders from him to save the ship, even if his mimicked heart rate beat in his ears, and alarm animated his thoughts. Thea was on her knees, holding her head in the dimmed, flashing lights of the bridge. Yet as Jien turned back to the Asurians...

...there was someone standing in the centre of the holographic display area.

It was a seven feet tall humanoid (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Command_NPCs#Ectand_qi_Versant)with big, arthropod eyes. The large orbs were dark and without pupils, iridescent when cast into light by the flashes on the bridge. With a small jaw, and big hands and feet - three fingers and toes on each - it seemed like something taken out of twentieth century media about what extraterrestrial life was supposed to look like. The humanoid was dressed in a black suit, and it folded its arms across its broad chest as it regarded the bridge crew and Captain Ives. Its features were so alien they were unreadable, but the humanoid did seem male, and none too interested in their plight.

"Identify yourself," said Ives, despite it all - remaining outwardly undaunted even though he felt far from it.

The tall humanoid with the dark eyes turned its dead stare towards Jien, and in the pause - filled by the chaos of the bridge behind Ives - it seemed as if the alien contemplated the merit of even bothering with an answer. The image of the figure fluctuated, revealing that it was a hologram. It was being projected by the emitters on the bridge, the feed forced into Thea's system. After a couple of seconds, the alien spoke in a quiet, contralto echo.

"I speak for the Vigilant of Sa," he said, the hushed tone unhurried as he remained where he stood. "I am Echtand qi Versant, the Voice of the Savi. We brought the Asurians to you, and in return, we are doing inventory on your ship. This, to see if you possess anything of scientific merit for our research."

"Research?" asked Ives, calloused hands now fists at his sides, but the representative of the Savi ignored him.

"When the inventory is complete... we will claim items and specimens of consequence, and leave the rest in Asurian care."

Behind the left shoulder of the Echtand qi Versant, Viel Erion had finished donning his sindt blade on his forearm. Through the static of the locked hail, his predatory grin could be seen, and there was little doubt what was in store for the crew on the three crippled Vectors floating in the Azure Nebula.

"The Sheromi speaks the truth," said Hera Sar-Dia, seating herself in her Overseer. "Today, you die for what you did to Asuria."

In the corner of the screen, it said that the warp cores would be completely powered down in 1 minute.

---

OOC: Everyone are locked out of their computer consoles, which remain unresponsive. All screens are flickering, doing things like searching systems folder by folder. If they have the presence of mind, have your characters attempt to revert the sudden assault upon Thea's computer systems. Utilise inventive means try and restore control to Thea before the three warp cores are powered down and the radiation shields drop. Have your characters work together, if you want, but all three Vectors are gradually being shut down. The time before the warp cores are shut down and the protection against the radiation vanish is 60 seconds. Sensors are locked down, but even if they were operational, the Precept ship is cloaked. Transporter systems are down too, so there are no means to travel between the Vectors.

Leave the results of all joint ventures and solo attempts open-ended, not mentioning if the outcome. Suggested posting order (but everyone can post ahead in this order if they feel so inclined):

1) @CanadianVet 2) @Doc M. (In Main Engineering on Vector 03, which is also affected) 3) @Brutus 4) @Top Hat 5) @chXinya 6) @FollowTomorrow 7) @Nolan 8) @Hastata-Nerada 9) @Triage 10) @Triton 11) @DocReno

The Main Bridge crew: [Show/Hide]

[ Cmdr Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

For a bridge crew heavy with new faces, the transition from their current posture pretending to being a hole in space to clearing for action was remarkably smooth.  In fact, he'd have to make a point to pass on his pleasure when he would have a chance.  But for now, the threat of seven Asurian ships was a priority, even more so than the security situation in Sickbay.  The latter was a strictly local issue that was already being responded to by Security; the former threatened the lives of everyone.  Even if, even without shields or safe use of their phasers, Theurgy could turn them into expanding debris clouds. 

The arrival of their Asurian crewmember took his attention for a while, and when she demanded to be beamed over, Trent's mouth narrowed for a moment.  That was something he had only half-expected, truth be told.  But in the end it changed nothing; if those ships became a threat, he would see to it they would be engaged and destroyed if need be.  The loss would be regrettable, but the mission came first. The mission always came first.

As Ives attempted to reason with the Asurians, that was when all hell broke loose.  As the lights dimmed and consoles started to flicker, Trent found himself staring at the master system display.  It was probably the one thing that was still readable on the Bridge, without sub-catalogues to access but merely a current-state display. Power, weapons, shields, propulsion, computer, sensors.  Everything was going down.  The shields would be the real problem there...

Withdrawing a box underneath the tactical display table in Mission Ops, which has the only available emergency - computer-independent - communications link to engineering, the XO wasted no time connecting to it and speaking in his headset. "All engineering stations, emergency switch of all systems from computer to local manual operations.  Now!"  Trent's voice was no longer his normal near-whisper.  His volume had gone up to conversational levels, and while his calm was still there, it was somewhat less so than it normally was. "Stark! Access the PA system this way, from below your station. Order the evacuation of all nonessential personnel to shelter stations deep within the vectors. Nator, Ravenholm, make your way to the main computer core and physically initiate a reboot, and bring up some additional firewalls." 

Time.  He needed time and there was no way to get it.  And if the shields failed, they would have below five minutes until... and there they were, on Deck 1, the most exposed to radiation...  And then, he had an idea.  "Fighter bay, shuttle bay, scramble, scramble, scramble.  Weapons tight. Disconnect your computers from Thea immediately! Use on-board computer systems to link up all available craft, answer on this low-band frequency, and extend your shield bubbles to cover the vectors as best you can for radiation protection."

It was far from perfect, but it would have to do for now...

---

OOC from Auctor Lucan: All duty stations on the bridge are in-accessible. Your characters cannot access the ship from the touch screens. Below the touch screens, however, in the base of the duty stations, there could beauxiliary, manual controls that are stand alone, but severely in what they might do since the computer cores are essentially offline while the Savi are making their inventory. Like Trent just did, there is a stand-alone, low-band access to the intercom PA system, but not to any combadges. Tagging @Doc M. here too because of Trent's orders to all three Engineering sections board.

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]
Atten. 1) @Brutus 2) @Top Hat 3) @chXinya 4) @FollowTomorrow 5) @Nolan 6) @Hastata-Nerada 7) @Triage 8) @Triton 9) @DocReno 10) @Auctor Lucan.

Currently the situation in main engineering was pandemonium.  “Master Chief, we’re losing power!” Chief Petty Officer Lavar Manfredi reported. “Everything’s shutting down!”

“Dad blast it!” Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert “Billy Bob” O’Connell exclaimed as he bent over the master systems display table.  “None o’ this makes no sense!  It’s as if we’re bein’ shut down by th’ main computer or somethin’.  Contact th’ bridge…”

But before anybody could, the bridge contacted them.  Commander Carrigan Trent’s terse whisper could be heard all over main engineering. “All engineering stations, emergency switch of all systems from computer to local manual operations.  Now!”   Billy Bob noted that he could hear the executive officer breathing.  It was as if he was whispering on the bridge but had turned up the volume on the receiving end of his message to make sure everybody heard it.  Almost as if there was someone on the bridge pointing a gun at him or something…

“You heard th’ man!” Billy Bob shouted as he dashed away from the master systems display table and headed for the warp core.  “They’re overridin’ th’ main computer!” he added as he veered starboard to maneuver around the warp core, the power station conduits and the warp core monitoring station.  O’Connell didn’t care to speculate about who ‘they’ were.  That was Ives’ and Trent’s problem.  His problem was making sure there was enough computer power to run life support, allow the hanger doors to open, and so on.  “Disengage th’ main computer an’ execute all functions through auxiliary that we can!”

“Thea’s been compromised?” Chief Manfredi repeated in disbelief as he followed O’Connell around the warp core.  “How?”

“It don’t ruttin’ matter how, Chief!” O’Connell growled as they ran in between the EPS trunks and the plasma coolant ducts.  “It’s jest happened!” he continued as they reached the optical data network relay junctions that were on the forward wall right behind the main power regulators.  “Don’t worry, Ah’ve got uh contingency in place jest in case this should happen, a plan 'B' that this,” he added as he started rerouting the Theurgy’s computer network.  “After the folks from th’ Harbinger took control o’ everythin’ Ah created us a li’l ol’ backup plan!”

“Oh, no… Boss,” the coffee colored propulsion chief shook his head.  “Operation Manta Ray?  You can’t be serious!”

“Ah shore, Ah say, Ah shore am Chief!” Billy Bob replied as his large meaty hands darted across the manual switches.  “Ah’m a severin’ all connections with Thea an reroute all computer functions through the Allegiant!   Th’ Theurgy won’t be able t’ separate nor come t’gether an’ the whole ship’ll be slower than molasses but at least we’ll have enough control functions so’s we kin find out who’s doin’ this tuh us!  It’ll be like operatin’ in ‘safe mode’.  Only the most basic computer functions necessary t’ run th’ starship!”

“Boss, there’s no way the Alligiant’s computer will be able to control something as big as the Theurgy!” Chief Manfredi protested.  “If we ask the ship to go to warp the wrong way the Alligiant’s computer could hang up! ”

“She’s hung up now Chief,” Billy Bob retorted.  “An’ don’t you worry none, with our dilithium crystals cracked like a broken mirror Ah don’t cal’culate thet we’ll be goin’ t’ warp soon no how!  Besides, with Thea in three pieces th’ way she is the ship ain’t all that big right now no how.  Th’ way Ah see it, there ain’t, Ah say there aint no harm in tryin’.”  He tapped his combage.  “Engineerin’ t’ all three bridges,” he called out.  “Operation Manta Ray is a go.  Repeat:  Operation Manta Ray is a go.”  He lowered his voice to quiet murmur and added: “Manfredi’s a good engineer but he but he doesn't listen to a word you say."

These days starships were so complicated that it was impossible to fly them without any computer function, but after the short lived mutiny the Harbinger’s officers caused, Billy Bob and Carrigan Trent had rerouted some of the ship’s optical data network to run through the minor computers scattered all over the ship from sickbay to the ship’s replicators and make them slaves to the computer in the Alligiant while cutting out Thea and the four main computer cores entirely.  If this worked the ship would be able to limp along as maneuverable as a brick, and actually fire their weapons if the enemy ships stood real still.  Of all of the people on the bridge, only Trent, Stark, Ives, Henshaw, and Simon Tovarek were likely to know about Operation Manta Ray.  It was a plan of last resort that had never been tested.  The ship would either limp on or turn off.

Only problem was that Thea was in MVAM mode because of her repairs, and the Allegiant could only replace the computer core on Vector 3 via the ODN network. Could the ship even reintegrate without computer assistance? Another thing for the brass on the bridge...

---

OOC:  Will Billy Bob’s desperate and paranoid plan work?  Only Auctor Lucan knows for sure!  Even if it does work, there will no doubt be a delay… and the ship will probably be on emergency lighting, the ship will react sluggishly, officers will only be able to communicate through hard lines like on TOS etc. 

Auctor Lucan: Excellent! Added the last paragraph for guidance to all readers. :)

[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark & Ens. Faye Lintah Eloi-Danvers  | Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
Attn: 
[Show/Hide]
The lift access doors slid open at the rear of the bridge, discharging a hastily dressed and nervous Ens. Faye Lintah Eloi-Danvers onto the bridge of the USS Theurgy just behind the Science's station. She was able to see, across the bridge tucked in by the other lift, the face of the alien Petty Officer from the evening before - the Asurian, Sar-unga Neleo. She had to stop, just outside the lifts scanners, and brace her arm against the support column of one of the multiple secondary stations. A wave of tense emotion crashed down on top of Faye like a ton of bricks. The monitor on the side of her neck began to flash a bit faster, noting the sudden uptake in her pulse.

The Betazoid squeezed her eyes shut, and breathed in through the nose. Though she felt horrible for it, she focused and found a set of familiar thoughts - Vivian Martin's, whom she had met scant hours ago. Using the science officers mind like a crutch, she was then able to cast out and find the shifting, amorphous calm that was Jien Ives, taking refuge in her - his - murky depths. The solidarity and quiet her Captain offered anchored her in the moment of stress, and allowed her to stand up and collect herself, tucking a stray stand of hair behind her ear. Normally she'd have her hair up in a tail or bun while on duty, but the shoulder lenght locks hung loose, hiding the cortical monitor from sight.

During the upheaval in her mind, Faye had missed the discussion between the Captain, the Asurian Petty Officer, and the figures on the split view-screen  She recovered herself in time to see PO. Neleo wash away in the bright beam of a transporter, and felt the torn presence of her mind vanish from her perceptions, even as the tailed figure appeared in the background on the view screen.

With so much hatred in her heart, can anyone blame her for leaving like a rat of a sinking ship? She wondered as she stood up straighter and tugged her jacket down. She tried to emulate Captain Ives, and Commander Trent, whom she sensed, more than saw, back behind in the support staff section. Cold and calm, she pulled upon her training, taking a few steps forward so that she would be just in view now of the occupants of the Asurian ships - and, if she'd not already noticed her, Lt. Cmdr. Martin.

Further afield, the woman closest to the view-screen did her best not to frown as she pulled her gaze from the figure of Sar-unga, and back to the two leaders of the Asurian battle fleet  Natalie listened intently, but quietly, as Ives attempted to berate the two into coming to their senses. The truth was that Theurgy could easily handle the assembled flotila. Secure in that knowledge  Stark pulled up another monitoring app, to track the progress of the crew still scattered on the hull's of the ships vectors. It wouldn't do to dwell on the acute fear that the larger Asurian stirred in her, the knowledge that he could crush her skull between his hands with ease. It would never come to that, as the angry alien would never get close enough to her, or the ship, to do any such harm.

Behind her, Natalie could hear what Faye saw with her own coal black eyes - Captain Ives had shifted to his male form, his voice hardening further still, his brow furrowed. He looked coiled, to the Betazoid, as if able to strike out at a moments notice, hand as flat and rigid as a knife. She could almost picture it, and wondered if this were her own imagination, or a stray thought she was picking up from other corner of the bridge.

So of course, that was when all hell broke loose on the bridge.

The Operations console flickered and spat, reconfiguring itself faster than Natalie could keep track of. She jumped in surprise, sparing a glance over her shoulder as Thea's impassioned, broken pleas filled the room. The bridge seemed to darken further, a strobbing affect causing Natalie to wince as the console lights became a bright dance of ever swirling changes. Even as she ran her fingers across the touch screens, she could tell it was to no avail. And then she heard someone else on the bridge gasp - Ens. Eloi-Danvers, who stared, along with so many others, at the towering figure that suddenly materialized on the bridge.

It took the telepath but an instant to realize that what she saw was a mere projection, and she muttered as much under her breath, likely unheard in the chaos engulfing the bridge. "Hologram," she whispered, eyes narrowing as she forced the fears of others from her mind and began to step, slowly, around the science station, towards the command chair where Ives stood, resolute.

The Savi? both women thought in unison with likely the entirety of the bridge crew. Faye racked her mind for anything that would surface, the name nagging at her. Natalie, far too busy with her useless console, glowered in frustration at the interloper even as she too combed her thoughts - but for a solution to the sudden cyber warfare strike. But with the offhand threat of 'collection' came the painful notification on the viewscreen - 1 minute to failure.

She swore and gave the console a good, firm kick underneath, on the off chance that it might jar some connection loose. If it isn't working, hit it with a hammer the old axiom went. Sadly it failed to be of any use, but thankfully Carrigan Trent was of use. The normally quiet man shouted (well, loudly spoke) out orders, reminding the crew of back ups. And before he finished, Natale was bent over in her chair, skirt riding up as she pulled out the box from its panel in the ops station. Mirroring her actions beside her, she could hear the Trill Flight Controller trying to wrestle the ship into doing his bidding.

Clipping the receiver into her Natlalie, she sucked in a breath and tried to quell her own fear. In a shockingly calm voice, she contacted the whole of the crew of the Theurgy, across all three vectors, even as she heard the voice of her engineering counterpart, MCPO William Robert "Billy-Bob" O'Connell reporting to Cmdr. Trent and Cpt. Ives of a possible solution.

"All hands, all hands," the cool voice of the Chief of Operations addressed her crew, "Emergency Radiation protocols are in effect. All non-essential personnel are to report to radiation shelters located in your current Vector immediately. Do not attempt to transport to another Vector. Repeat, all nonessential personnel are to evacuate to radiation shelters immediately." Even as she spoke, she knew that the bridge crew, and those down in the engine rooms of each vector would be hardening themselves for the possible fall out that was to ensue. The radiation that would cook them in their seats, at their stations, if a solution could be swiftly implemented.

The harsh fact of the mater was that, in situations like these, Faye was fairly certain she counted as non-essential crew. Her orders then, were to evacuate the bridge for a more centrally located shelter deep in the heart of the Helmet. From there, perhaps, she could be a calming influence on the huddled masses that would fill the room, and god help her, attempt to assist in running the ship from those remote locations. But in her mind, she saw another face than her own, or those on the bridge - hair a lighter brunett than her own, curlier, with beautiful eyes set in a grimly determined countenance  Riley Patterson would not be heading to one of the shelters. As a nurse, she would be running into action, prepping a sickbay, doing her damnedest to save lives.

And so Faye turned her full attention to the being that shimmered in the dim glow of the wounded bridge, coldly looking over the crew as if they were ants, scurrying beneath an oncoming foot. In a flash of horrifying insight, realization dawned on Faye that these beings did not see the crew of the Theurgy as anything more than curiosities  just as the European explorers of bygone era's had seen the apes on the human homeworld of Earth. Able to mimic, but not really worthy of consideration as equals. Alive, yes, certainly, and cleaver, but hardly could they be considered as true, thinking life.

Something tickled the back of the diplomats mind, from her days at the academy, one of the examples of diplomacy in the early years of the Federation. Some similar threat, where compassion  communication, and empathy won out in preventing an all out war with a truly alien form of species that harassed the early Federation and its then neighbors. If the founding fathers and mothers of the Federation could find such a solution to their predicament then, how could Faye not attempt to do so here?

Banishing the fear she felt for Riley, and that which she could sense swirlling around her, Faye stepped away, back straight, hands out at her sides (palms up) and continued across the bridge to stop near her Captain. She caught his eye, and then tilted her head slightly, as if warning, or seeking permission. But time was short and she would have to hope Ives trusted her to do her job, as she turned to address the man.

"Do you not care," she called out, carefully, "That what you are doing will harm the inhabitants of this ship? You claim to be looking for specimens for research. Surely then, it serves no purpose to irradiate them, before you can collect any of worth?" She tried to engage the being on a logical level, and never mind how reprehensible she found his methods. "Is that morally acceptable to your people? To cause such wanton harm without regard to the sentience of the...curiosities you observe? Are not we just as alive and free thinking as the Asurains that you hold in some apparent regard? As you yourself?" She went out on a limb, unsure of how to convince the hologram that she were as worthy of life as it was.

---

OOC: Play ball ladies and gents. Let me know if anything needs a touch up.

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

Even with a computer core as revolutionary as Thea's, it seemed that one constant of the universe held that waiting for a simulation to finish was possibly the most tedious activity possible on a starship. Nator was attempting to find a way of keeping them protected from the nebula and the other occupants at once - and meeting with less than total success.

The radiation load on the ship was colossal. Once a humanoid got to 'minutes between exposure and death', exposing them at all was a death sentence. Their cellular structures would degrade to the point of no return on the way to sickbay, before one could even consider getting them treated. So hir original plan of 'switch modes as necessary when incoming fire was a bigger threat than the radiation' was inherently unworkable because there was no threat greater than the emissions of the nebula. At least enemy guns could only hit so much of the ship at once. There's a grim piece of arithmetic...

S/he kept half an eye on the rest of the bridge, perched at the aft as s/he was, but most of hir attention was focused elsewhere. The structural integrity field might be pressed into service; it had a subspace component, and so could be used to manipulate EM radiation in theory. Manoeuvring might have to be a little more sluggish without the full power of the SIF field dedicated to toughening their superstructures' support members, but if the force fields could handle the radiation from the nebula, their shield grid could be freed to perform its intended duty.

Alright, new simulation...

Someone was beamed off the bridge, and then a wash of binary flooded hir LCARS display as Thea screamed. Nator hadn't thought it possible. "What the f-"

The Asurians, it seemed, had some heavy-duty friends. One of them projected itself into their holocommunication volume; not a species s/he recognised. S/he simply stood there in blinking stupefaction as it delivered a 'Please Stand By' message. The noise on the bridge rose by an order of magnitude as orders began to volley back and forth, and the Hermat found a scowl of indignant anger answering the stress in the voices s/he heard. This was all so inconvenient!

"Nator, Ravenholm; make your way to the main computer core and physically initiate a reboot, and bring up some additional firewalls."

The voice belonged to the XO - but s/he didn't want to risk the confusion of trying to verify the face as there was little point. Instead, not needing to be told twice, s/he bolted for the exit. Skipping the turbolifts entirely due to Thea's... indisposal, s/he headed for the backup stairway. It would be cramped, but it beat trying to dive down a Jefferies' tube in a rush. At least it was only one deck down.

As the Hermat left the bridge, s/he went down onto all fours; the Hermat joint structure meant that a fit individual could reach forty kilometres an hour or more running in that fashion. More than once, s/he had to mount a bulkhead to help hir bank around a ninety-degree turn with the minimum loss of speed s/he could manage. When possible, s/he spared the attention to glance back over hir shoulder to see how Ravenholm was keeping up.

[ Primary Computer Core | Deck 02 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

A diminutive, blonde rocket skidded to a halt in the upper level of Thea's core, panting moderately after hir unplanned sprint from the command compartment above. S/he grabbed a case of pre-programmed isolinear chips on the way in and fetched up against the base of the positronic column in the centre of the room. S/he did hir best to stop counting down the seconds in hir head to the time their warp cores would quench themselves.

The chips meant that an engineer didn't need complete functional access to an interface - one could literally build a module to manipulate the data that went through it in any given fashion depending on the order and configuration of the rods used. First things first...

S/he popped one of the inspection panels off the base of the column and tossed it to one side like an oblong frisbee. Nator lunged for the power couplings, yanking them out to their stops, rotating them to their opposite position, and shoving them back in. "Stupid... fucking... redundancy..." s/he growled as s/he repeated the process.

Nator looked over at Ravenholm as s/he pushed the last one home. "I'll handle getting Thea back online-" a glance at her uniform, "-Warrant. If you can keep any intrusions out while it comes back up, we can add the firewalls as we go."

[Lt. Keval ch'Rayya | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
ATTN: @Nolan , @chXinya , @Top Hat , @Brutus , @Doc M. , @Triage , @FollowTomorrow , @Triton , @CanadianVet , @Hastata-Nerada , and @Auctor Lucan


Once he had the data from Selena followed by her question, Keval simply said "It's just a feeling, but as the head of intelligence for the ship it's my job now to check those feelings with cold, hard data." as he started to watch the events unfold.

Keval watched as the scenes unfold, his antenna dipping forwards as he started to see the warning signs before the officer beamed over to the other ship as well as the captain's counter arguement...then came Thea's comment.

A strange and yet familiar sensation started to tingle through his antenna at which point Keval quickly turned around and started inputting some commands into his station. "Selena, I need you to quickly save all current data to local stations and partition everything else off, I got really bad feeling..do it *QUICKLY*!" Keval stated as he started the process of saving what he could when moments later the entire bridge erupted into chaos.

"The timing is too perfect." Keval muttered to himself as he worked to try and get his station to work in order to save the information that they had as he saw what was being done as he watched as the entire data network of the ship was being scanned and so far nothing was being deleted which meant that the Asurians were confident in the Asurians destroying the Theurgy following this as the creature started to speak off to the side.

Then he heard the orders for Ravenholm and he had hoped that she had done what he said before moving over to her station as well and quickly start working there as well, quickly swapping out chips and inputting system commands as flashbacks of the last time that he had to do this started to creep into his mind which helped in a strange way to focus himself as he recalled the patch arounds the Cochrane had told him from his station from what seemed to be a lifetime ago.

[ Lt. Jg. Suq | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

In an instant, the lights were gone and Suq lost his controls. He did not outwardly appear to panic. In fact, he was not particularly panicked at all. It wasn't the first time. He tested his controls here and there, but there was nothing he could do but read out from the screen, when he could see something useful on it. Most the time, it was information. It went too fast for him to read out what kind. He recognized it as engineering files, data, mostly junk that wasn't too informational. Ooh, that looked like the Theurgy's blueprints. That was important. Whoops, there it goes, right into who knows where. All right, that's enough of that.

“Console controls lost. I'm not picking up structural damage. Warp core to power down in T-minus two minutes, we'll have one minute of protection against the radiation after that.” His voice was calm. He was only at his normal level of tension. Thea was effectively disabled, somehow, she was...not right. It eased his mind to know she did have a weakness. He took mental notes, in case he would need to learn how to do this to her later on his own.

First, he heard Trent speak. He heard a noticeable rise in his voice, and a nearly unnoticeable edge. He concluded without seeing him that he meant business. He heard replies from engineering, and it seemed like they were mobilizing without him having to give orders. It was nice not being the only engineer in charge. he concluded, and watched as his console displayed information whizzing off into nothingness. Hey, was that his personal logs? Uh oh, the Vigilant of Sa aren't going to like those filthy things...

Ah, but wait, there was something the others had not yet added. Federation built consoles had an...interesting way of dealing with failures such as these. He brought up his communications, his unique double voice automatically identifying who he was.
This is Lt. Jg. Suq. In case of critical console failure, do not use water. There will be dry chemical extinguishers, or CO2 extinguishers around the ship, particularly in engineering sections. The power failure will interrupt the automatic fire-fighting capabilities aboard the ship and you may see uncontrolled fires from a defunct console. Consider this a class C fire and approach accordingly. If you feel your console overheating, step back immediately and locate your closest extinguisher.”

[ Sinead O'Riley (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sinead_O%27Riley#Personality_Profile) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @Triton, @DocReno, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada & @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide]Oddly, when Thea began to show distress, Sinead felt as if she were in distress too. But what was more frightening, more worrisome than that Dyan's choice to return to her people, was the other hologram that appeared, and what it had to say. Echtand qi Versant. She committed its name and every detail of it that she could see to her memory. Right now, it was endangering Thea, the crew within her, many of which were her friends from the Resolve, and some new ones from here, like Morgan Song. That made it a threat to be dealt with, hastily. She would hold back if Ives or other command personnel stopped her, but she thought that would be tactically unwise.

“Suq,” said Sinead, “do ye need me t' do anythin' 'ere?”

She leaned close to him, having left her seat to kneel next to him, and she whispered very softly, “If th' Vigilant o' Sa consi'er Captain Ives a specimen o' consequence, we will be needin' to prevent 'im bein' taken, aye?”

She lifted her PADD, having quickly separated it from any connection to the ship's computers and showed it to Suq, the PADD hidden from sight by the console in front of the Efrosian, “This be th' mobile emitter I worked on wi' Selena Ravenholm and Thea 'erself yesterday. If I can get 'old o' th' spare one in me quarters, I migh' be able t' make it into some sor' o' transport inhibi'or. Wha' d'ye think? I only be needin' yer 'elp t' figure ou' th' differentials 'tween a photon emitter an' a bio-shielding system. We canna lose th' captain. Not again.” She was thinking of Kendrick, and how she failed to secure his safety. Even if it wasn't her responsibility, the Bringloidi felt accountable for his loss. Now she didn't want to lose this captain too.

She would leave the negotiations to the diplomats, such as Faye, a Betazoid from the looks of it, and very capable by her guess. But she would deal with the tangible threats and anticipate the surprises. What she needed to know was what kind of capabilities did these Asurians have? They appeared to be like warriors. Even without seeing a demonstration, she suspected Dyan was a lethal melee combatant, possibly more so than Sinead herself. If this Vigilant of Sa wanted to leave them to the Asurians, and if that big Asurian male's threat was anything to go by, none of them were going to live very long in Asurian care. So while she was still able to do something, she suspected she ought to make known the available choices. But Ives was not Kendrick. He didn't know what capabilities each and every one of them had. Why Suq was in charge of Engineering and she had been in Security. It would be the right thing to do to let him know all his options. But until Suq spoke, she would hold her position, and she cast a glance at Morgan to see how he was doing, and she nodded reassuringly at him.

---

[ Lt. JG A'vura Zeshryr (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=A%27vura_Zeshryr) | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @steelphoenix
[Show/Hide]Lights dimming always gave A'vura a sense of panic. It meant something very, very wrong was going on. And there were few things left in this day and age that could do that to a Federation starship, especially one of this size and capabilities. “That's not a good sign...” said A'vura, glancing at Deacon with wide eyes. She got up and went over to the viewports hurriedly, looking at the Asurian ships wonderingly, her lips parted slightly, but she said nothing, and she looked back at Deacon again, “I've got a bad feeling about this...” quoting a line from a classical film made centuries ago. “We should get out of here. Come on.”

She started heading towards the door, and kissed hull plating when they didn't open. “Owph! What the...? Thea? Thea?” She looked up and around beseechingly, “Are you there? Thea?!?” She knew about the ship being akin to the infamous Captain Data of the USS Enterprise-E, possessing a positronic brain and so on, based on the briefing, and that it identified itself as 'Thea', but she never knew that it would go down in a time of crisis like right now. “Thea, please respond. Open the doors.” Was the ship computer systems and automations compromised? Were the Asurians doing this? “We'll need to open this manually, I hope the master control switch isn't someplace different.”

Fortunately it wasn't, but when her fingers went for the console, she didn't notice that there was a blue field of light glowing ominously around the controls, nor was she paying attention to the fact that the buttons were all blinking in random order...

[ Deacon | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triage 

Deacon railed internally against the alert, the flickering lights, flashes of another place, another lifetime threatening to swallow him again.  Breathing ragged, he forced himself to focus on the PADD he held in his hands, finding the presence of mind to save the progress of his report independent of the uncertain fate of the Theurgy. He'd made a promise, committed everything he had and was to this cause and he would not lose it for the sake of a power outage or computer crisis.

He barely registered the command for non-essential personnel to seek shelter from the radiation, like a faint, half whispered echo that seemed disconnected from the actual emergency at hand.  The female was moving in the corner of his eye, speaking... to him?  She seemed frustrated.  His eyes were coaxed from the PADD that he gripped tightly, tracing the line of the table's edge to the female, the orion, who had been silently digesting his recounting of the kzinti military forces for the past few hours.

A terrible drone emerged from his memories, the cracking of a bulkhead, the flicker of fire... no... not fire...  His body moved before his mind had rationalized what he saw, displaying an uncanny sense of grace and dexterity that his muscular physique belied as he slid across the table top and wrapped his arm around A'vura's waist, hoisting her away from the console which he regarded with fangs bared as if the electricity behind the glass panel might leap out and attack at any moment.

Realization crept into his eyes, his uneven and anxious breathing managing to slow as he looked at the woman held in his arms.  "You... could have been hurt," he said, his ears folding backwards as he lowered her back to the ground.  

[Selena Ravenholm | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

“Right, I know the feeling.”  Selena responded to Keval, returning to her investigation into slipping into the Asuran’s computers.  She listened to the conversation between the captains with half an ear in the meantime, in case her name came up.  Barely registering the transporter hum, cybernetic eyes never looked up from her console as mechanical fingers glided along its surface.  Probing the outer firewalls in the Asuan communications antenna, Ravenholm saw an opening and prepped her initial attack.  It was only because of her being in the Theurgy’s communication system that she had a few microseconds of warning, nowhere near enough time to respond out here in the flesh.

Selena was already recoiling from her console by the time it lost control, intelligence files, computer access protocols, logs, and god knows what else downloading so fast even her skills were having trouble catching it all.  “Who the hell…” she blurted, then her head snapped around so fast that a doctor would be wincing from the whiplash it gave them.  “Thea!”  Seeing the hologram is such severe distress was beyond concerning, Selena’s eyes grew as wide as they could and she was up and out of her chair racing to her side, ignoring whatever it was that ch’Rayya was ordering her.  “Thea, if you can hear me, shut down your sync link.  Do you hear me?  Shut down the link!”  Grabbing the projected shoulders, mechanical hands tried to steady simulated tremors, a detail lost to her in the chaos.

Selena was there for only a moment, Trent’s clear voice burned through the near-panic with orders to go to the computer to set up new protections.  Knowing it was the only way to save her friend, Selena was off with a look of apology and strength to Thea.  Diving down the emergency stairwell after the Hermat, she took a moment to admire the hermaphrodite’s form as s/he dropped to all fours and galloped off.  Normal humans could never hope to keep pace, Selena just sent the command to release the limiters and her legs pumped harder and faster.

She still fell behind, rushing into the Computer Core just in time to dive to the side to avoid a flying inspection panel.  Pivoting to the stand-up console along the wall she was already bringing up the cybersecurity controls, banging the wall in frustration as the Savi’s intrusions were hammering the controls hard.  “This would be a lot easier if I could link straight in…” she muttered, pulling a small chip of her own out of her thumb.  Loaded with several special anti-intrusion programs, it was her go to when it was time to put on the white hat, as the old saying went.

“Keep me in the loop with your progress Lieutenant, and if you see anything taking a hit call it out so I can cut them off.”

[Ens. Irnashall "Shall" ch'Xinya | Outer Hull | Deck 16 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

It was quite difficult to move quickly in an EV suit.  The heavy fabrics and interior shell made the blasted thing bulky, the extra mass taking extra effort to move.  Microgravity didn’t help either, running would be suicide since the curve of the hull meant that as soon as both magnetic boots were off the metal you’d be flying off into space at the trajectory you pushed off with.  All Shall and COP Luff could do was widen their stance and hustle their steps along.  Thank Lor’Vela that the Deck 16 airlock was just a few dozen meters away.

  Waiting impatiently for it the cycle open, Shall took one last look at the nebula before stepping inside, Luff a few steps behind.  The lock was just cramped enough to make his antenna press against his skull in protest.  Staring at the inner door, Shall couldn’t help but frown at the situation developing outside while the outer door closed and atmosphere started to flood in.  “Of all the times they had to choose to track us down.  How did they find us so fast?” he asked Luff, not caring if he responded.  The panel counted up to a standard atmosphere, and since they were in gravity again both officer’s shut off their magnetic boots. Shall watched the display climb past .9 atm, and suddenly it went dead.  Antenna already rising in surprise, Shall was about to reach out to tap it when everything else died, his eyes squinting shut when the commlink with Luff cut out with a digital screech.

That’s when the outer door slammed open.

Blown backwards and off his feet by the sudden explosive decompression, the airlock was a blur as the force flipped the Andorian antenna over toes.  Instinct instilled from zero-G training at the Academy kicked in, and since his hand was still near his hip there was almost no delay in turning the boots back on, both feet clamping onto the ceiling with a pair of muffled clangs.  Momentum flopped his torso forward, Shall had to catch himself from smacking into the ceiling with his helmet.  Righting himself he was about to ask Luff if he was injured and realized that he was now alone in the airlock.

Standing up, blue eyes widened in horror as an EV-suit clad Tellarite drifted off into the nebula, flipping end over end with no way to arrest his motion.

[ Lt. JG A'vura Zeshryr (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=A%27vura_Zeshryr) | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @steelphoenix
[Show/Hide]A'vura let out a surprised yelp when she felt strong arms wrap around her by the waist, and the memory of what happened on Starbase 84 flashed into her mind and she flailed momentarily before remembering the only person in the room with her was the Kzinti, and he didn't strike her as someone prone to assaulting women. Still in his grip, she tilted her head up to look at him, and saw his bared fangs. But at his statement, she blinked in confusion, “Wha...?” then she looked at the console again, and noticed the sparks coming out of the manual release console she had been reaching for. If Deacon hadn't grabbed her...

Her knees went weak and wobbly, but as he let her go, she balanced against him for a moment to regain her footing and composure, “Th-that...was terribly close,” said A'vura, and she looked at the Kzinti, “thanks...I owe you one. Guess that'll teach me not to be distracted.”

She approached the controls and leaned a little forward, but kept a safe distance, squinting at it. She took out her tricorder, and began scanning to power relay, and made a soft clicking noise, “No wonder...” she looked at Deacon and offered an explanation for his benefit, “A lot of ships have independent power supplies and reroute points during times of crisis or when systems are compromised.” She gestured at the still sparking console, “Unfortunately, system redundancies can sometimes overlap and cause power to be rerouted all into one place, where they gather, build up and, well, overload, like this one. We could force the doors open by hand, but I happen to know a handy trick I learned from Suq and Sinead.”

Glad for the habit of being almost fully geared as if going on an away mission all the time, A'vura withdrew a small but versatile phase cutter and a PADD from her person, she disconnected the PADD from Thea first, “I'm not sure why Thea's not responding, but we won't find answers in here. I'm going to reroute the excess power into the replicator, and lighting briefly. Just long enough to open this door, then we get out, fast.”

She knelt by the console, tracing the plating on the wall with her fingers and used the cutter to peel open the wiring inside. Selecting various wires and attaching them to the receiving ports on her PADD, she began to input commands, and the console above stopped sparking, and the door hesitantly hissed open, straightening up, the Orion quickly darted through the doors, saying, “Go, go, go!” After a while, the doors closed again, and she smiled at Deacon, now they just had to get out of here and to the lounge, while A'vura went to check on what was going on, but the turbolifts, and other doors all had the same problems as the first. “Dammit!” A'vura thumped her fist in frustration against the doors of the turbolift. She glanced over at Deacon, “Fancy a climb through the jeffries tubes?”

[ Lt Simon Tovarek & Ens Cameron Henshaw  | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

After receiving his orders from Martin, Tovarek installed him at his station. He gave the instructions on how to reach the nearest airlock to the ensign on the hull. The coordination was running smoothly as the Andorian and his work buddy were guided in with ease. The looming thread of the Asurians still present, yet at this point it wasn't a major concern for Simon.

As he tried to open comms with ch'Xinya once more to confirm that they had entered the airlock, the systems seemed to black out. "Tchyo za ga`lima..." Tovarek muttered behind his station after numerous failures to make contact with the man. He he whacked the side of the station as it still gave no signal. The arrival of the unknown ship seemed to have brought theirs to their knees. Thea's cries felt like they would go through bone and marrow. It was rather uncomfortable to say the least. Simon chewed on his lip for a second before he tried to reroute everything he knew to get his station back to work. All efforts failed however which only made the lieutenant more aggravated. "Ma'am" he addressed Martin "Last I heard, Mr ch'Xinya should've made it to the airlock. I can't confirm however that he's made it safely aboard the ship. There's no way I can communicate with him... Unless I'd use the intercom, which I believe should only be used for emergencies. With your approval however, I could try and check for myself if he made it?"

Simon realized that it'd be quite the descend as he'd have to make a downwards climb through the tubes to reach Shall's last known position. Yet it was a risk and exercise the officer was willing to make considering the feeling of not knowing if the other was safe gnawed at him. "If need be, I can remain in contact with you and the rest using a low band frequency." he concluded as he looked up at his female supervisor.

Cameron in the meantime had looked in horror at Thea as she had gone through her knees and screamed in agony. Her eyes darted over to the captain and the large presence of the hologram in the middle of their bridge. Fear quickly quipped aroundh er heart as she felt her heart rate accelerate to an unhealthy rhythm. He knees shaking while she sat at her blank station. Trent however brushed off some renewed hope and sense of duty as the XO remained calm as ever. He already seemed to have found a way to bypass the much needed communication issues and started dealing out orders.

Henshaw complied and aided where she could. She heard the problems in the hangar bays as the doors and field emitters had been brought offline as well. She listened to the Wolves ready up and finally a ray of good news reached her earpiece as the newly appointed SCO announced that they were swarming out. "Commander, Wolves have confirmed launch, shuttles are delayed. Do I need to patch any new orders through to the wolves?" she asked in a remarkable cool and calm fashion to the man standing up besides her. It wasn't that the fear she felt had gone, it was more the sense of doing her job that took over, almost guiding her on auto pilot.

---

OOC: Hope this works for everyone, if not let me know and I'll edit where needed.

Russian for beginners:
Tchyo za ga`lima = Fuck off

[ Captain Ives (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Captain_Jien_Ives) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]The cacophony of voices and running feet raised the tensions on the bridge, though everyone did their best to try and handle the situation. Yet for all the activity on the bridge of Vector 01, it was quickly evident that the computer cores of all three Vectors were affected by what these 'Savi' were doing. Though one of the Asurians had called them the 'Sheromi', which was a word Jien had heard before. They were, as far as he knew, the past tormentors and current benefactors of the Asurians, though there was no time to dwell on what that might mean. Thea's three hulls were about to be exposed to the Azure Nebula, so Jien looked back towards the bridge crew to make sure there were no measures missed. That was when he heard O'Connell's voice.

[Operation Manta Ray is a go.  Repeat:  Operation Manta Ray is a go.] The Allegiant's computer core, available through the hard-wire ODN network. Jien's oaken eyes widened and then sought the helmsman's - Derik Veradin. "Can you reintegrate the Vectors?"

"Negative, Captain. No access to RCS thrusters," said the Trill at the CONN station, voice tense. "The docking clamps would not even work if I got out and pushed the hulls together."

Meanwhile, Faye Eloi-Danvers had approached the hologram. "Do you not care, that what you are doing will harm the inhabitants of this ship? You claim to be looking for specimens for research. Surely then, it serves no purpose to irradiate them, before you can collect any of worth? Is that morally acceptable to your people? To cause such wanton harm without regard to the sentience of the...curiosities you observe? Are not we just as alive and free thinking as the Asurains that you hold in some apparent regard? As you yourself?"

The impassive, tall figure of the Savi turned its white head slowly towards the speaker - as if surprised that a rodent in a lab experiment was trying to communicate with him. His face twisted slightly in a cruel grimace and he seemed inconvenienced, but spoke nonetheless, looking away from her. "We can explain it to you, but we cannot understand it for you," he said quietly in his strange voice, the derisiveness barely heard over the chaos on the bridge, "Your quietude would be a better option, giving us the mere 'impression' that you are inane, rather than speak... and remove all doubt. We have seen the rise and fall of the empires, and yet you think we have not foraged for our research before."

Behind him, Viel Erion stepped closer to the screen. "Send the word when you are done, Sheromi," he snarled and slammed his hand down - cutting off the feed. Next to him, Hara added, "Remember, the Captain is ours...." Then, both halves of the viewscreen showed the Azure Nebula, and the hologram of the Savi narrowed his eyes at the light. When Echtand, as he had named himself, spoke again, it was as if he was speaking to himself.

"These Asurians must have a very high opinion of themselves... if they think they are our equals," he said, and then frowned, as if he read something off-screen, in whatever ship he was on. "They did not mention that you were an Aspect-Maker, Captain 'Jien Ives'."

Jien frowned. Was he talking about his race? Could he buy time? "I'm Chameloid. Wh-"

"Cultural semantics have no consequence," said Echtand, who still hadn't unfolded his arms. "We foraged your kind, yet in your lasting captivity, your ancestors caused us a Cataclysm. Since then, our Archive has been compromised, and we have lost relevant data on the Aspect-Makers. Your matrix will be made a new project, one of re-discovery. Retaining lost knowledge. Perhaps you will think it preferable to death at the hands of the Asurians?"

It didn't sound like the Savi cared one whit about his opinion, already looking past Ives and upon Thea's tormented projection. "Though this ship hold something even more... unique. Unprecedented," said Echtand and actually took a couple of steps towards the projection that laid on the deck plates - tilting his head as he met her gaze. "This artificial life-form... has once been organic in nature, making it an impossibility of existence. Its memory banks hold the code of actual memory engrams, formed in a human brain. After this occurrence, the memory retention of its program has changed in nature, making it operate as if it was still organic. There is... nothing of the kind... in our Archive."

When Echtand finally released Thea with his black-eyed stare, he walked away - turning his back to the gathered bridge crew. "You would do well to not oppose the extraction teams we are beaming aboard. Save your strength for the Asurians, and let us collect the positronic brain, the craft you name 'Cinsaj', and the Omega device. Perhaps we will speak again, Aspect-Maker... aboard the Versant."

Mid-step, the hologram of the Savi flickered out of existence - leaving the bridge in a darkness only lit by the Azure Nebula.

And before them... stretching across the entire width of the viewscreen, something immense seemed to be decloaking. A ship that dwarfed the Theurgy, large enough to make Thea look like a shuttle. It was of such magnitude in proportion, so other that it didn't fit within the realm of comprehension for a Federation crew. White and black, almost insect-like in form, it appeared like it could hold over fifty thousand souls or more.

Seeing it, Jien had no words to offer in regard to its sight, much less any means to fight it, when Thea was still crippled. Moreover, time was up, the radiation shields gone, and with a sinking feeling in his stomach, Jien knew that he had mere moments before he would be beamed off the bridge - just like the Savi had said. They had no means to stop it. The inevitability felt like defeat.

"Listen to me!" he called while he still could, rounding on the present officers and overriding the chaos. He met their eyes, yet already, lights began to lick his mimicked uniform - the alien transport protocol issued. Thea was vanishing too, the mobile emitter also being collected. "Execute the Continuance Protocol! Protect the truth at all cost!"

In his peripheral vision, Jien saw someone barrelling towards him - seizing him before he vanished off the bridge. It was only plain to the bridge crew who was missing, for it had been Sinead O'Riley who had made the leap, and she too was gone.

Already, the Savi extraction teams were aboard... One likely in the Fighter Assault Bay, and the other in the Upper Computer Core...

...yet where was the third?

Either way, the Continuance Protocol could not be executed without the computer cores back online.

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/3/39/EP05CH01.png)

---

OOC: The Savi extraction teams are beamed in since the things they are to collect are either too big or not isolated enough for a beam-out. The nature of the extraction teams will be revealed in upcoming posts. The seven Asurian Overseers remain on standby, circling the Theurgy's three Vectors. Also, all hybrid species characters will be beamed off the Theurgy and out of their fighter cockpits in New Pack, Old Teeth. More info on this will be provided when the Sabine arrives too.

Suggested Posting Order: [Show/Hide]The Continuance Protocol: [Show/Hide]

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten. @Nolan , @Triton , @Brutus, @Top Hat , @Hastata-Nerada , @FollowTomorrow , @Triage , @DocReno, @chXinya, @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

Meanwhile in main engineering on Vector 03’s Deck 25, a shout rang out from Petty Officer Tenchi Koizumi.  “Boss, we’re losing our shields!” the young human called out.  He was stationed along the portside outer wall just aft of the chief engineer’s office and the hatch leading into the Jeffries tubes.  “Radiation levels are climbing!”

“Okay folks, git ready to git those shields up!” Master Chief William O’Connell shouted back from the optical data network relay junctions.  “Everybody hang onto your butts!” He called out before hit the last manual switches. 

All of the lights dimmed before returning on nighttime luminosity.  Taking a deep breath, William O’Connell turned and gestured to Chief Petty Officer Lavar Manfredi as he marched back around the warp core back towards the master system display table located in the aft section of the chamber.  “Speak to me Arex,” he grunted to the Bollian hunched over the MSDT.

“The system is reconfiguring Master Chief,” Petty Officer Zil Arex from Bolarus IX replied.  The blue skinned petty officer seemed to have acquired an eerie calm considering the stakes.

Although O’Connell tried his best to match the Bollian’s nerve, the seconds seemed to stretch on like days.  Operation Mantra Ray may have been Billy Bob’s idea, but it was the first officer who had figured out how it could be done.  What if Trent had gotten his schematics wrong?  Or simply hadn’t finished planning a secondary computer and optical data network?  What if the master chief and the engineers serving under him simply hadn’t followed his instructions properly?  What if the fight they had at Starbase 84 compromised the new network?   At least the umbilical ports to the Allegiant were intact:  All they needed was the scout’s computer; the rest of the yacht didn’t need to be in mint condition for this to work.

“Boss, the system is rebooting!” Petty Officer First Class Eetak Zol from Ktaria VII chirped from her console facing the wall portside to the master systems display table.

“Radiation levels are in the danger zone!” Petty Officer Koizumi called out like a chief.

“Don’t jest stand there like a hung up hologram, git those shields up!  Git ‘em up, and make sure they extend out far enough to cover all three vectors!” Billy Bob roared in his ‘drill instructor’ voice before muttering to himself quietly.  “Koizumi’s like a Ferengi salesman, he just don’t know when to stop.”  Seeing his people in main engineering struggling to fill his orders, O’Connell came to an epiphany.  “O’Connell to Vector 03 battle bridge,” he called out to the ceiling but was disappointed when there was no response.  Quickly, he pushed Arex aside and activated the communications system from the master systems control table.  “O’Connell to Vector 03 battle bridge,” he repeated. 

[ This is Lieutenant Commander Dewitt, ] a woman’s voice replied to him.  [ I don’t know what you did, but we’re awfully grateful. ]

“Thank you ma’am,” O’Connell acknowledged.  “Beggin’ the commander’s pardon but we need you to get the shields up and spread them over the other two vectors ASAP, over the entire ship yesterday that is.  My people are good with a wrench but they weren’t exactly trained on deflector shield operation.”

[ We’re on it, ] Dewitt’s voice replied.  [ But it’s a stopgap measure.  With the exception of Chief Warrant Officer Tarsi sh'Zhan the people I have on this bridge aren’t exactly seasoned. ]  Translation:  We aren’t the bridge crew of the Voyager or the Enterprise-E so don’t expect us to pull off any miracles if the bad guys start shooting.

“Yes ma’am Ah’m uh workin’ on that,” Billy Bob assured her.  “Ah’ll git back to yuh jest as quick as Ah can.  O’Connell out,” he added before he ended communication.  “Nice girl, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice,” he muttered before activating the ship’s intercom.  “Chief Petty Officer Richard August, Chief Petty Officer Shannon Duffy, Chief Petty Officer Harrison Jones, Chief Petty Officer Jeff Kowalski, and  Chief Petty Officer Jack Turner report to the lower shuttlebay on Deck 21 immediately!” he bawled in his ‘drill instructor’ voice.  “Git yore festering behinds to th’ shuttlebay an’ each of you enter a shuttle immediately!  O’Connell out.”

“Are we abandoning ship Boss?” Petty Officer Arex asked him.

“Not now Arex; Ah’m busy,” O’Connell waved him away.  “He’s gotta mouth like a cannon, always shootin’ it off,” he muttered before contacting Transporter Room 4 on Deck 12.  “Engineerin’ t’ transporter room; come in Mister Kiiz.”

[ Ensign Kiiz, ] a masculine voice replied.

“Mister Kiiz Ah need yuh t’ transport th’ folks from the main bridge in Vector 01 tuh th’ battle bridge in Vector 03 pronto,” the master chief instructed.  “Duh yuh think you kin handle it?”

[ Master Chief, the transporter doesn’t have enough memory to transport all of them at once, ] the transporter officer from the planet Trill apologized.  [ I’ll have to transport them out one or two at a time at most. ]  

“That’s why Ah ordered, Ah say ordered five transporter chiefs to the lower shuttlebay sir,” the master chief drawled.  “The Theurgy may be crippled an’ th’ Allegiant’s computer might be overloaded but last time Ah checked each o’ them shuttles had a perfectly functioning two pad transporter, and from the last report Ah received, most of ‘em are workin’ fine.  T’aint nothin’ wrong with their computers.  You jest dew what yuh can and coordinate with the others,” he instructed.  

[ Master Chief, I’ve got Chief Warrant Officer Gimli Luff on exterior sensors, ] Kiiz reported.   [ He’s in freefall.  Mister Luff has left Vector One and does not seem to be able to control his trajectory. ]

“Luff’s in freefall?” O’Connell asked in disbelief.  “Whut’s he doin’?” 

[ About ten klicks. ]

“Hang on there Kiiz, Ah’m uh gonna see if Ah kin contact Luff,” O’Connell reported as he fiddled with the controls before him.  “The computer in his EV suit should be workin’ an’ it’s not lahk we gotta git a signal through the hull… Do yuh hear me, Mister Luff?  Kin yuh read me?”

Luff’s booming baritone was quite audible as a matter of fact it was almost deafening.  [ I SAID ‘LUFF TO THEURGY, MAN OVERBOARD!’  WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOU IDIOTS MANNING THE TRANSPORTER ROOMS ANYWAY?  ARE YOU TOO BUSY PLAYING WITH YOUR GENITALS TO RESCUE ME?  BEAM ME BACK ABOARD YOU STUPID DONSELS! ] 

O’Connell switched his communications back to the transporter room before he went deaf.   “Kiiz, Ah reckon yuh better test th’ transporter on Luff afore we try anythin’,” O’Connell decided.  “We kin gauge how tough it is t’ beam one Tellartie aboard afore we try anythin’ crazy like beamin’ the main bridge crew around.  If Luff leaves th’ shield, he’s dead dodo anyways.  By my reckonin’ he’s got nothin’ tuh lose.”

[ Aye-aye Master Chief. ] Kiiz replied.  [ Energizing now. ]  There was a long pause.  [ We have him aboard. ] the ensign reported.

“Thank you Mister Kiiz, standby.”  Billy Bob acknowledged.

---

OOC:  If the Continuance Protocol malfunctions, there is always Plan B.  I’m making the assumption that intership communications has gone from TNG to TOS, although signals from individual combages can still contact each other.  The problem is that a heavily shielded duranium bulkhead could block the comm signals if they aren’t picked up by interior sensors and routed through the ship by the main computer.

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Primary Computer Core | Deck 02 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @chXinya et al

Power interrupted and resumed, last safe backup loaded, runtimes restored and routines coming back online. It wouldn't be clear how Thea was holding up until the boot sequence completed, however - and given its complexity there weren't a great number of tests that could accurately be performed in the pre-operative stage. S/he just had to hope. It wasn't a feeling with which s/he was comfortable. "She's coming back up, Warrant."

Nator sat back on hir haunches as s/he watched the limited LCARS readouts scroll inside the inspection plate. S/he turned to enquire as to how the warrant officer was doing with raising some extra firewalls when hir nose twitched at the odour of ionising air, coinciding with the distinctive sound of a group of annular-confinement beams discharging in the room. Before s/he could turn to see who was transporting into the ship's nerve centre, a hand grabbed hir shoulder and threw hir bodily across the chamber.

The backs of hir legs hit one of the ring of consoles, sending the svelte Hermat tumbling to the deck. S/he wasn't badly hurt, though s/he suspected s/he was going to have some wicked bruises come the morning. If we live...

There was less than a minute before the warp cores shut down, give or take.

Swearing as s/he slapped a forearm onto a console to lever hirself back up again, s/he saw seven humanoids in the room with hir and Ravenholm - mostly identical in configuration to the projection that had spoken on the bridge. They all wore helmets with respirator apparatus in their faceplates, and the seventh - the one closest to the centre of the room, the one that had thrown hir over here - appeared different to the one that had appeared on the bridge. S/he could make out tetrocular features and what looked like an exoskeleton through the transparent mask, and it was tripedal, to boot. "Intruder alert, primary computer core!" s/he called as s/he slapped hir badge, though with Thea still coming around s/he wasn't sure where the message was going to go.

[Remain where you are. The Vigilant of Sa have no interest in you.] The voice was higher-pitched than hir own, but an order or two of magnitude louder. It rang off the hard surfaces in the compartment.

"Balls to that," Nator muttered to hirself.

In the mean time, then, it would be down to the two of them to fight on Thea's behalf. Seven on two... well Hell, maybe I get to pay down that debt early.

Due to the room's dual function of computer core and flag bridge, there was a weapons locker present near the door to provide the officers within a means of defence if Security were unavailable. Nator lunged for it, quite ignored by the aliens, and pressed hir thumbprint into the patch next to one of the rifles. A pistol would have been lighter, but s/he was no SECOFF and rifles were easier to aim; there was also the bonus that the energy density was higher with the rifles compared to the pistols.

By default it was set on heavy stun; the Hermat saw no immediate need to escalate that just yet. Taking careful aim - because Ravenholm was on the other side of the alien group from where s/he stood by the door - s/he put a bolt into the spine of the nearest biped 'Vigilant'. With dismay, s/he watched the impact zone warm to a lambent orange before dissipating harmlessly. The alien spun on the spot, levelling a weapon in hir direction. S/he threw hirself to the deck as an aquamarine beam speared the bulkhead; Nator instinctively threw an arm over hir face to guard against the inevitable spatter of sublimated alloy, but none came. Instead, a neat round hole had been drilled in the composite, with no heating around the edges evident.

A puzzle for later.

S/he crawled a couple of metres along the deck, staying below the tops of the consoles around the edge of the room, dialling up the setting on the rifle as s/he went. Right, s/he determined, popping up out of cover to deliver a maximum-setting blast at hir attacker. The beam caught it high in the shoulder, prompting a puff of gas and ablated suit reinforcement to erupt from the impact point. The alien stumbled, going to one knee. "Ha!" s/he growled.

As one, every other bipedal intruder turned towards hir, raising their weapons. The tripedal one ignored hir still, leaning over Thea's exposed column.

"Oh."

On the plus side, they'd all have their backs to Ravenholm for a few seconds at least. On the other...

The Hermat hit the deck for the third time in the space of half a minute as the bulkhead and console were shredded by more turquoise beams. Now that s/he let hirself take a closer look at their effects, in hir adrenaline-fed, paradoxically fast/slow motion dilated perception of time, whatever they touched seemed to twist in on itself and be torn asunder. Certainly, the consoles weren't up to such abuse. Several of the beams perforated the computer stations quite handily.

One of them scored a line across the back of hir shoulder, and s/he had a prime opportunity for some First-Hand Science to occur.

Most of what s/he got was pain, however, as hir flesh found itself torn apart by gravimetric shear. S/he felt hir tunic grow warm and sticky with hir blood as s/he swore like a Nausicaan pirate, convulsing on the deck as s/he strove to get out of the line of fire. Between the legs of a chair and a neighbouring console, s/he watched as the alien s/he'd wounded regained its feet and added its own fire to the suppression tearing its way through hir cover. "Oh you have to be joking," s/he snarled through gritted teeth.

Nator wormed hir way back across the deck, hir journey lubricated somewhat by the bright scarlet blood pouring from hir wound. Hir one saving grace was that the injury wasn't quite debilitating despite how much it hurt.

"Ravenholm!" s/he called, voice tight with pain.

[ Deacon | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triage, @Auctor Lucan 

Deacon worked to calm himself as A'vura went about her duty, interfacing with the controls for the door in order to discharge the risk of electrocution.  Electrocution.  Not burning, not collapse.  Why was he worried about these other things?  There was the faint smell of ozone, sure, but no smoke and the structure around them seemed sound enough, current circumstances not withstanding.  This... whatever it was... he wondered if it was something he could handle alone.  Hallucinations?  Delusions?  Whatever they were, they were becoming progressively worse as they days and stress rose.  Maybe he could speak to K'Ren about them?

His thoughts came round once more to A'vura as the electricity seemed to dispel from the panel, redirected to other nearby systems as she'd indicated, and the door slid open.  "I could have forced the door," he admitted, realizing that while his strength was more the adequate to the task, his mind was clearly preoccupied.  If he could convince her to provide what prompting she needed, that might be enough to maintain his focus.

They rushed through the door and out into the corridor that separated them from the remainder of the deck.  Beyond a single wall, lay the bridge.  He should be there with his captain, his instincts told him, but that was not the way of a Starfleet vessel.  Here, he would just be in the way, and a good Black Priest knew when his presence was unnecessary.  The conflicting dialogues raced through his head, one reasoned and well practiced, echoing the orion's recommendations to seek safety; the other an incoherent mixture of rage, fear and needful insecurity.

He turned to follow A'vura as she suggested a trip through what he understood to be the arterial system of the ship, giving a nod of ascent.  Focus.  She was helping to give him focus.  One simple task at a time and he would get through this.  Somehow, he would get through this and maintain what little shred of dignity he'd managed to create for himself here.

At least, these were the thoughts that he was using to comfort himself as an uncomfortable sense of weightlessness seemed to wash over him, the corridor being replaced around him by someplace else... "Lieutenant?"

And then he was gone.

---

OOC: I trust I'll learn just where I got beamed to next time :)

[ Sinead O'Riley (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sinead_O%27Riley#Personality_Profile) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @Triton, @DocReno, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada & @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide]Moments before Jien Ives was taken...
Sinead felt her heart turn to ice, and she glanced over towards the Savi, or Sheromi, as the Asurian giant called the monstrous alien. And she rose fluidly to her full height. And for an instant, she felt like she was racing across time and space, yet remained exactly where she was, her mind seeing something that wasn't there, and she saw her people, the Bringloidi, blinking and looking at her in surprise, their hands on tills and threads as they worked on the farms within the caves. “Sinead O'Riley!” said Danilo Odell, the leader of the Bringloidi, “Ye came back! How?”

Her lips parted to speak, when Brenna Odell suddenly appeared, standing before her, fists planted on her hips, “Ye canna be back already, lass,” said Brenna, “ye haven't done what ye supposed t' be doin', now get goin'! don't ye be showin' yerself roun' 'ere, till it's done.”

And she was back on the Theurgy, unsure what she had witnessed and what all that meant. Until it was done? And she suddenly understood. Echtand of Sa's words rang in her ears. All her fears were realized; they were going to take Jien Ives away. There was no more time, and there was only one choice left to her on what to do. But what should she say to poor Suq? He seemed to hate surprises, especially ones that got people in danger. She wasn't entirely sure how fond he was of her but she knew she cared for the man. Kneeling back down and facing the Efrosian, her intense gaze demanding his complete attention, “Listen t'meh!” her voice a sharp whisper, “I canna say much, there be no time, bu' if I do no' return, take care o' yerself, ye hear me? Ye get home, t' friends, and t' family. I must protect the captain this time. I must. I won' fail again. Ye are a good friend, Suq-Reylin-Efreya Xan.”

She turned her shining silver eyes on Morgan, and gave him a pained sorrowful smile. He too was going to hate what she was about to do, but there was no more time left, and the captain was issuing frantic final instructions before he was taken away from them, something about a Continuance Protocol. It was going to happen, she knew. She stood up, taking Suq's head with one hand, clasping the back of his silvery hair gently, and she placed a kiss on his forehead. An attempt at reassurance for a dear friend, because immediately after that, she bolted, leaving the PADD in Suq's hand, and with a flying leap, she threw her arms around the captain, not intending to let him be alone, and at the tender mercies of whatever awaited them in that horrific ship ahead.

Sinead felt the sensation of being beamed and she knew she was being taken along.

Jien Ives' survival and well being was all that mattered.

All that mattered...

---

[ Lt. JG A'vura Zeshryr (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=A%27vura_Zeshryr) | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @steelphoenix, @Nolan, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @Triton, @DocReno, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada & @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide]Something was off, besides the obvious, A'vura realized, and turned to look at Deacon. It was him, somehow, and the expression on him, which worried her. She wasn't worried for her safety, but his, and what more, this sudden seeming sixth sense she developed, that foreboding she had...oh, no, that wasn't sixth sense, that was common sense...but she was still certain there was more to it, and as they set out to get to the access point for the Jeffries tubes, that feeling grew stronger. Then she heard the Kzinti calling her by her rank, and his voice sounded odd, disjointed, and fading. She knew why as soon as she turned and saw him vanishing in a transporter beam.

“OH MY GOD DEACON!” A'vura rushed towards the spot where he was but micro-seconds ago, and stared in horror. How did he get beamed out? Where was he? Was it Thea? She shook her head frantically and raced back towards the bridge, and used her access and password, and she rushed in, noticing immediately that something was very wrong here as well. Fear and dread began to set in her, even though she managed to keep herself from sounding like a blubbering wreck. She didn't know what was going on, and she was this near to absolute panic.

“Deacon...the Kzinti, he was beamed away! I don't know where...wh-where's Captain Ives?” her eyes darted around, looking at who was and wasn't there. Wasn't Sinead supposed to be on duty on the bridge?

[Selena Ravenholm | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

Watching the coordinated attacks on Thea’s computer systems, Selena could only gape in sheer admiration.  Attack programs of a level she’d only dreamed of were running rampant through the networks wreaking all sorts of havoc.  From the way it was acting it looked like it was a highly-variable program of a kind that had long been theorized, but never seen outside of papers.  Some new program was nestled in the communication system and it was continuously spawning daughter programs and processes of whatever type the situation warranted.  With every passing second dozens of worms slithered out of this core and made its way through the library sectors, fattening themselves up with data.  Disruptors ran wild through command functions, preventing tasks from being carried out in every system.  As soon as any attempt was made to go after the core program blockers would quickly snap into existence to keep it from direct attack.  It was genius, and Selena couldn’t wait to get it into quarantine and take it apart byte by byte.

Working furiously, the cyborg’s brow knitted together in concentration as this damned virus shrugged off everything she was throwing at it.  She was far from giving up though, there were plenty of tricks up her proverbial sleeves.  She imagined herself plugged in directly, fighting this titanic battle in virtual reality at the speed of thought, but for now this screen and the speed of typing was the best she could do.  Unusually for her (and as a testament on just how good at hacking this Savi are), Selena tuned out everything around her.  For the next several moments her universe consisted solely of the screen, the virus, and her memories of what she and Thea did last night.

[Remain where you are. The Vigilant of Sa have no interest in you.]

The loud, high pitched call caught the woman completely by surprise, pulling her out of her titanic cyber-clash in an instant.  Cybernetic eyes went wide at the sight of the septuplet standing in front of Thea’s core, but especially at the bigger one with three legs.  A quick mental command flipped on her recorders, the Captain would want to see this.  Fighting her instincts, Selena did nothing but observe for the moment, she thought to ask some questions, maybe they’d be willing to talk face to face before something even more drastic happened.

That was when Nator shot one of the intruders.  “Ah shit…”

The situation instantly dropped into the toilet and Selena dove behind the nearest console, not that it would provide much cover thanks to the base’s open design.  Crouching into a ball on her feet, she was able to pull her pistol out of her leg compartment thanks to the Savi’s current interest in Nator.  There were still six of them looking in her general direction so she held her fire for the moment, instead she held the pistol in a two-handed grip and watched for a threat.  Nator made another move, this time doing some damage.  That induced a pretty serious response from the enemy as all but the big one whirled around and opened up on the Hermat.  Her VISOR picked up something odd about the Savi’s beams as they chewed up the console s/he was hiding behind, something to be filed away for later study.

With all of their backs to Selena, she lined up a shot on the closest one.  It was a bit too late though, Nator started screaming in pain from hir cover, and with the distraction the wounded Savi stood up like nothing had happened, to both their surprise.  Knowing it was going very, very badly for them and in dire need of some more even odds, she pulled the trigger.  A bright white bolt slammed into the back of the closest intruder, dropping it to the deck with a puff of air and vaporized material.  Augmented hands already shifted her aim to the next one before it could turn to her, punching a hole through its suit as soon as her virtual reticle went green.  Catching it in the elbow this hit was far more effective.  At its highest setting her pistol punched right though fabric and flesh severing the arm clean off at the joint.  The alien actually looked surprised at this, but of course this meant Nator was no longer the one they were interested in. 

Five rifles swung around before Selena could get another shot off and both console desk were torn apart by those blue beams in a hair more than an instant.  Only her augmented reflexes got Selena out of the way in time, feet pushing her into a fast somersault behind the next console.  Snapping a wild shot off as soon as she stopped spinning the cyborg could see Nator bleeding out on the deck across from her, indecision stopping her for the briefest of moments.

That was all the Savi needed.  An aquamarine beam passed right through her right bicep, gravimetric forces ripping the synthetic materials apart with gravimetric sheer.  Red warnings erupted all over Selena’s vision, implant diagnostics appearing in full view, accompanying an explosion of pain through her entire arm.  The force was enough to spin her around and to the deck as well, the impact knocking the wind out of her lungs keeping her from screaming.  Sparks spat out of the severed machinery before she could shut down power to the stump, scoring her vest.  Flopping over to see what was sure to be her impending death, to her surprise the aliens had stopped shooting and joined the seventh member of their team.  The one who hadn’t lifted a single finger to attack.

Eyes widened in horror when Selena realized why that was.  While the six kept the pair occupied, this tripedal beast had opened up an access panel in the central console and was reaching for the connections that linked Thea to the entirety of the ship.  “NO!!!!!” she screamed, unable to keep the pain and fear out of her voice.  “Take me instead!”

[ Lt. Jg. Suq | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Sinead was his comfort. Throughout the blacking out, the holographic small alien, the power losses, he'd occasionally glance over at her, brush his elbow against her, find little ways to assure himself that she was still here. So when Sinead's whispers met his ears, he felt his stomach drop. He held her  PADD in his hands, letting Morgan focus on the console. Words like transport inhibitor and mobile emitter flew in one ear and out the other, or so it seemed. His face showed no reaction, his hands were shaking only at their usual amount.

Take care of himself. You're a good friend Suq. She kissed his forehead and he reached out to hold her arm and hand, and he soon felt her slip right out of his already loose grip. He wished he was fast enough to think of something to say before it happened. He heard her movement, some wind, and just knew they were gone before he could see it happen. He had become oh so very alone, and yet, was he really surprised? This was Sinead. This is who she was, what she did. To stop her would be to ask her to go against her very nature. Her Spirit, so to speak. It didn't stop him from feeling so newly emptied though.

He took a deep breath, inhale and then exhale. It was as if his own family was falling apart right before his eyes. It stung the first time it happened, with his blood family. It stung even worse now. How could he get home to his friends and family when this was his friends and family?

“Right.” He announced to nobody in particular, and then he tapped his combadge ” Ensign Carla Abner, Lt Suq. Switch over to auxiliary computer core, and drop it's environmental by 30 degrees. Increases efficiency. Wire emergency power to the computer core. You'll know you're doing it right if the emergency floor lights turn off. And arm yourselves, we have company. Use collectors charged on plasma or electricity, fire extinguishers, anything. Keep yourselves safe down there.”

As he spoke, he was aware of boarding parties. After all, the little grey man just straight up told everyone there would be some. On top of that, there was the Asurians from earlier, and he figured they'd probably have to come aboard to do anything substantial with such tiny ships. He activated the PADD and stared at the only perfectly functioning computer in the room. It would be useless to try and use it as a transport inhibitor now, and he couldn't use it to remotely reboot the computers without running the risk of infecting the PADD as well. However, the most useful thing he could do right now is capture some data. His fingers flew across the screen.

He was ignoring Morgan, but not purposely. He was far too focused on what he was doing, and simply assumed the other would know enough about the ship and situation to make decisions on his own. With the PADD, he created a virtual computer inside the actual computer within the PADD, then allowed the virtual computer to hook up to his still defunct console. He allowed the virtual computer, but not the real PADD to collect data. The limited abilities of the virtual computer meant the virus only collected useless data. The bare-boned basics of code that allowed the virtual computer to work. Before he could then disconnect the PADD, his console went dark and disconnected for him. The computer reboot was finally taking place.
“We'll have our computer systems back online in a moment. Try not to overload the computer core with commands when it first comes up, everybody.” He reached up to wipe his face, which felt wet. When he pulled his hand back, it was soaked in tears. More had soaked his scruff. A few damp spots had appeared on his chest.

When did that happen, he wondered, and filed the virus away for later study.

[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark & Ens. Faye Lintah Eloi-Danvers  | Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
Attn:  [Show/Hide]
In front of Faye, the Alien avatar delivered his insult and ultimatum, accompanied by what might almost be considered a friendly warning, if it were not for the fact that the being was informing the crew that he was about to perform a lobotomy on her starship. The only thing keeping her alive. With shields failing and radiation imminent, it was almost impossible to block out the fear that swept across the bridge crew. Fear even in the mind of Captain ives, prevalent enough that Faye herself could feel the spike of concern.

Urgency swept the bridge as the avatar of the Savi vanished from the fore-bridge. Motes of light began to dance as Natalie's gaze was pulled away from her flickering, failing console in time to see her captain order the initiation of the Continuance Protocols. Fear gripped Natalie's heart, even as next to the Captain, Ens. Elio-Danvers staggered back in shock. The Betazoid stared, dumbfounded, as the CO was beamed away along with the figure that struck across the bridge and latched onto him, last minute.

What in the hells is the Continuance Protocol? she all but asked, her mind searching her own thoughts to no avail; but she sensed a knowledge of them in the minds of the senior staff. Those thoughts flickered about like fireflies dancing across a field of flowers, blinking her and there amongst other, more pressing matters. Between attempts to focus on restoring Radiation Shielding, or rerouting power, bypassing compromised network connections, Faye gathered that the protocol entailed spreading the various vectors of the Theurgy in different directions, under independent command.

And one such commander was even now valiantly trying to wrestle control of the battered ship back to her console, well aware that all aboard the vessel, crew were being beamed off and intruders were being deposited. Little flickers of warning lights, an intrusion in the computer core - the flag bridge - Thea, poor sweet Thea - Natalie couldn't think about that, couldn't let herself get lost in the moment, the fear. Ives was gone. Ives was gone

And apparently so was Deacon, the ...bartender?

Faye saw Aruva rush onto the bridge and moved to try and help the girl, feeling the fear and confusion cutting through the thoughts of those around her like a beacon. This wasn't what Faye did. She sat in front of tables with diplomats and hashed out problems. She didn't watch as people around her were whisked away by alien abductors.

"Who?" The betazoid asked, gleaning bits and pieces, images, but nothing stable. She pulled the Orion away from the  bridge access as the ship rocked and surged under them, a new hum shaking the floor and nearly sending both women to their knees.

The lights on the Operations console flared, brightly, casting Natalie in an ghastly, up-lit countenance . Her eyes went wide, and then her face formed an almost feral snarl of anger and triumph. Fingers flew across the controls before her, routing, changing, updating, coercing and out right forcing. More and more across the bridge, systems surged into life once more.

"Commander!" She cried back over her shoulder. "They've done it. The Cores are rebooted." Nator and Ravenholm, bless them she thought as she brought the rest of the purged systems up. Sweat ran down the back of her neck as the viewscreen seemed to stabelize and the emergency bridge lighting was replaced by something more familiar. It was too little, to late to keep Captain Ives and Thea's projector - Thea herself - from being stolen. Nator and Ravenholm....oh, god

Her next action forced a com call out across the vectors. With the computers restored she was able to summon the full force of the ships comms array and send out the following orders without waiting to be asked. "Bridge to security, Intruder Alert. Boarding parties in Upper Computer Core and Fighter Assault bay. Repeat, Intruder Alert, boarding parties in the Upper Computer Core and Fighter Assault bay. They are to be considered Armed and Extremely Dangerous."

Message sent, she swiped her hand across her brow and turned, "Warp power confirmed to Vector 01. Thank you very much Mr. Suq" She hoped she'd gotten the Efrosian's name right. "All systems restored, Commander." Message delivered she turned back, starting prepping for what she knew must come next. Not ready, no ready she thought, for just a brief moment, before angrily dashing those traitorous impulses to the depths of her mind. She was a Starfleet officer. They had no place in her head now.

"Lt. Zeshryr!" She snapped out, looking and finding the woman being propped up by the Diplomatic officer that had sadly failed to make a positive impression - or even slow down - the Savi leader that had been projected onto the bridge moments before. "I'll need a hand here, Lieutenant."

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://[url=https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Science Labs | Deck 7 | USS Theurgy ] Attn:

[Show/Hide]
Despite its separate power converter and dedicated ODN Line, and all the protections and firewalls put in place around it, the consoles in the corner of the Upper Science Lab that belonged to Lt. (jg) Sarresh Morali, Temporal Affairs Officer were sparking about in the same damaged, haphazard fashion as the rest of the ship. Perhaps to the frustration of the invading computer virus, however, the protections themselves, the anti-viral security programs were proving to be at least something of a match for the Savi-induced worms. Bits of code, traps put in place by the Lieutenant himself - and then subsequently erased from his own memory by the hard coding in his brain - waged a valiant effort against the Vigilant of Sa.  While the man that created them - with no memory of such - raged about at the assault on his work.

"I don't have time for this bullshit," he spat as he dropped to his rear, slid into his back, and wiggled under a console, ripping out cables in an effort to reroute power. He reached over to grab another when his vision was impaired  by tiny motes of light that grew and grew. "Wait....no...NO!" He screamed, before the transporter beam swept him away.

---

OOC; Powers on kids. Time to get the ball rolling

[ Ens. Derik Veradin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Derik_Veradin) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy ]
Attn: 1) @chXinya 2) @Triton 3) @Nolan 4) @DocReno 5) @Hastata-Nerada 6) @CanadianVet
[Show/Hide]Like the rest of the bridge crew, Derik Veradin hadn't been able to do much at all about the situation as it developed, but he sat closest to Natalie Stark when she announced that the reboot of the computer cores was successful. He had expected to die from radiation poisoning, but as his duty station lit up, systems coming online, he could see what 'Manta Ray' had been all about. From Vector 03, and with the aid of a few fighters out there, the crew had been given radiation shielding after all. He mouthed his thanks to those in Main Engineering to have saved them while the cores were rebooted...

Pushing all the implications of the development from his mind, trying to not look at the monstrosity of a ship sitting out there, he was just about to announce that he had helm control when he saw an incoming hail with a longed-for signature. Stark was still preoccupied with the reboot of all systems, so he took care care of it - the blip on sensors a sight for sore eyes. "Incoming hail!" he said, and looked towards the rest of the bridge crew, centring on Keval at comms. "It's the Sabine! I'm patching it through to you, ch'Rayya."

All they could hope for was that the away team had been successful, and that they were bringing back enough dilithium to make a tactical retreat... because they were not seriously considering attacking that thing, were they?

---

[ Sera vers Aldnoah (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sera_vers_Aldnoah) | ETA 1 Minute | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Docked with Goldeneye's AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie ]
Attn: 1) @Doc M. 2) @Blue Zephyr 3) @Kaligos 4) @Havenborn 5) @Triton 6) @CanadianVet 7) @Triage
[Show/Hide]In the cockpit of the Sabine, Sera vers Aldnoah had been cursing fire and ashes over the decrepit Starfleet communications tech that was clearly inferior to the Azure Nebula, but she knew that neither Havenborn nor Lance had been able to reach the Theurgy either.

The strangest thing was, however, that it had looked like the Theurgy simply vanished for a minute or two, making them wonder what the hell had happened, but now, finally, they were getting through. She had both the fighter pilots tapped into her hail as well, since she had been the one to finally get through the interference.

"This is the Sabine to the Theurgy, over? What the fiery skies is going on over there? Our ETA is one minute now, but we can't make any sense of the sensor readings. Burn me, what in the flaming sands is parked next to you?" According to the sketchy sensor readings they got, it was something big, and it looked like there was smaller craft launching from it. Sera had a very bad feeling about what she was seeing. "Mission accomplished, for what it's worth. We are not all present and accounted for... but we have the crystals just like I promised you, Ives."

Next to Sera, in the co-pilot seat, sat Eliska Bremmer, and just behind their chairs stood Zyrao Natauna. The Human next to Sera was the only one aboard who had experience with the kind of docking situation they were currently in - with Lance's fighter mag-locked unto their hull. Sera trusted that the Human knew what they were supposed to do when they reached the Theurgy, because she sure as fire had no idea. Further back, in the aft compartment, were the ill Heather McMillan, and Officer Mariner that was taking care of her at the moment. She had no idea what to say about Jack, however, since he was still locked up in the cargo hold, and as for ThanIda zh'Wann... Sera didn't know if the situation was right to tell them why the Andorian wasn't the one to contact them.

What's happening? Is the Theurgy under attack? Sera wondered, unaware what they were arriving to in less than a minute.

---

OOC: The Versant is now deploying its Initiator fighters in droves, since the Theurgy has restored power and control, and the fighters are heading straight for the Theurgy. The seven Asurian Overseers remain on standby, circling the Theurgy's three Vectors, but likely wondering whats going on since it was supposed to be their kill. Also, second reminder, all hybrid species characters will be beamed off the Theurgy and out of their fighter cockpits in New Pack, Old Teeth. Lastly, here is a suggested Posting Order, but the order can be adjusted, of course, especially in regard that Triton can post before chXinya too. Leaving mere suggestions within the brackets: [Show/Hide]Sabine + Escort Posting Order next. Yes, we're also posting here in this thread, since the away team is supposed to distribute dilithium crystals to all three Vectors. No set Posting Order here! Just a suggestion on the development:[Show/Hide]

[ Ens. Cameron Henshaw | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Brutus @Triton @CanadianVet

Whilst the Savi continued to talk to Eloi-Danvers and the captain, it seemed that their efforts to negotiate with them had come short. Perhaps their decision already made long beforehand as turmoil started when the Captain and Sinead were beamed off the ship and left the bridge without a captain. Cameron had been busy with coordinating the various spacecraft yet as her peripheral vision saw the shimmers of a transportation beam, the last the she saw was the beaming sequence as they were beamed off the bridge. A sense of defeat and fer had nestled itself in her throat as Ives' last command was to initiate the continuance protocol. Henshaw knew far too well what that meant as she looked up at Carrigan Trent as he was now the one to call the shots on the bridge.

Moments later though the screens and consoles flickered back to life as power got restored and systems came back online as they should have. The risk of being radiated to death averted and the ships outside the vectors had bought them seemingly enough time. A sigh of brief relief escaped Cameron's lips before she patched herself in to the full network of communications.

"Wolf 01, be advised, systems are coming back online. You are free to disengage the shield formation." she informed the SCO who replied seconds later "Confirmed Theurgy, be advised, I have several birds flying dead stick as the pilots seem to be gone... Any chance to recover them? In addition hostile ships launched from the mother ship. How do we proceed?" Another two seconds passed by before Ravon's agitated voice reached Cameron's ear "Scratch that last, hostile ships have opened fire, we are engaging for defensive purposes. Ravon out."

Henshaw nodded before confirming as she passed the message through to the bridge "Wolves have commenced engagement of hostile fighters. Miss Stark, We have several dead Valkyries with no pilot it seems, could there be a way to tractor beam them back to Vector 02?" she asked as the bridge would soon enough burst in activity before the designated personnel would be beamed off to their respective vectors for the continuance protocol. That is if the Sabine would make it back in time with the much needed Dilithium.

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Primary Computer Core | Deck 02 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @chXinya et al

Hir slow progress around the circumference of the room was chased by the scintillating blue beams of the alien weaponry as it chewed through the consoles and deck plates around hir. Given their level of technology, they couldn't be trying to kill hir; they'd already have done it. They were toying with hir, keeping hir suppressed and out of the way. The realisation, along with the adrenaline from the pain and the situation, woke something in Nator. How dare they treat hir like some stripling? S/he was a predator!

The Hermat's pupils dilated, hir breathing deepened, and the claws on hir fingertips began to extend before s/he made a conscious effort to halt them; they wouldn't be useful when trying to control a rifle, let alone been any use against the Savi encounter suits. An icy calm descended over hir features, even as the heavy smell of blood (no matter that it was hir own) triggered the saliva glands in hir mouth.

Time seemed to dilate - everything running at triple speed and in slow motion all at once. S/he could hear the tiny sizzle as sparks from the wrecked consoles landed in the swathe of bright scarlet blood s/he was smearing across the deck. Another weapon discharged across the room; Ravenholm. Immediately, the weight of fire heading hir way lessened - and Nator allowed hirself the smallest sigh of relief as s/he made a tight roll to get hir feet under hir again.

Popping hir head up over the console, s/he saw that the group had fanned out somewhat around the central area of the room to avoid being clustered. Most of the Savi were firing on the warrant officer's position - one of them lacked an arm from the elbow down - except for the one Nator had shot before. That one still very much wanted to return the favour, apparently.

Hir rifle spat a reply, more by luck than judgement sending the beam dancing across its faceplate. The uneven heat load shattered the transparent glass-analogue, sending the thing stumbling back again in reflex. An arm came up to shield its face; at first, s/he thought a shard had punctured or cut its skin, but there was no other injury that hir dilated perception could make out. Even as it recovered its balance and obeyed some unheard command to return to its leader, it kept its arm over its eyes.

Able to see the whole situation again as s/he was, it didn't take long for Ravenholm's cry to direct hir attention to the relevant place. The tripedal alien was hunched under the central console, and in the process of ripping out the intervening circuitry and feeds. S/he watched as Thea's positronic core jostled in its housing, then gently descended through the base of the upper surface of the console. A couple of seconds later, the larger one stood - a spherical lump tucked under one arm. Thea.

Predatory instincts weren't just bloodlust and intent, as some might think. They also included some fairly dispassionate mathematical processes - the targets to select that would give the best chances of success with the lowest chances of injury, and who of a pack to leave behind for the good of the whole, to name a couple. In the space of a second, a run of calculations flashed through hir mind:

Both groups were injured, but the Savi held the weight of numbers; attrition alone would kill the Starfleet representatives present. The Savi leader hadn't lifted a finger to aid its subordinates, concentrating instead on its objective, which it now held. The ship could function without this component. Given the aliens' actions so far, it was unlikely that the ship would be allowed to escape with only this boarding party having come for Thea. There were hundreds of people at risk, right now, and this was an enemy they had neither the circumstances nor the equipment to fight effectively with this little warning.

And just like that, the fire left hir. And to think, a few minutes ago I was ready to throw my life away in some pointless gesture..

"Stand down, Warrant," s/he called. "Let- let them go."

The Savi dissolved and disappeared, beaming back to their vessel. It was very quiet in the compartment, as Nator slowly pushed hirself to stand and face the (now, once again unfamiliar) form of WO Ravenholm.

"Are you alright?" Nator enquired, ignoring how hir new posture pulled at the edges of hir own wound.

S/he let the rifle fall out of hir grip to clatter onto the console behind which s/he stood, before reaching up and tapping hir badge, sighing heavily.

"Nator to Bridge. They have Thea's core."

[ Lt. Cmdr Leon "Striker" Marquez | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]Attn: @Nolan,@Triage, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @Triton, @DocReno, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada & @Auctor Lucan

The Theurgy's Chief Tactical Officer could only growl as his LCARS went off line. Lt. Commander Marquez listened in on the exchange between the Asurians and later, their Allies? Caste-members? Leon privately had but hid his restrictions on a member of the crew leaving to join the Asurians, but he was in no position to protest, not even a glance to anyone or anything besides any screen or datapad. Using his personal datapad, Marquez prepared a message to his department officers that would be immediately transmitted once a solid uplink had been reestablished.

During the blackout, instead of panicking or vainly making any inspections of the screen or EPS conduits, Marquez simply had to find a way to get in touch with Tarsi and Klex, his weapons experts in both Torpedoes and Phasers, respectively. His message called for a standby on weapons, but not to enact upon them without explicit orders. Knowing his people of course, the seasoned Dominion War veterans were manually preparing to load the torpedo pod launchers in response to the situation. Only if their Vector officers had given them specific orders or approval to do so. Marquez growled to himself again, keenly listening to the XO's immediate response.

All engineering stations, emergency switch of all systems from computer to local manual operations.  Now! Stark! Access the PA system this way, from below your station. Order the evacuation of all nonessential personnel to shelter stations deep within the vectors.

Leon accessed the manual controls that gave him a low-band channel and he could use the notes on his PADD to relay the orders more swiftly. "Marquez to Tactical: Be advised -- Thea has been compromised. Say again, ship's AI compromised, unknown entity scanning our computers. Conduct operations with minimal computer reliance. Warrant Tarsi, Chief Klex: When you receive this, Stand by to enable the jamming field. Prepare to load torpedoes and stand-by phasers. Tactical personnel: await further orders pending the situational development, but prepare for a fight. Say again: keep calm, foster calm. Repeat: Await further orders from the your local bridge. Marquez out.". And may your deities help us all.

Tense moments passed on the bridge as the Alien vessel eclipsed the tranquil eternity of the Azure Nebula;  there simply was nothing in Marquez's (or anyone's) tactical playbook to compare this colossus to. The aliens' spokesperson's matter-of-factly sense of racial superiority was extraordinarily insulting, but Leon was already going through any and all options in and outside the proverbial 'box' on how to give that particular creature a personal lesson about humanoid defiance. Perhaps a calculated cascade-effect detonation of the Azure Nebula, or some sort of computer virus of their own, or a joint-boarding action and surgical strike once he could run thorough scans to find a way to find a way past the defenses of this monstrosity. His line of thought was about to undergo a momentary shock.

Marquez hadn't known Ives for a week yet but had a debt to hir, to repay for saving his crew, and looked on with determination to get hir back upon the revelation that the creatures intended to abscond hir and who knew how many other crew, more than likely some from the Resolve. Then... it... happened: "O'Riley! NO-O!!! Leon's bellow stopped short of a brief roar once he saw the unmistakable look in Sinead's silvery eyes just as she left her post and made a blind leap of faith into the Captain's transporter buffer. His teeth bared at the transporter beam's activation, but he stayed at his station. It was very unknown of him to react in such a manner by anyone who'd served with him.

Leon reacted with renewed vigor to Lt. Commander Stark's announcement that systems had been restored. In rapid succession Marquez monitored that the radiation shielding was back online, averting that threat. In another screen, he diverted what sensors he could to getting as concentrated a tactical analysis on the alien vessel, which would take several moments to appear on the holographic console for all to see.

Per his own orders and in response to the power and lines of communication being restored, he brought all weapons online on the Vector from his station, with the CIWS kinetic weapons suite already having been armed at Commander Trent's prior order; Marquez was all too ready to use it, despite the all-but-hopelessness of the situation. The grizzled CTO kept his attention in his earpiece as his computer was already showing indications that the Theurgy was arming her defenses on all three vectors while several melodic-sounding affirmative chirps rang off his console in sequence confirming his orders sent earlier had been received-- along with those accursed buzzing warning hums that instinctively reminded him of the Dominion War: Intruders.

As Stark reported the arrival of their 'guests', Marquez's station was already alerting him to the threat; His monitors were already detecting phaser and... unidentified small arms fire-- on Vector 01, Deck 01?! Leon wished he had a sidearm on his person that particular moment, ready to be the first one to defend the bridge.

In response, and in the hope to get out of transporter range of the behemoth, the Chief Tactical Officer accessed the maneuvering database to convey them to now-LtJg Veradin on what he hoped was an uncompromised channel to the Resolve's capable helmsman and lifesaver of many-times-over. "Helm: They may have accessed the maneuvers database. But they haven't accessed you." Marquez directed an encouraging claim at the helmsman. "Reccomend Evasive Pattern Beta 1-4-0.". That was when Veradin reported some much-needed good news. Leon looked Keval's way, sensing he would be the one to contact the shuttlepod to deliver much-needed hope in this situation.

[ Lt. Keval ch'Rayya | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]  ATTN: @Blue Zephyr @Doc M. @Kaligos  @Havenborn @Triage @Triton @CanadianVet and @Auctor Lucan

Keval heard Derik's words and quickly brought up the Sabine to hearing the request for information of what was going on from the smaller ship's owner. "This is Lieutenant ch'Rayya and a lot acutally, Miss vers Aldnoah." the chan said into the channel. "However the captain is currently a prisoner of the owners of that big honking ship that you see out there which belongs to a race called the Savi and they're the ones who helped the Asuirans to find us and now we've got more then a little bit of trouble."

Keval quickly looked over the information that was starting to come across his boards as the ship's systems slowly started going back to normal. "The situation is as follows also we have possible hostile forces on board the ship since they have beamed not only the captain but also some others off of the ship as well, Thea is currently offline, and we're restoring systems as we go so it's really good news that you have gotten the crystals."

A steady beeping got the chan's full attention which made him make a strange little clicking noise with his tongue as he heard the accompanying comments from behind him. "Also apparently they are yanking people out of the fighters as well and the Wolves are out in force with a wave of hostile fighters inbound.." he continued before quickly inputting a series of commands into his console. "We need you to land in the shuttle bay but also do a head count, make sure that all of the people that came with you is there as well."

"Pilots Lance and Havenborn, we need you in the air so once the Sabine is in the bay, report to your fighters at once and join your pack because it's going to be a very long day." Keval continued as he waited for the reply.

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten. @Nolan , @Triton , @Brutus, @Top Hat , @Hastata-Nerada , @FollowTomorrow , @Triage , @DocReno, @chXinya, @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

In the meantime, Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert “Billy Bob” O’Connell was attempting to restore full computer processing power to the stardrive vector of the Theurgy known as the stallion.

“Okay, Operation Manta Ray is a bandage but do we got a computer expert aboard the stallion?” the master chief asked. 

His answer came from the bridge.  [ Bridge to Engineering, main computing power is being restored, we are canceling Operation Manta Ray. ]  Commander Dewitt’s voice announced.

“Ah reckon the answer is ‘yes’,”  He muttered before tapping his combadge.  “Acknowledged, Bridge.  Anythin’ else we oughtta know?”

[ Communications from the Helmet have informed us that they are dealing with hostile boarding parties. ]  Commander Dewitt’s voice informed him.  [ You have permission to arm your people. ] 

“Ah had, Ah say Ah jest had tuh ask!” O’Connell brayed in frustration.  “Thank you ma’am, Ah’ll  git raight on it.  O’Connell out.”  What a revolting development this was.  Arming the crew was standard practice in wartime, but not knowing the loyalties of who you were handing a phaser to was mighty disconcerting.  The incident with the Devoted still stung and so did the losses those idjits had inflicted.

---

[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tessa_May_Lance,_callsign_%22Goldeneye%22) | Cockpit | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie ]  Attn: 1) @chXinya 2) @Triton 3) @Nolan 4) @DocReno 5) @Hastata-Nerada 6) @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

Zrinka was gone.  Again.  It just didn’t seem real.  Would she come back to life again with some incredible story only to die again a few days later.  Tessa was still trying to wrap her head around Honey Badger being alive and returned to active duty and now she was gone again.  It was as if the last few months had all been a bad dream. 

Three Valkyries and the Sabine had been sent on a mission to an abandoned Klingon mining outpost to replenish the Theurgy’s dilithium stores.  It had been a disaster.  Horrible, spiderlike creatures had tried to eat them.  Biologist Heather McMillan had turned out to be some kind of alien called a “Radiant” who’s first contact with her people was with a supercomputer nearly a thousand years old that was as species supremacist as the Romulan Empire and Tessa didn’t have a clue about what attacked Lieutenant zh’Wann’s party and gave Lieutenant Hi’Jak such bad burns that he wanted to have his limbs amputated just so he wouldn’t have to feel how much pain they gave him.  Then, for no reason, they were fighting Klingons.  Weren’t the Klingons supposed to have abandoned that mining station?  Or had Starfleet put out a Be On the Look Out alert for the Theurgy and anybody affiliated with her?  But how had they known they had anything to do with the Theurgy?  Did they mistake them for pirates or smugglers or something?  Comm chatter revealed that they had picked up a passenger, a woman who had exited a Klingon raider and then proceeded to kill as many Klingons as she could.  Were they supposed to trust this person?  How did they know whether or not she had one of those space parasites in her that was tricking the Klingons into attacking them and then murdering as many Klingons as she could to frame the Sabine party?  Oh well, when that ancient Radiant superweapon destroyed the Klingon carrier the whole point was moot.  Tessa still thought they should have offered assistance to the Klingons who had made it into the outpost’s hanger instead of shooting them though.  They needed fighter pilots and they could afford to be choosy.  As if to prove her point, once they were in warp Tessa noticed that they were short one Valkyrie, Honey Badger's.  She hoped that Zrinka had gone back to the Theurgy to tell them about the Klingon carrier but the way things had been going she doubted it.  If this was a dream, Tessa was eager to wake up.

Speaking of dreaming, her mind was wandering.  The Sabine was dropping out of warp, and since Tessa’s fighter was sharing a warp bubble, that meant that Tessa had to do the same.

Checking her sensors, Tessa noticed that the Theurgy wasn’t alone.  That was almost never good.  It’s just that there was something that weighed almost as much as an Orunal-class space station.  What could be that big?  Worse yet, it wasn’t alone.  There was numerous other warp capable spacecraft of various sizes, from full sized starships, to what could be shuttles or fighters.  It was as if somebody’s starbase and its attendant fleet had somehow transported themselves into the Azure Nebula just to mess with the Theurgy.

It did not compute.  

The Theurgy was still there.  That was a good thing.  Maybe these people came from a highly advanced society that had been hunting the creatures that had taken over Starfleet Command since time began.  Maybe they were here to help.  

But if that was the case, why were their ships arranged in a “we have you surrounded, don’t try to go anywhere” formation and why was the Theurgy still separated into three stardrive vectors? 

And why were they still heading towards them?  And why was the Sabine breaking communications silence letting the newcomers know there were a few overlooked small craft to destroy if the mood struck them?

The Theurgy sent a reply to the Sabine that Tessa could overhear, and the report was predictably nightmarish:

[ This is Lieutenant ch'Rayya and a lot acutally, Miss vers Aldnoah,  However the captain is currently a prisoner of the owners of that big honking ship that you see out there which belongs to a race called the Savi and they're the ones who helped the Asuirans to find us and now we've got more than a little bit of trouble. ]

Who in the name of Zeus’ bellybutton are the Asuirans?  Tessa thought.

[ The situation is as follows also we have possible hostile forces on board the ship since they have beamed not only the captain but also some others off of the ship as well, Thea is currently offline, and we're restoring systems as we go so it's really good news that you have gotten the crystals. ]  There was a pause as a steady beeping was heard over the channel.   [ Also apparently they are yanking people out of the fighters as well and the Wolves are out in force with a wave of hostile fighters inbound… We need you to land in the shuttle bay but also do a head count, make sure that all of the people that came with you is there as well.  Pilots Lance and Havenborn, we need you in the air so once the Sabine is in the bay, report to your fighters at once and join your pack because it's going to be a very long day. ]

“Nerts!” Tessa exclaimed in frustration.  “I mean roger that Theurgy, I copy.”

[Zyrao Natauna | Sabine | Boredom is a Bitch | The Road to Chaos]
@Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @Kaligos @Havenborn @Triage @Triton @CanadianVet @DocReno


Four hours could seem like an eternity.

Zyrao was currently was sitting on the lower bunk.  Back pressed against the bulkhead behind her, her long legs were out in a relaxed way, boots on the deckplating below.  Grey eyes watched everyone around her, for a while.  Moving, milling about.  Listening to conversations that shifted around her.  Those that were worried for their fellow crew members.  She could tell, the family like feel, that they had here on the ship.  Not just those in the tight knit group that had only just fought together but also the people that were currently on the much larger ship. 

Her destination.

She was an outsider, not an entirely new feeling to her.  She was uninterested in small talk and conversations that had little pay out.  What she was doing, was collecting data.  She had her eyes closed, arms crossed underneath her chest, and she had regulated her breathing somewhat.  She knew that she looked asleep, the reasons for this were two fold.  One, people didn't dare bother her; while they didn't fear her; they didn't know her but knew what she could do.  Two, she was able to listen and take in the people around her without having to actually look like she was paying attention. 

She had collected information though.  Some personal information, a few people that had significant others or even people that they screwed.  She listened to the hubbub, the pulse and beat of the crew around her.  She could hear the tension in the voices that weren't exactly friends and she could hear the pleasurable tones in those that did.  She was used to collecting information by listening it was one of the very best ways to assure you got it from the source.  Other information she had learned was that the dilithium crystals that the Sabine was carrying were something that the Theurgy itself needed.  Which would explain what they were doing on a secret moon base.  Without the crystals, the Theurgy and her 'vectors' could not go any faster than Warp 3.  Which in the world of warp, was a child's pace.

Once they were close she began to hear the chatter from the cockpit.  Over the comm unit came the voice of someone, judging by the name, he was likely Andorian.  Though, people tended to name their children oddly he could have been Klingon for all she knew.  The El-Aurian finally allowed her grey eyes to flicker open slowly.  With a smooth movement she ducked and shifted her body off of the bunk where she had spent the last while.  Even though she had not slept resting with her eyes closed had added a little more energy and vigor into her system.  She kept her ear on the comm unit and what was going on ahead.  Weaving through those that were standing around the Sabine listening the same she was she made her way to the cockpit thinking about all the developments that Andorian Man did not know about.

We cannot transport with that woman in the transport buffer.  They need the crystals though.  Theoretically we could flush the woman from the buffer and have the ability to transport the crystals to the vectors for use.  I doubt that option will be high in opinion but then, the greater good is more important than the dead Andorian woman.  Sacrificing thousands of crew members would be less sound than just the one woman that has given her life to the cause already.  Zy's mind was a constant moving ocean of ideas and thoughts.  It hardly stopped moving even when she was resting as she had been before. 

Perhaps instead, we could package the crystals and they could beam them off our ship and onto the proper locations.  That would frankly be easier and, truthfully, the more acceptable option for this crew.  They seem rather attached to the Ida woman.  She leaned forward, a hand resting on the back of a seat as she looked outside the cockpit windows to check out the scene in front of them.  She had, in all her travels, never come across a ship like that.  She had no idea what race could possible be in there, but then, that was unsurprising, the universe was massive.  To think you could have run into all the races or even half was pretentious.  It wasn't even just the ship it was also the fighters that one could tell had come from the larger ship.

For a moment, Zy just studied the scene.  There is no way, even knowing the Theurgy's powerful armaments, could they fight that ship right now.  Especially, not separated as they are.  It would be suicide and then, what are we here for. 

Taking a deep breath she let it out for a moment as she got a rough estimate of the amount of fighters in the area before she decided to respond.  She knew that she should likely let someone else answer because she was not actually one of the crew.  However, she had been in wars, battles, trained as a solider, held captive, saved lives, and lived a very long long time.  There was no way that these people likely knew more about strategy and available options than her.  Zyrao needed to take the reigns or the children that stood around her would make decisions based on emotions.  It's what the young did.  It was no slight against them only that they were young and, for the most part, had not learned how some sacrifices were necessary to move life forward.

It's time to do my thing.

“Lieutenant, this is Zyrao Natauna.” she stated in El-Aurian, hoping of course, the Universal Translator would pick up her language through the comm unit again, though she had to stop herself from identifying herself as Klingon.  It had long since become habit.  “We are incapable of transporting the dilithium to you directly.  Currently, we have ThanIda zh'Wan in our transport buffer so I inform you what your options are.”  her tongue twisted around the Andorian name, she had never been very good with that language.

Of course, the poor Lieutenant wouldn't know who she was, but it mattered very little, he would have to take it on the hope that the people of the Sabine had allowed her on there.  She was probably trustworthy, for the most part, she was not about to let herself died.  She had sacrificed much to be here, killed those that she had once called friends, all to sway the tide in the favor of the Theurgy.  Drex had been making absolutely idiotic decisions it had been time to leave.  Luckily for her, a better opportunity came along.

“I do not believe there is time to dock the Sabine, before you are in too much danger.  The Theurgy and all her vectors are in danger.  You are overwhelmed and out-gunned.  Without the Theurgy being complete it is not enough of a threat.  A retreat is your best option, however, you cannot do that at a Warp 3.  You will perish.  Thus, if you wish to save your asses and my own, our best option is to have us separate the crystals into three crates, and you will beam them onto their perspective vectors allowing them to achieve the level of warp for escape.  We will dock as you load the crystals and prep for warp.”

She knew this would be an unpopular decision.

“I understand your crew and people are disappearing, however, I do believe we will benefit from a tactical retreat and revisit.  It is the best we can do not to lose everyone.” she explained.  “I will prep the crystals with another, we will inform when ready.”

She turned from the cockpit and located Mariner.  She walked over to him. “Help me separate the crystals and crate them.  Prep them for transport.  The Vectors can get their crystals ready while we dock and book out of here.” she stated as she began to work.  Hands grabbing the crystals and finding some empty storage crates to prep them in.  Three vectors, three crates.

[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Heavily contested space ]

Sabine, closely towed by Goldeneye's fighter, dropped out of warp.  And while Bremmer's experience as part of a Bridge watch was strictly limited to being called there as a guard once in a while.  But she hardly needed to be an expert to tell that things were a mess around Theurgy, both through the viewport and on the screens before her.  And when they were hailed, information was made available. 

The Captain and others were gone?  There were boarders on the ship?  Well it certainly was a good thing that Eliska had spent much of the ride back making herself busy using the Sabine's replicator to manufacture the quick-connect housings used to quickly change the power cells of pistols that had been lost on that blasted moon and replicated parts she used to replace the burnt-out and destroyed components of her exo-suit.  Oh, she was no engineer, but she was a qualified Mistress-at-Arms and she could do maintenance on her suit and weapons. 

But with those news?  It meant they would be heading into a real mess. 

But once their El-Aurian passenger spoke, another voice came onto the channel.  It was quiet, but its calm was slightly strained.  And she knew it.  It was their XO. [Sabine, this is Commander Trent.  Divide up the crystals within 3 crates, but you will perform a combat landing in the upper shuttlebay on Vector 1.  And whoever you are, you will refrain from dictating orders to this crew or to myself.  Trent out.]

With those words spoken, Bremmer looked around.  "Looks like we're heading into a right mess.  I'm going to suit back up.  Mister Mariner, I take it you won't mind if I grab what rifle cells we still have when we dock?  Looks like they could use our help when we get in."  Oh, Bremmer knew she was a better shot with a rifle, especially in confined quarters.  And particularly in the mess of a contested boarding.  Or counter-boarding. 

And only then did she had aft, where once more she stripped out of her uniform, and slipped into the familiar, protective confines of her armoured suit.

[ Lt. JG Hi'Jak | SS. Sabine NX-59846 | Cargo Hold] Attn: @Blue Zephyr @Auctor Lucan @Triton @Triage @CanadianVet @Havenborn @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]
Sleep it was litterally all that Jack wanted. to crawl into a bed, and take the next few days off, however Bremmer had tied him in such a way that even in his current state he could not manage to find a restful sitting position or anything of the sort. He was stuck for four hours bound in such a way that he could honestly feel like his back was breaking. The last time he had been this tied up it had been a lot more fun.

Thankfully Bremmer had never searched him he still had the adrenal drug hidden on his person, but even that could only keep him standing for so long, and with his good arm bound he couldn't get to the drug to use it to alleviate the tiredness he felt. Even if he managed that however he had no idea what phase two of the plan was. After getting to Theurgy Ives would just have him executed.

Survival seemed grim at this point. "Should have just let the blue bitch shoot me." He shook his head for a moment. Every time he tried to think there was nothing he could come up with. Four hours and he couldn't even figure out how to get out of his bondage so that he could at the least lay down and sleep.

With the doors closed he couldn't hear the com chatter on the bridge, and thus had no idea what was going on outside of his small makeshift prison for that last four hours of his trip. He had come to terms with his fate for the most part. He had no illusions that he was going to live through this, he had four hours to make peace with his fate, and if there was a single regret in the wake of his countless mistakes it was probably that Sera's look of betrayal on her face.

---

[SS Sabine NX-59846]


As the Sabine was dropped out of warp, the scans that had affected the Theurgy would find themselves going over the small gun ship, opening her main computer and blocking any further chatter to the Theurgy as it scanned over the Sabine and found anything that could have been deemed scientifically useful to the Sabine. Screens on the bridge of the Sabine were slowly turned off, and started scrolling through every function of the much smaller ship.

---

In the hold Jack was a little too tired to realize that his world was twisting, away, he just felt his arm being eased from the restraints, as he was pulled from one set of captors to another. The half breed let out a long sigh as he closed his remaining eye and sighed letting out the only phrase he felt appropriate. "Not again."

[ PWO Heather McMillan (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Heather_McMillan) | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Docked with Goldeneye's AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie ] Attn: 1) @Triton 2) @Auctor Lucan 3) @Doc M. 4) @Blue Zephyr 5) @Havenborn 6) @CanadianVet 7) @Masorin
[Show/Hide]As her light shone unabated, while her body turned its energy to fighting the painful virus coursing through her veins, the suit and even her photonic shielding was beginning to suffer strain from heat exposure. Throughout the physical battle, Heather dreamt. She dreamt of Carrigan Trent, she dreamt of the Theurgy, and she saw the cosmos beyond known space, a world that was isolated and yet so perfectly and strategically placed, lost to the stars, but a beacon of light. An assurance that hope remained. Hope, and courage.

“You cannot perish now, Alata,” said Shä'Nyél, and Heather's eyes shot open, “get up.”

Obediently, Heather, free of pain, sat up, and realized she wasn't on the Sabine any longer, but on a world somewhere. The Radiant couldn't remember the last time she'd set foot on a planet, unless one counted the Coreless Moon. The grass was a vibrant green, the skies were clear and bright, almost Earth-like, save for a strange assortment of colours that existed just at the edge of her vision no matter where she turned. A bubbling brook fed into a shallow stream nearby, heading on towards a crystal lake. Birds sang melodious tunes, a rainbow-hued hamster scampered amongst massive dandelions and unusual purple and pink flowers. “Where am I?” said Heather, asking Shä'Nyél, not even questioning how it was that the Gîl Naur was there, or that the Sabine was no where in sight.

Shä'Nyél's back was turned to Heather, and faced the setting sun, a staff with a crooked top and hanging crystals was in her hand. Each crystal shone in a different colour. “This was...is...our birth home.” said Shä'Nyél, “I had only once set foot on its soft ground, when I was but still a stripling...”

She turned to look at Heather, tears in her eyes, “See this and know, Heather McMillan, though you bear an Adhartim name, you are a child of the Alata and Gîl Naur both. Rememberer, Loremaster and Wisdom, are all what you must be, and to hold on to our cause and purpose, until you have dispatched that which we were made to protect the gods from.”

“Who or what are we supposed to protect the gods from?” said Heather, “Am I really here, even? Or am I going barmy?”

Shä'Nyél laughed softly, and knelt down beside Heather, reaching out with one hand to stroke Heather's chin tenderly. The Gîl Naur's every movement was gracefulness personified. “My child, you are as much here, as you are yet on the Adhartim vessel. I am as real, as much as I am long since dust in the ground of this world. Heed my words, and heed it well...our time grows short, and the light of the Alata wanes, but for you, and yet, you must not fade until Gùl Mor is destroyed.”

“Gùl Mor?” said Heather.

Shä'Nyél's face twisted in displeasure at hearing the name, “The once nameless darkness, now given name. You will know them when you have found them. In your soul, your lifeblood, you will know. You need only be near one in full manifest. They hide themselves in the gods, like cowards, they fester as a disease inside. You will know, and you will feel the fury, the full, unbridled might that is the light of your soul, demanding to be unleashed, and you must unleash it, for that is what you were made to do. What all Alata were created to do.” She looked away, towards the skies, and she made a strangled sound, “I feel them! Through you, I can feel them! Wake now, my child! Wake! The Darkness is upon you! Unleash your light, protect the gods!”

Heather watched in horror as Shä'Nyél began to turn into dust, even her staff, starting from her fingertips, and parts of her face began to crumble and cave inwards, “Shä'Nyél, d-don't go...I don't know what to do!”

“I cannot leave you, my child,” said Shä'Nyél, “for I am your ancestor. You are a part of me, as I am a part of you...always...” her last words were like whispers on the wind as the last of her form turned to dust and she faded from sight, and Heather's vision obscured, and she was gazing at a plain wall inside a power suit, on board Sabine. Her light shone unabated from within the suit, but thankfully it served its purpose of containing her soul flame, and protected the gods from being blinded. Jimmy was still tending to her by her guess, or someone else was occasionally shifting her to check on her status.

The virus still hurt her body, and her headaches continued. The dream felt real, but she didn't understand the final warning. Suddenly a roar of emotion filled her and she felt an emotion she couldn't even begin to understand. She felt...a burning anger...but she had no idea what it was nor had she ever felt something like it in her life. She reached around blindly and found a hand, probably Jimmy's, and she squeezed it gently, as if thanking him, and then she let go. Sitting up, she clumsily reached for her case and managed to open it after fumbling a few times, and spoke in a croaking voice, calling for attention and revealing the dilithium that she had collected from the city.

That furious emotion continued to grow and she made a growling noise. Rising unsteadily to her feet she kept her faceplate fixed in the direction away from everyone, to protect them from her light. But she pointed without looking in the direction of the massive ship beyond, then she felt nauseaus, and then she was gone from the armed shuttle, taken by a transporter beam.

[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Docked with Goldeneye's AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie ]

The ride back to the Theurgy was much bumpier and less cozy than the flight in on account of being latched to a fighter, like glorified cargo. During this trip, Jimmy unwittingly  took on the roles of both quartermaster and combat shrink as he instinctively took a protective attitude towards his new friend, Heather McMillan. For whatever else she was to others aboard, Jimmy saw her as a girl who needed help, lest she succumb to some alien disease (which he partially feared could vaporize him and his fellow humanoids... best to tame that). Part of his officer candidacy on the Hornet saw him undergo how to negotiate and handle crises; many problems could be solved without drawing a phaser.

Taming Heather with PaDD games wasn't helping her condition, and when it didn't work out, he had something that had varying degrees of success with his units, and occasionally, the enemy. Jimmy produced and clipped his padd on her belt and handed her an earpiece synched to the PaDD, which had music files for a variety of moods, with at least a terabyte's worth of handpicked music for just about any genre or mood. In Heather's case, he knew just the type, having spent some time of the ride to SuD Lang preparing something for her to keep as a mission reward; He learned firsthand from Marquez how to give morale-boosting rewards to colleagues as mementos of their shared enterprises. "Here ya go, Luv, try this."
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"Keep it. I made a playlist just for you, thought it'd put a smile on you again. Heaven knows what a bright smile like yours can do." Jimmy himself smiled assumingly as he pressed 'play', mouthing along the lyrics in synch, hoping the song and its ensuing playlist would sooth the Radiant, like a first time sailor fixing their eyes on the horizon. After giving her the padd, Jimmy made idle conversation with McMillan. As he did so he kept neutral, but wary eyes on Zyrao (who seemed content enough just to take naps or pace about), and occasionally the prisoner.

Jimmy hummed along some of those songs and tunes as he produced Ida's phaser for tune up and maintenance.  While Jimmy wouldn't turn down a seat in the cockpit, he had Heather to take care of, and incidentally, his damaged helmet to repair, lest his attempts to calm the Radiant's symptoms failed. At least he was familiar with his Security-Exo suit, whose helmet had since been replaced, except for some superficial combat nicks on the metal framing. The HUD-Visor, now-repaired was put on to complete the outfit he kept on the entire trip. The bronze-colored suit had taken no critical hits, but the helmet was another matter; a matter soon enough handled with the application of a welding tool and some soon-replicated spare parts. He also had the time to reinforce and polish the yan sword he'd secured. Now -that- was something he would take particular care of. He blew off some of the excess dust off the polished blade and was even able to get a rudimentary leather scabbard. Tarsi would be envious.

Having secured his prize in the arms locker, Jimmy approached Zyrao, and beckoned her to join him for a trivial but possibly valuable chore that would take some time off their minds.

The ensuing purchase of attention elsewhere had Mariner working opposite Zyrao. He kept his Phaser handy (though not in plain view), ready to use it in an instant on her, or the prisoner whose treason she exposed. Still, he didn't act like he didn't trust her, not when he could've given her something to do and farm trust, should she be a powerful ally. "You handled yourself well back there, Zy." Jimmy acknowledged her while he produced the set of Klingon disruptor pistols he'd policed from their previous firefight and which deliberately rendered inert without their power packs. Mariner just knew Bremmer would lose a brick, but despite her transparent disdain for him, she fell in line, and furthermore he actually knew what he was doing. It was better to be on good terms with a stranger than to radiate bad karma like others would've.

Mariner's friendly nature of course concealed his aura of neutrality, but from his conversations, he was able to learn that she was an El-Aurian, but he didn't debrief her fully, only making idle conversation about combat history, maybe tactics, but it was just harmless verbal sparring. Of course it wasn't until the subject of Ida's presence in the buffer was raised. "If Cap'n Scott could come out of a transporter buffer and beat the odds, so can a survivor like Ida. Doubt if Gollum there could."

It was when Jimmy returned the weapons to the arms locker and changed the password when he heard the voice of another ex-Resolve security officer. Keval! "About bloody time-- WHAT. The... Bloody hell is... " Mariner strode to the bridge, where his smirk of relief vanished at the sight of, "...That?" He wondered but didn't dwell at the sight of the largest bloody vessel he'd ever imagined; merely uttering in a whisper as he listened in... Crikey! Asurian creeps. That bloody Savi ship was, just a wee bit intimidating... not enough to make him leave his exo-suit to use the head. Inhabitants clearly compensating for something he thought, wearing a challenging smirk.

Now it was a bloody good idea that he'd taken the initiative in replenishing their arsenal and his own gear, with particular care. His glory-hounding had its advantages "Why collect trophies, she asks," Jimmy muttered, wasting no time in rounding up and dividing the dilithium crystals he'd secured, including some extras he took along for good measure when he and Sera were on their way out; pity he didn't steal--- secure, for evidence--- more of the stuff at the refinery. He stifled a laugh at the XO's snarl to the Sabine's passenger. Even if she had a point, there was no questioning who was in command.

Mariner could afford a heartbeat of cheekiness, "Help yourself, Petty Officer. Mine's gonna sit this fight out.... just save your lip for the Hornies." referring to the Asurians (and yet unaware what a Savi even looked like to coin a shorthand moniker), Mariner thumb-gestured to the arms locker where all weapons, active or spare parts, were stored. "The new password's 'Downtown, Victor-Tango-Niner." he informed her, having changed the password. Fortunately the Sabine had spare crates for Theurgy's transporters for Jimmy to divide the dilithium crystals with and send accordingly. With the crystals secured, Jimmy locked in the crates and planted one apiece transporter beacon patched to separate beacons on the three vectors for the transporter chief(s). Jimmy was still in his suit after its repairs were made. He could shower later and he didn't need to use the head yet... even if he was just a notch intimidated by that huge honking ship outside.

"What's my obsession with gear, they wonder." he continued griping mockingly under his breath, feeling vindicated at his notion to round up additional firepower and prepared to return a disruptor to Zy, but instead he found himself holding Heather's hand one last time. She was just his friend; he didn't want to get involved with anyone else, not when Meony was the unspoken motivator for his safe return. Still, for peace of mind, Jimmy cast one last smile at Heather McMillan, as if to let her know everything was going to be okay, giving her hand a light squeeze before tapping his comms.

Mariner got the opportunity to contact his former department chair and longtime friend, "Mariner to Keval: Deputy ThanIda is in our transporter buffer. She took a disruptor bolt on the mission." Jimmy reported. Jimmy was all too eager to deal with the traitor. "There's more, Leftenant. Hi'Jak set us up, Klingons ambushed us on his information. He's wounded but he managed to hypostim Ida with something before she got placed in the transporter buffer." It was then when the Ensign felt he lost complete control of the situation, though he wasn't aware of it right away, not until the interior of the ship got intensely bright, as if a sun just appeared in the room; Jimmy blocked his visor as it occured.

"Recommend Security prepare a holding cell--- What the.... Unknown transporter beam --Heather! ... Sir, she's... they got her, sir." Jimmy had no idea what happened, having felt Heather's hand in his grip just moments before. Something was wrong. The cockpit's screens had gone haywire, just like the ones in the aft compartment, flickering and showing gibberish code, flashing as if they were under outside control. The bridge might not have picked up that last bit he said. He could but hope the words carried through.

Reactively, Jimmy set his Helmet's polarization to full, to keep his eyesight, and got back on his feet only moments later, eyes leaving the cockpit. Still in disbelief, Jimmy raised his sidearm and began a search of the compromised ship, starting with the cargo hold. There were maintenance panels back there, and Hi'Jak might have come out of his restraints...

Fire in his eyes (though hardly anywhere near Sera's level of intensity), he opened the sealed door with a manual release since the code wasn't working. "Allright, Gollum. Where is she, where's the preci-- Bugger me, Where are *you*!?" Jimmy's eyes widened in anger, spotting only the constraints Bremmer had so thoroughly fixed to their prisoner, but no sign of their occupant. "He's gone! They're both gone! Say again, WO McMillan and traitor Hi'Jak status both MIA."

In stunned disbelief and apparently quite angry, not sure what might have happened to Ida in the transporter buffer since the computer was hacked, Jimmy had made his report to the shuttle's non-functioning bridge. There, he saw the welcoming view of the Theurgy's vector outside; He wished Lance would just step it up and get them aboard already. His song for Heather was still stuck in his head as he uttered to himself, "Everything's waiting for... you... Downtown.".

At that point, sorrow firmly turned into determination, reflected in the form of Jimmy getting his Yan secured to his back holster and his phaser pistol charged and armed, its battery packs secured to his person. He stood by the hatch, bathed in flashing lights from the monitors, ready to dispense disruptors to any onboard who would join in on the party. It was decidedly not the best start of the ensuing battle...

[Lt. Commander Wenn Cinn | Corridors | Deck 02 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

Scowling hard enough to turn through the duranium hull, the Theurgy’s chief of security hustled to the Flag Bridge.  Flanked by two deputies (the first that happened to cross his sight when the intruder alerts started blaring) and phaser in hand, the only sign that they had been running just a few moments ago was the slightly ragged breath coming from the Coridanite on his left.  He made a mental note to send that deputy to the gym when this insanity settled down.

In truth, just three security officers racing to a large group of hostiles was not the best of odds, but they were stretched pretty thin.  Sickbay was under some sort of internal assault, not a lot of news came out of there before the comms were cut off.  Luckily Varder and Sel were already on site having escorted Maya there for her physical.  Most of the force was spread out around the ship in case more of the Devoted tried anything so there were very few concentrations.  that meant that when the call came out Cinn could only grab the first few he saw and call for back-up.

As they raced up from the Security Center on deck 7 Commander Wenn thought about the initial reports: three different groups of intruders, but they were not in the typical places for anyone to try to disable a vessel.  The hangar was full of support craft and whatever fighters they couldn’t launch for whatever reason.  Then there was one down on Deck 15 moving slowly.  If he didn’t know better he’d say there were looking for something, but there’s nothing of any value on that deck or nearby.  The most pressing was the Flag Bridge, it only had one occupant: Thea herself.  Cinn took that one himself and sent other groups to the other two.

Nearing the objective, Cinn used his free hand to give some commands to his deputies: standard breakthrough formation, deputies flanking the door while Cinn scopes it out.  Furious weapons fire echoed off the bulkheads giving the security team their first clue of how bad it was.  As soon as they reached the door the flashing lights from phasers and whatever these Savi were using made it look like a rave was inside.  The screams told a different story though.

Pressing himself up against the bulkhead next to the frame, the Coridanite mirrored him on the other side and his other deputy stood ready just behind.  He could hear Selena shouting something over the noise but he didn’t quite catch it.  Leaning just enough to see, Cinn could see six figures arrayed around Thea’s core and a seventh, wholly different alien doing something to it.  Both crewmembers weren’t visible, probably cowering for cover while the six kept them that way.  Holding up a hand, Cinn counted down from five with his fingers.  As soon as he hit zero, they rushed in, Cinn in front with the deputies one step behind.

They were too late.  Cinn nearly shot the main screen, not expecting the Savi to beam out so suddenly, trigger half pushed as soon as he had a clear line.  “Damn it!” he yelled.  Slapping his combadge, “All security teams, report in!”

[Selena Ravenholm | Flag Bridge | Deck 02 | Vector 01| USS Theurgy]

All she could do was watch as that three-legged monstrosity pulled Thea out of her housing and beamed away with its goons, not even giving her cries a moment of thought.  It acted like she was nothing but a bug, and it didn’t even bother stepping on her.  Laying there on the deck all she could do was choke back sobs.  Were they frustration, pain, fear?  It didn’t matter.  Thea was gone.

One simple command would shut down the simulated pain signals coming from her severed arm but she couldn’t do it.  The pain was a focus, the only thing keeping her locked in the moment.  She could see security showing up, late as always, but she didn’t really register it.  Nor did she react to Nator.  All she could do right now was to soak in the pain and aim it at the severed arm the Savi left behind.  Flesh and blood unlike her own, pale skin peeked out from inside a wrapping of armor and fabric.  It was just an arm, but it was her only link to these Savi.

[Ens. Irnashall “Shall ch’Xinya | Airlock | Deck 16 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

Each airlock had a small locker room attached so that EV suits could be donned, and right now there was only one person occupying it when there should have been two.  Having managed to manually recycle the airlock Shall was back inside the ship, safe and sound.  Standing in front of the suit locker he’d used just an hour earlier he looked into the faceplate of the helmet currently in his hands like it was a window.  His eyes could see the back of the inside of the helmet, but his mind could see Luff spinning through the Azure Nebula, fried by the intense radiation scant minutes at best after passing through the shields.

He knew EV suits had to be handled with care, its wearer’s life depended on the integrity, but for the moment all he knew was rage.  Slamming the helmet down onto its shelf as hard as he could, the bang echoed loud enough to get his antenna buzzing.  Quickly stripping the rest of the outer layers off the Andorian just tossed each portion into the locker in a heap.  It was a surefire way to get a reprimand but what did it matter?  Luff was gone.

As it so happened, when Lt. Tovarek showed up Shall was still standing there wearing nothing but the under suit.  His antenna had drooped so low it was practically hiding in his hair, and the only reason his blue skin wasn’t shivering was his Andorian tolerance for said cold.  Hearing his superior enter he looked up and over his shoulder, brain slowly rebooting from the shock.  “We got the emitter installed, but I guess it’s too la-“ The chan’s brief report was suddenly cut off, the man disappearing in a transporter beam without warning.

[ Lt Simon Tovarek | Airlock | Deck 16 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy]

The descent to deck 16 from deck 01 was a tedious if not tiring climb as the lifts had been disabled by the alien presence. With several curses and insults towards the ones responsible for the all out system failure, Simon finally made it to the deck he had wished to be on. Once he opened the access hatch, he crawled out into the corridors and straightened out his uniform vest before he made his way rather hastily to the airlock where Irnashall had supposed to be at. It took him a while to arrive at the designated airlock but he was pleased to see that the manual controls for the airlock had been unhampered with.

He put most of his strength in it to open up the heavy bulkhead door and eventually slipped through the opening to see the Andorian officer alone in the airlock. The lack of his second man and buddy was sufficient data for the lieutenant to realize that he hadn't made it. The blue-skinned ensign began to report to his superior officer about the emitters they installed... before he got interrupted and an aquamarine beam effectively made the Andorian vanish from sight. The human lieutenant remained alone in the airlock, mind reeling at the implications. Then, when he walked further to the viewport, he could see the Versant in all her glory.

"Yebat..." he muttered under his breath as he instinctively tapped his combadge. Realizing that the systems would probably still be down, he started cursing again before it hit him that the badge had actually chirped. Were the computers back on? "Tovarek to Bridge." he said with a rather present annoyance in his voice. Not only because the trek downwards had been utmost useless yet also due to the abduction of one of his fellow science members. "I arrived at the airlock where Mr ch'Xinya was supposed to be. He informed me that the emitters have been programmed before he got... Beamed away..." he said the last part with a slight hesitation as he looked at the ship in the distance, one that clearly outclassed their starship. "The transport beam, was not one of ours... I'm led to believe that whatever that thing out there is, it's beaming our crew aboard. Tovarek out." He paused once more as he pursed his lips together.

He moved himself out of the airlock before he tapped his badge once more. His mind gnarling at his way of thinking as a radical idea started to form in his mind. "Der'mo... Tovarek to Bridge..." he started as he looked up at the ceiling of the corridors of Deck 16, almost as if hoping to glance towards the bridge crew on Deck 01 through the layers of deck plating "If that ship is carrying part of our crew, I would opt to not let those blyats escape." He closed his eyes. "I think the use of Tovarek drones might have a purpose here. The idea might sound radical and probably insane... but I suggest we launch our drones and have them set to a warp collision course to the aft engines of the unknown vessel. Considering most of their engine power will probably be focused there. The damage should be sufficient to cripple the ship and prevent it from going anywhere else, which in my book is perfect should we return to save our crew. Tovarek out." He opened his eyes once more. He didn't mention that if the drones would miss their target, the damage to the structural integrity of the ship would be substantial.

---

Yebat = Fuck
Blyat = Whore
Der'mo = Shit

[ Lt.Com. Vivian Martin & PO1 Morgan Song | Bridge  | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @
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Chaos erupted around Vivian. And, to make matters worse, crewmen appeared to be being abducted at random. No, wait, not at random, there must be a pattern, something which would make the Savi interested in their abductees. To complicate matters further, the Sabine just arrived from her away mission, and both Suq and Stark appearing to be overburdened with other tasks. The burden now fell to herself and the remaining engineer at the bridge's engineering station

"Hold on Suq, I've got this, just make sure that the vectors are up and running when the time comes!" She shouted across the bridge, hoping to be heard in the din around her. Immediately afterwards she raised the Sabine on comms and announced to them, "Lieutenant Commander Martin to the Sabine, we are going to transport the crates of dilithium off of your vessel and into the various vectors, please stand by." She hoped to keep the edges of fear out of her voice just like at the battle of the starbase, and, hopefully, she had succeeded.

Immediately after she notified the Sabine, Vivian raised her head and gave orders to the tall engineer who appeared to be in the process of sorting the ship's power flow. Now that Sinead was gone, Morgan was starting to panic a little bit. After what they had done the day before, he had come to appreciate her and suddenly she was whisked away by some transporter beam before he could even blink. But suddenly he was wrenched from his thoughts and panic as Vivian shouted an order at him from across the bridge. "Mister Song, please contact Mister Kiiz and the other transporter officers and instruct them to transport the dilithium crates to these coordinates!"

Vivian sent the coordinates and directory of where each crate should be transported just as Tovarek's transmission to the bridge reached her ears. Martin felt a brimming pride in her assistant chief, clearly he had put his work as chief before her time to good work. The idea with the drones might just work out in their favor. Of course there was danger involved, if the drones missed their targets then catastrophic damage might be dealt to the enemy ship, but it was a risk they would have to take. In the meantime, Morgan was busy ensuring that the dilithium was transported to the proper locations aboard the Theurgy, and when he was satisfied that the proper officers had been notified, he reported his findings to Vivian, and hoped that they managed to get them to the proper place in time.

[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Main Nacelle | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

The can had been going well. The power readings within normal limits and all was well. And then came the buildup of power as the nacelle shifted to it's deployed position. F'Rell felt the shift in inertia as the nacelle moved and very quickly realized what was going on. Her long serpentine body moved quickly down the length of the nacelle toward the hatch that led back to the jefferies tubes which would lead her into the ship proper, by the time she reached it the air in the nacelle was already getting beyond uncomfortable hot and bordering on dangerous. She was able to activate the hatch remotely with her new translator's link to the onboard systems, had she needed to touch the panel she likely would have severely damaged and appendage. And as soon as the hatch had opened she moved through it and into the cooler air of the jefferies tube.

But this was not the time to relax or even check herself for injuries from the super heated air. Very clearly something had gone wrong, why else would the nacelle have been deployed and activated. She checked her translator's uplink with the ship's computer and found the link was severed, more evidence that something had gone terribly wrong.

So she moved swiftly through the maze of jefferies tubes until she reached a hatch that would lead her to one of the central corridors, only it was in a state of emergency sealed. She checked it's readings and it looks like there was vacuum on the other side of the hatch. Indeed something was going on and she was beginning to piece it together.

She had not yet tied her new translator into the ship's comm system yet, so using it as a a communicator was ruled out. No, she would need to navigate this puzzle on her own, at least for now.

So with purpose she made her way through the jefferies tubes. She would travel in the enclosed space as she knew it best and there was less risk of running into any intruders if the ship was under attack, as her guess was, and she would make her way as close to the bridge as she could manage. From there she would likely be able to find out something more.

[ Lt. JG Derik Veradin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Derik_Veradin) | Main Bridge | Deck 1 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]Was all of this really happening? The thought rang in Derik’s mind as he was having all too familiar feelings about this situation and how similar it felt to The Resolve’s last day. He was busily fumbling with isolinear chips under his console. He’d made it halfway through rigging up a functional, if not terribly great, transition for his console to manual control when the computers had gone down, which he was now frantically trying to undo. He could hear everyone around him doing just as frantic actions as the ship was in chaos. The Captain had disappeared along with some other crew he’d heard, and he was trying not to look at the gigantic ship that almost gave him vertigo from just looking at it.

Moments after clearing out the last fix, he slammed the access port shut and tapped experimentally on the console. After an eternity or two, the screen came to life and his normal, now custom layout appeared again on his console. He let out a deep breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding and quickly corrected a minor drift the vessel had begun during the shutdown. ”Helm control reestablished, full maneuverability at our disposal,” Derik reported to… Commander Trent he realized. He hadn’t grown totally accustomed to either one yet in the three days they’d been here, but he was glad the Commander was still with them. He had struck Derik as very no-nonsense and extremely capable.

Now that he had a moment to breathe, Derik tried to remember what he had read in the giant pile of information and PADDs he’d been given upon becoming the Acting Chief CONN Officer about the ‘Continuance Protocol. He didn’t remember all the details, but he managed to remember his department’s role. He tagged a comm device on his console so as to be heard above the din of the bridge. “Veradin to Thorne and Marika. Continuance protocol has been established. Report in when you are ready at your assigned battle bridge station.” The three of them would directly pilot a Vector of Thea during the protocol, rather than Derik piloting all three with assistance from Thea’s AI as was typical.

After looking quickly over the returning shuttlecraft seeing almost all of them back already, he cracked his knuckles and readied his hands over the controls, forcing himself to stare down the massive ship out in front of them and steeled himself. He was ready.

[ Lt. JG A'vura Zeshryr (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=A%27vura_Zeshryr) | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @steelphoenix, @Nolan, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @Triton, @DocReno, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada & @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide]“Wh-what?” said A'vura, when Faye began guiding her aside, and she recovered enough to answer, “Oh...Deacon, he's a Kzinti, runs the Below Decks Loung-ah!” She lost her balance when the ship lurched and both she and the Betazoid toppled over for a moment. “What the hell was that???”

She struggled to regain her footing, and followed up with another question, “What is going on? Is the Asurians attacking?”

She didn't have a chance to get an answer when Natalie Stark was barking for her, and the Orion jumped, “Y-yes sir? Oh, right, on my way.” She quickly moved to join the woman by her side. “What do you need?” She pushed aside her concern for the Kzinti for the time being, and did her best to focus on the task at hand. Though she would need and appreciate a little heads up on what was going on presently.

[ Cmdr Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Continuance Protocol.

When he had been appointed Executive Officer, Trent had been briefed on it.  While a synopsis was available for wide consumption across ship, the actual specifics were kept on a rather strict need-to-know basis, with much of it kept on a handful of PADDs that were deliberately set to never transmit to any of the ship's computers, only to receive.  And the security measures behind those protocols were of such an extent that one might consider them to be pure paranoia.  But given the enemy at hand?  And how Theurgy's main computer had been so easily compromised?  They made perfect sense. 

And the order from Captain Ives, given while the computers were non-functional, was one Trent had no chance to acknowledge before his commanding officer was taken.  But it did not mean he would not step up.  He did not remove his headset as he walked to the central chair and as he sat down, he looked about himself.  There was a security situation in Sickbay he did not know the status of, and scattered reports of boarders had come in through the emergency, computer-independent communications channels.  And if power could not be restored, death was nearly a certainty. 

But, on the bright side, the Sabine had returned and a voice he did not recognize came onto the channel, presuming to inform him of his options.   And that was something the XO stepped on aggressively, giving his own directions for the Sabine to make for the upper shuttlebay with all haste while making it clear of what the chain of command entailed.  And there had been another message coming from the smaller vessel, but it came in at the same time as the Savi's cyber-attack, and all that had come through was the vicious hiss of subspace background noise. 

But then, panels reinitialized and lights, formerly fitfully flickering, turned back on before settling back down to the dim but eye-saving levels of Red Alert and the computer came back online. As did power generation, the shields, weapons, propulsion, control.  Theurgy, though in no shape to get into a serious engagement, let alone one against that monstrosity of a Savi vessel, was back in the fight.  And that was when, even as various status reports came in, Trent started calling out his orders.

And the first was to enact Jien Ives' last command.  "Computer, initiate Continuance Protocols, authorization Trent Three Seven Four Nine Epsilon."  And the response that came through the speakers was, indeed, and affirmative and the call to prepare for multiple site to site transports; the voice had been Thea's, but it was empty, soulless; the AI was offline.  Which now would become a part in controlling the ship.  Theurgy had astounding computer support to begin with, and it made operating her much easier than most older starships; but with Thea and her sentient matrix?  She was even more effective as a number of minor processes that would need the much slower input of operators or rely on codes and algorithms that might not be the most optimal.  And that would play a factor in the immediate future. 

Trent knew it would take some time for the other Vectors to fully come under autonomous control under their respective bridge crews, so instead he would have to rely on the unified links between the vectors.  "Helmsman, put all Vectors in mutual support defensive posture.  Tactical, use of phasers is authorized.  Bring up full point-defence, phaser banks to fighter defence, maximum rate, perimeter defence fire, stand by quantum torpedoes but hold fire unless ordered to do so.  All non-essential personnel, evacuate, seal and decompress any non-critical outer section, prepare for hull breaches." 

The orders were coming out rapidly, each of them clear and concise as Commander Carrigan Trent was establishing control over the situation.  And with the immediate matters taken care of, he considered what he had heard from Lieutenant Tovarek, regarding the drones.  "Upper Shuttlebay, launch all remaining drones; program for warp velocity kinetic impacts with the after sections of the Savi vessel.  Yeoman Henshaw, order all fighters to provide protection to the drones until they engage."

Would such an action be enough to cripple the Savi vessel's propulsion?  Or would it be so much it would vaporize it along with everyone they had already taken?  That was, unfortunately, not something the XO could worry about just then.  With the vectors limited to no faster than Warp 3, he could not afford to worry about being overtaken in pursuit.  Which led to his next decision. 

Normally, he would have left the whole process to Tactical, but there were specifics he had no time to verbally communicate.  So instead his well-trained fingers sent Lieutenant Commander Marquez the coordinates of a broad zone in empty space between Theurgy beleaguered  Vectors and the Savi vessel.  At Warp 3, the Vectors would be easy to follow via their warp trails.  That is unless one could cause sufficient ripples in subspace itself to mask their warp trails and temporarily blind their sensors. And the combined energy release of several thousand microtorpedoes detonating in unison, or at least very close succession, would be plenty for the purpose.  "Lieutenant Commander Marquez, I want a fire plan for simultaneous saturation detonation of the payload of our entire pod supply in the designated area.  Launch all pods when ready, and release final trigger control to my console."  Almost any other engagement, he would not have called for direct control of the firing command; but he knew that for his plan to work to its greatest effect, timing would have to be near simultaneous for the detonation of the torpedoes and the Vectors going to warp; and since he could only say one thing at a time, and could not manage helm control for three independent Vectors at the same time, it made the choice a very simple one indeed. 

By now, all battle bridges were bound to be manned and ready, so Trent addressed them, even though his plan was just in its early stages and the total, irreplaceable, supply of pods had yet to be deployed.  "All Vector commanders, this is Commander Trent.  You are to set a random escape vector and will engage at your best speed on my mark.  You all know what you need to do.  Godspeed to all of you, and I'll see you at the rendezvous"

Trent's voice was heavy with meaning.  Every vector commander would have access to the secure PADD that would give them the rendezvous coordinates and their timetables.  And he trusted Natalie Stark and Wenn Cinn to know what needed to be done to get there in one piece and in as good a shape as they could be.   And now, it was time to wait.  Wait for the pods to be launched and orientated; wait for the drones to strike.  And try to last long enough to make it all happen.

[ Sera vers Aldnoah (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sera_vers_Aldnoah) | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Docked with Goldeneye's AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie ]
[Show/Hide]What in the fiery sands was going on? Helplessly, Sera couldn't do anything when the Sabine became the victim of some kind of computer attack - locking her out of the controls. Mariner was shouting, saying both Heather and Hi'Jak had been beamed out of her ship. The only advantageous development had been that the El-Aurian had managed to prepare the transport of the crystals before the Sabine had gone haywire, and that the Theurgy officers had managed to beam out the three containers to its warp cores. Sera could hardly credit the ramifications of what Lieutenant ch'Rayya had told them yet, but whoever the Savi were, they were definitely not hiding their heads in the sand.

"They can't hear you, Mariner," she told the male Human aboard, also knowing that they couldn't hear a word of any incoming transmissions either. She glanced towards Bremmer, seeing her gear up in the flickering light, and then towards Zy Natauna. "Let's just hope Lance doesn't..."

She hadn't finished the sentence when they heard the Valkyrie's mag-locks detaching from the crippled Sabine's hull, leaving them to travel by high velocity inertia into the evolving battle. Sera could but stare - mouth agape - as she saw both Havenborn and Lance through the viewport, and how they throttled up their fighters to join the other Lone Wolves. Then, the Sabine began to tumble forward, building momentum.

"Blasted.... bloody... ashes," she swore, and then pulled herself together, turned her yellow eyes to the helm controls again. Desperately, she tried to reclaim access. At least radiation shields, life support, gravity and inertial dampeners were left online, but the ship was a brick hurled towards the Theurgy, and Sera could see Savi fighters crossing the space between them and Vector 01. "Everybody, strap in!"

The battle evolved outside the cockpit in flashes, seen for moments at the time while the Sabine vaulted towards the Theurgy's top hull. The Lone Wolves were suffering losses, merely protected against radiation, while the Savi fighters seemed to have both numbers and functioning shields on their side. One of them took an interest in the Sabine, it seemed...

...since two aquamarine beams speared the ship - shooting straight through the hull as if she was made of tissue paper.

The decompression began instantaneously. The structural integrity field was offline, and Sera screamed over the noise when the atmosphere was being vented through the puncture-wounds the Savi made on the Sabine's main fuselage. The two beams had gone straight through the transporter alcove and the workstation, along with the aft compartment - four holes in total venting atmo and putting the plating around the holes under great duress. Strapped to her seat, Sera was hammering her fingers on the LCARS controls, which remained unresponsive - any kind of access denied. She couldn't even scream for the crew aboard the Sabine to get to the escape pods, since all sound was lost to the deafening depressurisation. Even worse, if they unfastened themselves, they might get mauled through the holes and vented like minced meat along with the atmo.

This is it, Sera thought in a lucid moment, I'm lost in the storm...

No air left. She could feel the lethal embrace of space reaching inside the Sabine. Desperately trying to breathe... she found... that she could actually move again. She blinked with blood-shot eyes, feeling it. The on-board Starfleet computer confirmed it.

[Life support systems online. Atmospheric pressure restored. Oxygen levels rising. 5 %. 15 %. 30 %....]

Sera made an ugly noise as she sucked her first breath down, and blinked at the blurry LCARS displays around her. They looked normal. Even the lights were restored in the aft compartments. A quick look confirmed that the SIF had sealed the hull breaches. As quickly as she could, she accessed helm control and powered up the main impulse engine. She even activated the guidance thrusters to try and level out their trajectory.

[Warning. Collision imminent.]

Sera saw the Theurgy's hull filling the whole viewport ahead of her, and she didn't even have the breath to swear as she tried to change course. Within a hand's breath, she avoided colliding with Vector 01, and skirted along the plating towards the Upper Shuttle Bay, hands trembling at the controls. "T-This is the Sabine, d-docking now."

As they passed through the shuttle bay doors, Sera could see the deck crew preparing unmanned drone ships for launch. The deck crew waved at her to get out of the way, and she turned her ship to set it down on the starboard side. Before her landing gears touched the deck, the first drones were out through the bay doors, and more were on the way - operated by a team of CONN Officers holding PADDs, all of them hastily scrambled for the deployment.

There was a voice from the suits of the two Security officers. [Ensign Mariner. Petty Officer Bremmer. This is Ensign McArthur, come in. We have Asurian boarders on all three Vectors. You are being deployed to intercept. State your readiness and prepare for transport. The Fighter Assault Bay compromised.]

Sera looked to Zy in the seat next to her, mouth dry and yet having recovered from the close brush with death. "Welcome aboard the Theurgy," she said with a dry chuckle, but then, she looked towards the aft workstation and the transporter aboard, both destroyed.

So much for the Andorian Deputy, she thought, realising that they had kept her in the transporter buffer all the way from the Coreless Moon in vain.

---

OOC:
SS Sabine PO: 1) @Blue Zephyr 2) @Triton 3) @CanadianVet 4) @Auctor Lucan (Final Post)
V1 Helmet Bridge PO: 1) @Triton 2) @Mathis 3) @Triage 4) @Auctor Lucan (Dewitt & Drones) 5) @CanadianVet (Final post)
V2 Sword Bridge PO: 1) @Even Angels Cry 2) @DocReno 3) @Top Hat 4) @Nolan 5) @chXinya (Final post)
V3 Stallion Bridge PO: 1) @Doc M. 2) @StarDuster 3) @FollowTomorrow 4) @Brutus (Final post)

Continuance Protocol: [Show/Hide]

[ Lieutenant Junior Grade Yvette Conway (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Operations_NPCs #Lieutenant Junior Grade Yvette Conway) | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten. @StarDuster,  @FollowTomorrow, @Brutus, @Even Angels Cry 2) @DocReno 3) @Top Hat 4) @Nolan 5) @chXinya.

The inertial compensators struggled to stabilize the Stallion as it rocked under enemy weapons fire forcing the officers on the Vector 03 battle bridge to hold onto their consoles to avoid being knocked from their seats.  From her post at the Ops station, Lieutenant (junior grade) Yvette Conway (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Operations_NPCs #Lieutenant Junior Grade Yvette Conway) glanced around the Vector 03 battle bridge in time to see a number of officers beaming in and a few officers beaming out including Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Command_NPCs# Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt) who had been thrown from the captain’s chair and Lieutenant (junior grade) Morwen Angharad (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Science_NPCs# Lieutenant Junior Grade Morwen Angharad), who had beamed away from her science station to join her on the main bridge in Vector One AKA the Helmet.  Replacing Dewitt and standing half a meter in front of the command chair was Lieutenant Commander Natalie Stark (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Natalie_Stark), whose youthful countenance and quirky personality concealed a creative drive and whip smart intellect necessary for command.  Less than half a meter to her right was a young Cardassian named Zelosa Ejek (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Zelosa_Ejek), who if memory served was the new assistant counselor recently recovered from the Resolve.  Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tactical_NPCs#Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura), Jennifer Dewitt’s XO from Black Opal beamed in to take over Tactical, Tarsi sh'Zhan (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tactical_NPCs#Chief Warrant Officer Tarsi sh'Zhan) no longer at the station. Appearing half a meter behind the Science station was Ensign Cir'Cie (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Cir%27Cie).  Appearing a half a meter behind the Conn station to Conway’s right was the short and bubbly Master Chief Petty Officer Mala Kariko (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=CONN_NPCs#Master Chief Petty Officer Mala Kariko) who took over for Senior Chief Petty Officer Verguy Cam (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tactical_NPCs#Senior Chief Petty Officer Verguy Cam) from Tactical who had only been filling in anyway.

“The conn is yours, Master Chief,” the grizzled Verguy Cam said to his shorter superior as he got up from the comm station to head for the phaser room.

The buxom Bajorian’s reply was drowned out by a call from Engineering:

[ O’Connell to bridge; we took a bad hit out there but we just got some fresh dilithium beamed in to us and should have warp power fur yuh in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.  Our number three shield is down, but we’ve got full computin’ power fur— ]

At this point the sounds of particle beam weapons were heard.  The battlecry of [ For Asuria! ] was audible in the background was the sounds of energy weapons, screams, and explosions.

[ Intruder alert! ] O’Connell’s voice cried.  [ We got intruders in Main Engineerin’!  They look lahk saytrs, an’ they’re firin’ at everybody in sight!  Git help over hare as quick as yer able! ]

---

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | USS Theurgy ] 

Who were these goat people?  Why where they attacking?  And right now, who the hell cared?

Master Chief William Robert O’Connell was thankful that Dewitt had given permission to arm his people in Main Engineering for sure enough a boarding party had beamed in and was firing at everybody who couldn’t get out of the way.  He was even gladder that he had requested the presence of a security team to stand by in case of trouble.  He had even put on the straps and belt that was the Subspace Armor Field Tactical Integration (SAFTI) gear that he had worn on the suicide mission to Starbase 84 two days ago.  It was a device that he and the late Calvin Reagar had invented that utilized subspace harmonics to generate a personal force field.  Currently, the rig was capable of protecting a standard sized person for over ten minutes from weak attacks like physical blows or slow moving projectiles.  It could resist shots from phasers, disruptors, and other particle beam weapons for one fifth of the time assuming the weapon was fired at standard settings.  A beam that could disintegrate a human could get through in seconds.  Just enough time to kill the other guy back.

“Murderous varmits!” O’Connell shouted as he activated his SAFTI gear and fired his phaser pistol at the intruders.  “We were ready this time!  Everybody git down!” he hollered in warning to his engineers who at that moment were taking what cover they could.

With that, the door to the storeroom the storeroom just starboard of the warp core hissed open to reveal Chief Petty Officer Amlas Keyah (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Security_NPCs#Chief Petty Officer Amlas Keyah), the deadliest security specialist from Bolarus IX who peed sitting down and veteran of the Starbase 84 mission.  She and her team were armed with phaser rifles, and just like Chief Keyah her sidekick Petty Officer First Class Jean Paul Rivard (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Security_NPCs# Petty Officer First Class Jean Paul Rivard) was also wearing his SAFTI gear that was his souvenir from the Starbase 84 mission.

Keyah and her team didn’t ask for quarter and they didn’t take prisoners.  As far as she was concerned, they could get find out who these people were by conducting autopsies.

---

[ Lieutenant Junior Grade Yvette Conway (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Operations_NPCs #Lieutenant Junior Grade Yvette Conway) | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] 

On the bridge the officers could hear rapid fire phaser discharges and several screams.  Finally the shots ceased and they heard a weary Master Chief O’Connell report:

[ O’Connell to bridge; Main Engineerin’, Ah say Main Engineerin’ haz bin secured.  We’re a gonna contact th’ Battle Sickbay on Deck Fifteen raight now.  O’Connell out. ]

“It never rains,” Junior Lieutenant Yvette Conway grumbled.

[ Lt. Cmdr Leon "Striker" Marquez & ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Main Bridge on the USS Theurgy & the Sabine ]
Attn: @Nolan,@Triage, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @Triton, @DocReno, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada & @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide][ Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

"And may your deities help us all." Leon's own words resounded in his subconsciousness, and felt his words paid off when the Sabine returned to sensor range, and entered the holoterminal's battlespace. Gracias a dios, he thought privately, but merely acknowledged Keval's relay of current events to the shuttlecraft. The CTO didn't focus on one craft, rather, on the two wolves that soon broke off their escort to engage the fight, led by 'Salvo' Havenborn, as the other fighter, 'Goldeneye' Lance eventually undocked its payload and sent in on a path to dock. The vessel would still be vulnerable on its ride in.

Tactical, use of phasers is authorized.  Bring up full point-defence, phaser banks to fighter defence, maximum rate, perimeter defence fire, stand by quantum torpedoes but hold fire unless ordered to do so.

"Aye sir, engaging." It was thus when Commander--Captain Trent issued his orders. Leon's face contorted as he executed them with an almost impassioned vengeance that he operated them. The entirety of Theurgy's arsenal arose to his console after a few heartbeats of 60+ wpm keystrokes; Marquez had previously prepared this command just before Thea went offline back when first contact with the enemy juggernaut was made. Thus far the commands had been pre-emptive until the word had been given. The tactical display highlighted blue icons for the Wolves, indicative red blips for the enemy fighters. Cyan icons indicated Wolves' fighters in distress while green indicated the shuttles making their collective rounds. Phaser and... enemy weapon beams were indicated in blue-and-red vectors respectively.

[ SS Sabine NX-59846 | En Route to Theurgy Hangar Bay ]

Aboard Sabine, Jimmy winced at the suddenly empty state of the shuttle's compliment; He dared not react emotionally this close to home, when anything could have happened. It was a relief to know that by seeing the Dilithium crystals leave the vessel hull, he was in the cherished status of an accomplished mission, the attitude didn't last. Heather was gone, Ida was in limbo, but on the afterlife avenue, and the rat was still one step (for his sake Jimmy only hoped) away from judgement. But right now, there was no sense worrying about a tarantula when a Kraken was in play, and the bloody thing had been guzzling away members of his responsibility, and from what the streetwise Australian gathered, had been engaging his mothership's compliment of fighters to say nothing of its enemy's potential in threatening Theurgy itself.

Aboard the damaged shuttlecraft, the Australian Security officer felt like a tourist observing a dropbear in a tree, Jimmy couldn't help but do anything beyond observe the battlespace itself from the shuttle with anxiety; most he could do was collect and secure the disruptors and ensure that the exo-security armors were secured.  Mariner never left anyone behind if he could help it, nor was he the type to ever surrender or betray his crew. He wasn't stupid enough to back-seat drive against Sera. It wasn't until the joint-craft began to show signs of a rough ride that Jimmy made his way to his station-- as a passenger.  Jimmy made sure his helmet was secured and ready to withstand any immenent impact. The seat was bitterly lonely without Heather nearby to joke into a sense of security.

Jimmy was barely buckled in when he spotted their mothership in sight along with both Havenborn's fighter and Lt. Lance's craft break formation and engage whatever bogeys that infernal craft had summoned to make their lives miserable. Jimmy only hoped Meony was out there... almost as much as he wished that girl wasn't risking her life without a good reason. Crazy girl. He winced at hers, Dan's and others' lives put at stake against such odds. His timing could not have been more impeccable: One instant later, a thunderous blast perforated the craft. "Jayzus-Bloody--- before Jimmy could finish his expletive, their craft suffered a second direct hit. He gritted his teeth and held on to the first secure grip he could get his hand on.

Jimmy shut his eyes as the effects of decompression rattled the Sabine. The ship rocked uncontrollably, like an ant riding the boomerang from hell; Mariner was glad he had the foresight to have patched and reequipped his helmet, and the HUD's readouts framed in reds and oranges warning of shipwide catastrophe, with a small readout of the Sabine's systems. Jimmy opened one eye and risked a look at the warnings. It was here where he noticed the full extent of the damages. The weapons fire had past so fast, he didn't know what hit them. Jimmy soon realized that if the shuttle were more populated, there would have been at least one fatality. The systems came back online as soon as the computer's voice. "Everyone allright?! Anyone else check out? Bremmer? Sera? Zy?" Jimmy asked around, looking from Sera in the cockpit to their new aft window and the portal where the transporter pad used to be.

"NO-O!" Mariner clenched his fists roared in anguish when he noticed the transporter pad had been wiped out. Lt zh'Wann was not only his CO but also a comrade-in-arms. Losing McMillan, his responsibility, and the fact that the girl was a friend had been immediately embittering was bad enough when she was kidnapped. But Ida's now irredeemable death was enough to make this personal. Mariner was no Klingon, but even Jimmy considered that a dishonorable death. Soon, almost immediately, he pulled himself together acknowledging Ida's apparent death by transporter dissimilation. He only hoped his revenge against this had been the Klingon he killed earlier in fair and due combat; his injury had somewhat healed. Like his dad had told him once when he was bitten by a Bajoran diamondback, 'Rage is a hell of an anesthetic.' Despite the triage Heather had helped him with, rage had done more.

A report from a fellow Security Ensign came in, snapping Jimmy back to his senses as a soldier, [Ensign Mariner. Petty Officer Bremmer. This is Ensign McArthur, come in.]

Panting, Mariner pinged in response: ""This is Mariner: Rudger<Rodger> and received, Mac. We've taken losses, but we're alive." Jimmy reported at once as the shuttlecraft rocked and bumped like an off-rails roller coaster, but his tone echoed through the uncomfortably-less populated shuttlepod's hull, he regarded it as he acknowledged his duty, listening in on the status report.

[We have Asurian boarders on all three Vectors. You are being deployed to intercept. State your readiness and prepare for transport. The Fighter Assault Bay is compromised.]

Some things could wait, others couldn't. Jimmy vehemently insisted on relaying potentially strategy-affecting information. In the event his prior warnings hadn't gone through as Sera claimed, Jimmy insisted on relaying his report. "We're on final approach, combat effective in one minute. Inform Commander Wenn: Deputy zh'Wann was KIA. Warrant McMillan abducted.  Hi'Jak a traitor-- repeat, turned traitor, his actions resulted in a Klingon ambush that splashed our CO. His status is MIA, presumed abducted along with WO McMillan. Also, be advised: we recruited an asset, designate El-Aurian female Zyrao Natauna as a friendly." He waited for a confirmation, then addressed the status of the boarding parties, making note of their approach to Vector 01.

[Acknowledged, Ensign. Transport to the Fighter Assault Bay will commence once you've touched down.]

Once the craft landed, Jimmy unharnessed himself, gave Sera a thumbs-up as he took careful steps to the arms locker, which miraculously survived the engagement, relying on his magnetic boots. Not about to keep the people in danger in the fighter bay any longer than he had to, he distributed the weapons to himself and Bremmer while contacting McArthur again. "We're combat-ready, Mac. We're almost out of phaser 'ammo' but we are in possession of acquisitioned Klingon disruptor. If the Hornies are killable, then they'd best open a channel to their deities of choice, because the Federation's Gods of War have a bone to pick with them." Mariner retorted, he didn't know the enemy's abilities well enough to know if their Leviathan was powerful enough to monitor their transmissions, but he didn't give a damn: His comments were a clear and apparent warning.

[Initiating transponder lock, stand by for site-to-site transport. Courage is fear when it has said its prayers.]

Symbolically, Mariner thankfully patted the Sabine as if it were a loyal steed, and then he and Bremmer were beamed out.

[ Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

"Sabine aboard." Marquez informed Trent, after personally ensuring the phasers and point defense had been enabled, doing their duty in providing a precision-fire umbrella of protection to the squadron; and torpedoes placed on standby, in the time from when the shuttlecraft had been hit to the moment it had entered the vector's bay, the weapons platform had scored multiple hits on Sa'vi fighters.

"Lieutenant Commander Marquez, I want a fire plan for simultaneous saturation detonation of the payload of our entire pod supply in the designated area.  Launch all pods when ready, and release final trigger control to my console."

"Aye, sir. Pods away." Leon made eye contact with the acting captain and nodded supportively; he could personally relate to taking the center seat when needed and got his response with a set of coordinates and addressed him by the title bestowed upon the XO. The holographic battlespace map represented the CTO's execution, with Theurgy's holographic depiction powering up at the phaser arrays. A moment later, Trent's console lit up with the firing solutions and glowing touchscreen. "Firing control to your station."

[Zyrao Natuana | Sabine | Tumble Time | Wasn't the plan not to die? | Battle makes for Buddies?]
@Nolan @Triage @Auctor Lucan @Top Hat @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Triton @Doc M. @DocReno @Hastata-Nerada

The three crates were beamed out, just in time, everything was ready.  They were lucky, so far, but Zyrao was not the sort that counted or relied on luck.  Luck was futile and luck.. truthfully .. was non existent.  It was something to blame others for.  Good luck was when you were jealous of those that weren't idiots and things worked out for them.  Bad luck was when shit things happened to you and it was easier to blame someone else than yourself.  She found that was really the only reason that luck was ever mentioned.  She had never truly found proof that any one person had good or bad luck.  It was just something to lay blame.  This was not luck, this was talent.  Talent, intelligence, and sheer determination had gotten them this far.

How much further could it carry them, remained to be seen.

Everything was getting chaotic, Zy was a calm in the center of the maelstrom that roared around her as she watched Sera and Marineer.  The other had gone up to get himself prepped for battle and Zy took his seat next to Sera.  She didn't buckle in or anything just yet, she just watched the console in front of her pulling information for the others.  While Zyrao didn't believe in luck she put a little faith in fate.  And when someone tended to mention it was a good thing something hadn't gone wrong yet.  It usually did. 

Sera added yet another example to her ever growing list of times that had happened.

The ship that had been carrying the Sabine through the battle had let go.  Zy's eyes grew wide, because since the computer was compromsed, they did not have engines of their own. She had no idea what was going to happen now, depending on how he had let go they would either go spinning or they would just be at a dead spot.  It turned out to be the former.  Zy would have rolled her eyes if she wasn't fighting just to stay in her seat.  She quickly grabbed the straps and secured herself in her seat.  It wasn't going to do well if she couldn't help because she was bashing her skull involuntarily into the hull plating of the ship.

They were tumbling.

Zy tried to keep the battle straight in her view.  But she could only get glimpses as they catapulted across space and hoped that they were still heading for the massive Theurgy piece that would allow them to help or .. at the very least live.  I did not betray my own ship and that worthless bastard to die in the vacuum of space.

She watched the view screen hoping that she could at least get a feel for the battle, what they could do.  Though, without the ability to get the ship under control or use the engines they were pretty much as handicapped as possible.  If they were feeling kamikaze they could have set the warp core to melt down and rammed one of the ships.  But, today was decidedly not a good day to die and she would be of little help if she was relegated to floating space dust. 

She hardly had time to realize that there was a ship, some sort of .. ship that she had never seen before suddenly taking interest in them.  That was until the four beam shot through their hull plating as though it was nothing.  She knew that was bad.  Surely there is some kind of secondary life support! she thought looking around, as she could tell the decompression had begun.

Her lungs, already feeling tight.  She struggled for every breath.  Decades... centuries of training, kept her fairly calm and regulated her breathing.  Panicing would only make it worse.  No, this situation called for a calm mind and even calmer lungs.  She took in her breaths slowly even though each one was accompanied by more tightness in her chest than the last.  She couldn't really help, after all she had no way of knowing what anything did.  She was going to have to learn how to read the Starfleet language whatever it was called because she was going to need to figure out just what to do when it was time.  That was her first order of business once she got on the Theurgy.

I have to live first.  I have survived far too many things to die from polka dots in the damn hull. she thought, she would have sighed if she could have, but she didn't have enough air to populate it.  Darkness began to infiltrate the sides of her vision.  She could feel her body tingling, the lack of oxygen.. her lungs craved it, her brain desired it, it was the only thing that she could think of as the deprivation continued to worsen.  Her chest hurt, every breath, every air sack in her lungs screaming for an ounce more.  Anything that she could get. 

And then.. there was more.

It was slight, but it was a slight ease, and a slight bit of relaxation.  It was something that slowly began to dawn on her.  Something had changed, something was different.  It didn't hurt so bad, and the darkness was starting to recede.  She could feel more, the tingling only in her fingers now and leaving the rest of her body.  Slowly it was as if her brain restarted, little by little, kicking back into gear as she finally found herself taking almost a full breath.  Her eyes searched the console in front of herself and Sera before she found that .. it was true.. they had oxygen.  It was coming back.  Every breath, now easier, now better.

Lights flickered back on.  Things were happening, stabilizing.

Not dying today, at least, not yet.

She thought to herself as she sat up more, body bolstered by actual oxygen as she looked around at the console.  Again, incapable of reading it.  She could see the ox-sat levels rising, that was the only thing she could think that the percentages meant.  They were alive, thankfully.  She couldn't read the screen that spoke of the impending collision.  She just saw the red color of danger and figured that it likely wasn't a good thing, whatever it was.  Seconds later they almost collided with some part of a massive ship, the one she could only assume was part of the Theurgy though it must have separated because she recalled the Theurgy being much larger than that.  Zy's hands white knuckled on her arm rests as she tried to keep her body as steady as possible.  While she was belted into place, she could bruise her ribs and body and she would like to minimize that if possible.  Especially since she had a feeling she would be getting a bit more hands on shortly.

“I would say docking is a gross over statement at this point.”  Zyrao said as she watched the woman reach for the controls.

There were drones being dispatched as they slid into the shuttle bay.  She was impressed by the careful maneuvering of the woman considering what they just went through.  She felt her body pushed against the restraints as they lay the ship down.  The landing gear initiated a bit later than necessary but they were all alive at least this point.  A voice in the area told her that the others were being summons and soon it would just be her and the pilot.  Once they weren't moving anymore, both the women just seemed to stare at one another.  Breathing heavily, enjoying the fact that oxygen was once more, a free commodity.  She looked at her and shared a bit of a grin when she welcomed her to the Theurgy.

“I should think the party to follow will be impressive.”

Zyrao unbuckled herself, retraints didn't suit her, and she stood up and turned to survey the damage.  It took a moment for her to realize that the transportation device that she had placed the woman, Ida, in was gone.  She felt for the woman.  They had tried to save her, and yet, she had already been dead.  She would have felt and known nothing.  It was the best death she could have in a situation like this.  Though, she mourned the efforts that they had used and she assumed there was likely a crew member or two that would feel saddened by the woman's loss.  But this was battle, no, this was a war.  A war that was going to take more people before it was over.

They need strategy.

Her eyes flickered to the crying out of the man that had, she supposed, been close to the woman in the buffer.  Anguish evident in the single word uttered from his lips.  He would heal, everyone did, it would leave a mark.. a scar.. but he would live.  Life moved on, the dying died but those living were left with their legacy and the desire to keep life moving forward.  It was highly important to continue on, or progress would never continue.

He reset.

She had to be proud of a man that could compartmentalize.  They were such shit at it in general, it was rare to find one that could multitask when emotions were at hand.  Likely, being busy would help him push the pain to the side and he would be able to move forward for the time being.  Move now; mourn later.  It was the way of life, and it had to be his way today.  She heard her name, and her brow rose as he labeled her a friendly.  Not quite sure that's the descriptor I would have used, however, if it makes those that need assistance at ease, then so be it.  I do not need a phaser in my face today. she thought.

Zyrao watched as the man and the woman beamed out and her eyes shifted back over to Sera who was the only person left with her.  Her eyes sized the woman up and down but she did not seem to be in any need for medical assistance and there was no reason to continue here. 

“I've heard there are alien combatants on all the vectors.” she said having walked over to the console and pressed the communications button that she had used earlier to speak with that annoying asshole that liked to bark orders.  “I would like the information, layout, and locations of the aliens so that I may be of assistance.  Send them so that I may advise.” 

It wasn't a question.

[Lt. Commander Wenn Cinn | Flag Bridge | Deck 02 | Vector 01| USS Theurgy]

This was bad.  Very bad.  Thea was gone, crewmembers were being abducted, and there were still more of these Savi running around the ship.  Gesturing his two deputies forward to take care of the wounded, Cinn listened in to the reports he called for.  With each one he got his ever-growing frown reached new depths.  Another Savi team had appeared in Main Engineering, but for the moment O’Connell and whoever he was with managed to keep them contained.  The Assault Bay was another matter entirely, it sounded like an active war zone.  Then there was some sort of impact.  Everything pitched around the group, one deputy flopping to the deck while only Cinn’s long experience kept him upright.  Smacking the combadge on his chest, the Bajoran struggled to keep from yelling.  “All security personnel not assigned to secure areas arm up and head to Main Engineering or Fighter Assault Bay to repel boarders.  Set phasers to kill.”  He’ll probably get some heat for that last one, but he was done playing nice.  If these Savi were going to kill, then so was he.

Returning his attention to the small group around him, Cinn was already planning out his next moves.  “Get these two to the Battle Sickbay on Deck 7 then head to Main Engineering.  I’m going straight the…” A new chirp from his combadge interrupted rest of his orders.  Ensign Cir’cie of all people called him directly about some sort of experiment she’s running.  It took him a moment to catch just what it was the Vulcan was saying.  “Understood Ensign, I’ll be there at my first opportunity.”  Closing the channel he turned back to his two deputies.  “Change of plans, we drop these two off then high-tail it to the Hydroponics Lab.  Be ready for anything."


“Don’t worry about us Commander.” Selena piped up, pushing the Coridanite away from her after picking her severed arm off of the floor.  “I’ll get Nator to the Battle Sickbay you make those bastard’s pay.”  The cyborg then tapped her VISOR.  “I got a lot of readings on their weapons, I’ll get that uploaded for the analysts while I’m there.”

Cinn’s mood brightened at that bit of news.  “Excellent!  I’ll keep in touch about that once we’re in the clear.”  Nodding to the door his deputies were heading that way without a word.  “Lets move.”  He only got a few steps down the corridor when a new call came from nowhere: a voice that he wasn’t sure he’d hear from ever again, at least not outside of a face to face fight:

"Dyan Cardamone, Sar-Unga Neleo, reporting for duty. Where do you need me, Commander?”

Dyan was back.  He had no idea what was going through her mind right now, and considering that she’d just abandoned ship a little while ago a part of him wasn’t sure this wasn’t a trick.  Deep down though, he just knew that she’d never knife them in the back like that.  “Sar-unga, Prophets know what you were thinking earlier, but we’ll talk about that later.  Get to the Hydroponics Lab, I’ll meet you there, we’ve got work to do.  Get ahold of Ensign MacArthur on the way, he’ll guide you to anything you need.”

Catching up to his deputies, Cinn started to lead them down the corridor once again, but then a new alert sounded, one that none of them had heard before.  Slowing so that he can call the Bridge his hand was halfway to his chest when the Bajoran disappeared in the sparkling lights of the transporter.

[ Lt. JG Derik Veradin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Derik_Veradin) | Main Bridge | Deck 1 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]Breathing in purposeful deep breaths, Derik prepared himself for what he felt coming. Commander Trent had just issued each vector to prep an escape jump to warp, and his was laid in brief seconds after the Commander had said so. Something didn’t feel right about their current engagement, though, and his worries were confirmed as the massive ship began turning, too quickly, towards them. “Sir?” was all he had time to ask before the sensors, and his eyes, noticed the cannons coming to bare, half asking for orders, half reporting the change in the enemy's position.

Without waiting for a response, instinct had Derik taking Vector one into a sharp starboard dive sideways. He knew he couldn’t avoid the blast completely, but he thought maybe he could thread this deadly needle with the Helmet’s unique hull design. He arced the nose of the ship 45 away from the enemy and tried to present one of the empty pieces of the helmet towards the blast.

The light from the massive energy beam filled the display screen and for a moment, Derik wondered if he’d failed and they were all about to be vaporized. After incredibly long seconds, the light faded, and no damage was reported. The beam had passed through just as he’d hoped. He let out a surprised sound of desperate relief that was half laugh and half surprised grunt. He quickly began an evasive pattern and keying up their escape route. “Escape jump ready at your order, Commander.”

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]When Jennifer Dewitt materialised on the Main Bridge of the Theurgy, she was lying on her side, hands on the deck. Eyes wild yet focused, she looked around, just having left the battle bridge of Vector 03 behind. The Stallion had suffered a massive blast from the Savi ship, and she'd yet to hear the damage report when the Continuance Protocol had been executed. She told herself, as she picked herself up from the deck, that she had to push the fate of the bridge crew she left behind from her thoughts, and keep her wits about her. If she couldn't hold it together, she'd send the wrong message to the junior officers. She just hoped for two things; a hard drink if she made it through the ordeal, and that Natalie Stark would be able to save Stallion.

The intercom on the Main Bridge came to life with the voice of the LMH, of all voices one mightn't expect. [Eve to bridge. We are in danger, great danger. Don't ask how I know this, I just need you to understand that if we stay here, we're dead. I estimate if we stay, there is a ninety-four-point-two percent chance that they will cause irreparable damage to the ship and crew.]

"This is Lieutenant Commander Dewitt... I think you are overstating the obvious, but send any data you have. Bridge out," she said, her green eyes on the holographic tactical display in front of the CONN and Ops stations, by then manned by Mister Veradin and Miss Zeshryr. Neither caught her eye, since her gaze rested on the dire development. The drones were launching from the Helmet's shuttle bay, but the Savi fighters were converging on them, with only the Lone Wolves there to keep them from being destroyed. She frowned, wondering what the plan was, since she wasn't privy to the orders given on the Main Bridge. What she could see, however, was the moment when the alien dreadnought opened fire a second time.

It had swung around half a turn, and gave the three Vectors of the Theurgy a broadside of torpedoes. All the torpedo launchers on its starboard side fired at once, and the automated alerts about the incoming barrage blarred, joined with the tactical sensor readings on the viewscreen. Dewitt mouthed what the sensors said. "Tri-cobalt torpedoes... Thirty-two of them..."

She thought she was seeing the end, yet the Lone Wolves out there were quick, spotting the swarm of rapidly approaching lights. They devoted all the firepower they could to try and hit the high-yield torpedoes mid-flight, all of them barrelling towards the three Vectors. The Wolves were quick, their phasers too, but they were too few. The drones were being shot to pieces by the alien fighters. Dewitt swallowed, mouth dry....

...and then the point-defence system of the Theurgy kicked in, anti-ordinance phaser turrets opening fire against the swarm a couple of seconds before they reached the Vectors. She lifted an arm to ward her eyes from the blinding light of the viewscreen. Close-proximity tri-cobalt detonations made the Vector shake. inertial dampeners struggling to compensate for the shockwave. She ended up on the deck again, all of the bridge crew cast about. It was impossible to tell if they were being hit or not, but Dewitt knew that they had no shields save for the radiation of the Nebula. If one of those torpedoes made it through, their voyage would have come to and end.

Yet as the light on the viewscreen finally dissipated, what Dewitt saw first was not the damage readings, but the sight of the Savi ship in front of them. It was only then she realised what the drones had been meant to do.

A single drone had made it, and executed a jump to warp straight into the aft engine section of the alien dreadnought. While inferior in mass, the collision carved a deep crater in the unknown hull armour, gouged a hole that leaked plasma and debris into the Azure Nebula. The blast bloomed bright, and the momentum displaced the Savi dreadnought.

As she stared, mouth agape, Dewitt picked up on a report made behind her, coming from the Vector's engineering in the voice of Ensign Carla Abner, it was meant for Suq and Morgan, but she heard it clearly. [Replacing the cracked crystals with the ones beamed from the Sabine now. Transferring regulation of the matter and antimatter reaction! No time to run tests... but we can go to maximum warp! I repeat, dilithum crystals installed!]

Dewitt looked towards Carrigan Trent, the acting Captain of Vector 01. She was his Executive Officer for the duration of the protocol, and indefinitely so, if the Theurgy couldn't reintegrate again. They still had to outrun the fighters, which were likely to give chase. "No time for a damage report. Captain... Let's go."

She knew fully well that they had lost crew to these aliens, but there was no time. They were still within weapons range, and they wouldn't be so lucky when that dreadnought opened fire anew.

---

OOC: No more posting order, just please post as soon as you can, all of you listed below, for your characters and in their new Vectors. Seven day response time starting now for all of you, even if some have had a lot more already. No worries, I know it's because of RL stuff getting in the way, but we need to wrap this Chapter asap, and end the waiting game in this thread. There are new Chapters ahead, and a lot of new members that want to enter the story. So, here goes:
V1 Helmet Bridge, Final Posts:  @Triage @CanadianVet
V2 Sword Bridge, Final Posts: @Even Angels Cry @DocReno @Top Hat @Nolan @chXinya
V3 Stallion Bridge PO: @StarDuster @FollowTomorrow @Brutus

Continuance Protocol: [Show/Hide]

[ Sera vers Aldnoah (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sera_vers_Aldnoah) | SS Sabine NX-59846 | Sitting in the Upper Shuttle Bay ] Attn: @Blue Zephyr
[Show/Hide]At the mention of a party, Sera chuckled, not quite sure the Starfleeters knew how to properly have such a thing.

Sera unbuckled herself too, and switched off the helm systems, powering down the impulse angines and guidance thrusters on the Sabine. Zy was looking at the security officers when they beamed off to the next fight, and Sera realised that Zy had put her life on the line to save the Andorian mission commander, only to see the transporter buffer blown to bits. The workstation in the aft compartment was silent after the security people had finished talking, and Sera switched the comm system off too. Perhaps too quickly, since suddenly, the El-Aurian re-joined Sera in the cockpit, talking about the boarding parties. The woman tired to reach the bridge and the Commander that she'd traded words with before.

Watching the El-Aurian speak, her request for information from the bridge gone unheeded, Sera shook her head. "Comms seems to be off," she said, raising her yellow eyes to the woman next to her in the cockpit, "I didn't give these people too much credit either. All rank and file and no improvisation. Burn them, they think they know it all, but you and I know that's not the case. That being said, I figure that if they could survive the kind of battle they were in when I came aboard, they should be able to pull their uptight arses out of this one t-"

She trailed off as the Vector shook from close-proximity torpedo blasts, as she saw the launched drones through the open bay doors. The unmanned crafts were being picked off, one at the time, by the alien fighters that had shot up the Sabine. Cut to pieces. Sera held her breath, until there was only one of them remaining. For a moment, it looked like it was going to be shot apart as well, but whoever was remote-controlling it managed to power op its small warp nacelles in time, and off it shot - straight into the alien dreadnought ship. One moment, it has been there, and the next, the white-and-black beast out there had been displaced by the impact, with a deep gouge in its aft engine section.

"Woah!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She put her arm around Zy's shoulders in excitement. "Did you see that? Burn me, but you don't see that every day!" She tapped the cockpit glass with her gauntleted hand, still dressed in her red Câroon exosuit, speaking as if to the face of the aliens on the ship. "Blast you, you flaming bastards! You tried to plough the wrong uptight arses!"

Having said as much, she realised she had her arm around Zy, and gave her a lopsided smile. "So, you want to go hunting boarding parties or should we prepare that party?" She realised that the El-Aurian might have more official business to attend to, and that with the loss of the rest of the away team, she had no one to speak for her. She removed her arm, a more serious note to her tone. "Either way... if you want to go talk to the brass aboard later, I'll vouch for you, for what it's worth..."

[ Lt. JG A'vura Zeshryr (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=A%27vura_Zeshryr) | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @steelphoenix, @Nolan, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @Triton, @DocReno, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada & @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide]A'vura Zeshryr was not enjoying the day and its entire progress thus far. She still had barely an idea of what all was going on, and now she was in charge of ops for Vector One, while her normal superior, Natalie Stark, was now captain of Vector Three, the Stallion. She heard the sound of a transport and she whirled around, her heart rate already going into unhealthy levels. After what happened with Deacon, she was afraid someone else was going to be abducted, but this time, it was to deposit one of their officers. Seeing as it wasn't another attack, she returned to her original position over the Ops station, monitoring the activity and reports coming in.

She heard the warning about the Tri-cobalt torpedoes coming in, and she didn't even flinch. Back on the Resolve, this was almost every other day. But she fell back into a more familar rhythm of activity. She was the acting chief of ops, then, and she knew more or less what she needed to do. The shockwaves shook the vector, and she held on to her console, her eyes glued to it, as she relayed information where they needed to go, her fingers stubbornly dancing over the stage of the console. There was plenty of damage, much of which had been sustained from the battle at Starbase 84, but nothing that was as of yet a genuine threat that was of bigger concern than that which faced them here, now.

“All systems go,” said A'vura quietly, almost to herself, and she looked up, blinking, as if mildly surprised at herself for speaking. The visage of the massive Savi ship just beyond sent an involuntary shiver down the Orion's spine when she set her eyes on it again, and she brushed her hair back to try and distract herself from her fears and worries. Their fate was in the hands of Captain Trent now, and she thought that it didn't bode well that in the last few days, she'd cycled through three captains...

[Commander Wenn Cinn | Battle Bridge | Vector 2 | USS Theugy]

As soon as the transporter effect ended and Cinn saw where it had deposited him the unusual klaxon now made sense: the Continuance Protocol was now in effect.  What happened to Jien? the Bajoran wondered to himself, his attention turning the Chair sitting in the middle of the room with unusual nervousness. Now was not the time for such weakness though, his new staff had arrived and were assuming their positions, so it was time for him to do the same.

“Tactical plot on screen.” Cinn ordered ch’Rayya as he took his seat, studying the information for an opening.  The Savi dreadnought dominated the area, its bulk overwhelming everything else combined in sheer size.  Smaller Asuran vessels darted around taking potshots where possible, and even smaller fighters did the same at a faster pace, but several were marked as being under remote control.  Something must’ve happened to their pilots, something else Cinn had to set aside for the time being.  “Ops, keep an eye on the auxiliary craft, let me know the moment they’re all aboard in the Assault Bay.”  Down on the lowest deck of this Vector, those fighters were his concern, and he had no desire to leave anyone behind unless he had no choice.

On the screen new symbols appeared: the Tovarek drones.  Curious as to what they were doing, Cinn watched as they arced around to head straight for the dreadnought.  What could they be doing, those drones wouldn’t make a dent into anything larger than…  That’s when it hit him.  Those drones, now being intercepted in what looked like a panic by the Savi fighters, weren’t on a strafing course, but a ballistic one.  “ch’Rayya, all dorsal phasers on standby, load rear torpedo launchers.  We’ll give them something to remember us by.”  It was possible that their weapons wouldn’t even scratch the advanced alien starship, but it was worth a try.

Multiple torpedos screamed out of the Savi ship but the Theurgy’s point defense systems were more than capable of handling them.  Vector 1 was rocked by a close call, but Vector 2 had nothing.  It was a good thing Cinn still had the tactical plot on the screen a moment later, the way he understood physics the energy shockwave from a warp collision was blinding.  That drone may have been only 2 meters, but at that speed it blew through the Savi’s aft engine array and sent it reeling.

That was it, that was their opening.  “Helm, the moment the last fighter is on board get us out of here, full impulse.  Take us directly underneath that dreadnought.  Tactical, as soon as we pass underneath I want a full phaser barrage into their underside and a full spread of torpedos once we’re past.”

Settling into the Captain’s Chair, Cinn steepled his brown fingers in front of his face.  “Restore visual image.”  He wanted to see this with his own eyes.

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Flag Bridge | Deck 02 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Security arrived in time to take charge of the suddenly-quiet room. Nator sagged a little on the spot, both unwilling and unable to blame them for their reaction time. It might have felt like an eternity in the moment, but no more than a couple of minutes could have passed between the aliens' announcement and their theft of the computer core; with so much ground to cover and surely more than one boarding party to deal with, s/he was just happy they were there at all.

The taste of copper in the back of hir mouth was becoming distracting, as s/he leaned on the console in front of hir and let hir head sink onto hir chest. The Hermat paid scant attention to the goings-on around hir, as the blood roared in hir ears and s/he found hirself suddenly ravenous. That'll be the injury... at least it's healing.

Nator tried to crane hir neck to see over hir shoulder to inspect the gash, but it was futile. S/he was flexible enough, but there were limits. Ravenholm said something about sickbay, and for once the recalcitrant Ops officer was disinclined to argue about it. The heavy stink of blood in hir nose, despite it being hir own, was waking all sorts of instincts in hir that were clouding hir attention. Instead, s/he pushed hirself upright again and turned mutely for the door, letting the beefy Bajoran jog ahead of hir out of the room before sweeping a tired eye over the holes in Ravenholm's... chassis?

"Are those-"

The rest of hir question was swallowed by the iridescence of a Federation transporter beam.

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Battle Bridge | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

Nator rematerialised in a sitting position in what looked like one of the ship's battle bridges. As hir back hit the upholstery, s/he yelped and hissed in pain before leaning forward off the chair. The blood was already flowing slower from hir wound, but it would be a little longer yet that s/he would have to enjoy a sticky tunic. Looking down, the console before hir was laid out in a standard Ops configuration. What in the three hells...?

"Ops, keep an eye on the auxiliary craft, let me know the moment they're all aboard in the Assault Bay." What aux craft? The voice belonged to the Bajoran from before, and a quick glance back as s/he nodded a confirmation anyway confirmed his build if not his face.

S/he logged into the datanet, and pulled up the transponder tags for their launched ships. Confirming their reported positions with the vector's own sensor returns, the slender blonde found hirself wishing s/he'd gone in for an elective course in flight management at the Academy. Around hir, more orders were issued to the other officers present. For a moment, the sensor return washed out as one of the drones turned itself into a supralight kinetic-kill vehicle, with the positions of their fighters seeming to skip across the panel as the information updated.

"Restore visual image."

Nator tapped an icon at the edge of hir panel, switching the view back from the sanitised plot. The blues and purples of the nebula reasserted themselves, along with the afterglow of the impact on the (fucking colossal) alien ship. Almost absently, s/he started pulling up the simulation results s/he'd run on the Helmet to see if it was worth modifying their structural integrity field to try and handle the ambient radiation so that they could use their shields for their intended purpose again.

"Permission to give up my post once the auxiliaries are aboard, Captain?"

Try as s/he might to ignore it, s/he was starting to feel lightheaded. Probably would be better to get hir injury seen to sooner than later...

[ Ensign Cameron Henshaw | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @chXinya , @CanadianVet , @Auctor Lucan , @Top Hat

The series of events stacked up in rapid succession now, point defense and weapons systems were coming to life and began to attack their designated targets while the Tovarek drones were launched and the fighters attempted to cover what they could. Cameron kept an eye on them as the screen was scrambled with hostile contacts and a dwindling number of friendlies. Cameron received an epiphany as she watched the rogue fighters drift into the Azura Nebula. She knew Thea had a subroutine to active auto pilots for the Valkyries, yet with Thea gone, she had to initiate the program herself.

Keeping to her own to not intrude or bother the new XO or Trent she moved her fingers quickly over her console as she muttered softly under her voice "Come on, come on..." With a few bleeps and boops the systems activated, the time to land these fighters would be too long as combat landings were in effect. A procedure an auto pilot could not anticipate to, instead, Cameron altered the code to the auto pilots to jump around the mapped nebula. Creating a false pattern with jumps back and forth before they'd reach the RV of the continuance protocol. Once there, she could reach back out to them to have them land safely without the risk of being chased around. Of course there was a chance that these fighters would get intercepted along the way. Yet it mattered not, they were vital in their fight for survival.

The reprogramming and initiation of these protocols took up most of Cameron's time as she kept her ears to further orders from Trent or Dewitt. Once ready she watched the signals of the adrift fighters disappear before she rallied the new orders to Razor. He himself received the continuance protocol list and would have to deal with it himself if he were to get lost in the battle. A thing the pilot seemed to excel at.

"Co- Captain." she corrected herself "Fighter elements are performing combat landings shortly. If need be they can trace their way back to us. I'll forward the report to Vector two's flag bridge as well." she spoke up before she turned back to her station and focused on her work as the shuttles that had gotten out performed their landings as well in time.

Then, the protocol's Transporter sequence grabbed her, and she was sent to the bridge of the Sword.

[ Lieutenant Simon Tovarek | Battle Bridge | Vector 2 | USS Theugy]

The transport beam took Tovarek fromthe airlock to the battle bridge on V2. He blinked a few times before he got his bearings and he nodded to Cinn as he walked around and inspected the others who were present. Nator seemed to request permission to give up his post and Simon observed hir. The same one who had come to his quarters earlier on for help. Whilst his eyes went over hir he came to a stop behind her "You are relieved lieutenant if you feel yourself to be unable to perform your duties." It was only then that he saw the injury on hir back "Get to Sickbay now." was the new order from Tovarek to hir before he looked at Cinn as he seemed to be determined to fire away at the ship.

In the meantime Tovarek got the reports of the Tri cobalt torpedoes being launched as well as the situation that was stable on Vector 03. "Captain, with respect... Our actions should not be focused on revenge against the ship. We have incoming tri cobalt torpedoes to our position. And the beam weapon aboard that ship tore a hole right through Vector 03. Not to undermine your orders sir, yet I would advise against moving closer to the ship. Our focus should be on retreating and regrouping." he spoke up as it was his duty as a XO to advise the captain against his better judgement.

He waited for his response and hoped the security chief wouldn't take it the wrong way. Yet with the bulk of Medical and TACC CONN aboard their vector, they had a lot to lose. Something Tovarek was not inclined to sacrifice with a strike back that may or may not succeed after all. The fighters seemed to re converge on their position as well. "Captain? Your orders?" he asked, wondering if he'd reconsider or not.

[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark & Ens. Faye Lintah Eloi-Danvers  | Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
Attn: @Doc M. @StarDuster @FollowTomorrow @CanadianVet @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]
It all happened so fast. Natalie never got a moment to warn her Assistant that she'd be taking over Ops, and that the Continuance Protocol meant that she;d be on another Vector in mere moments. Because already, she could feel the tug of a transporter confinement beam. She felt her self lock up, saw the sparkling motes of energy flash before her eyes, and felt herself draw away.

Even as officers around the bridge vanished, Ens. Faye Lintah Eloi-Danvers stayed firmly where she was. The Orion woman she'd pulled to her feet - A'vura, panicked, but holding herself together, so you can damn well do the same had staggered away to respond to the brunette at Ops - only to watch her boss beamed away. All around them, new officers materialized in various states of shock, and in at least one case, flat on their face.

Dewitt her mind picked up the flash of thoughts from someone, she couldn't tell who, in the random cries of damage reports and orders acknowledged. In the middle of it all, Faye stood, feeling so very adrift. She hadn't been told about this. She hadn't been given orders. Every one was worried, fear laced so many thoughts, so many emotions crushing in around her. Walls, barriers, her normal methods of coping seemed paper thin now. She couldn't help but wonder where Riley was. And most importantly, the scant thought, that surfaced:

Why am I still here?

[[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

The moment after Natalie materialized, she felt the floor fall out from under her. Despite the expert work of the transporter operators to position them near their stations, or in the seats, the sudden, bone jarring assault on The Stallion left the COps on her hands and knees at the foot of the Battle bridge command chair. A cacophony of alarms rang out, even as various other members of the battle bridge staff were beamed to their new assignments. In front of her eyes, Jennifer Dewitt vanished, her boot as bright white as Natalie's hands had been on the Operations Console moments before.

"Damage Report!" Natalie called out as she pushed up, looking around, crew scrambling into their positions. She saw Yvette Conway there at Operations, managing to keep her place. A flash of pure pride welled in Nat's chest for a moment, seeing one of her people preforming in the heat of battle. Before she got a reply, Engineering came over the comm's. She was scrambling to her feet as she heard the fire of phasers in the background, and then the response of Chief O'Connell's reassuring words, "Ah say Main Engineerin' haz bin secured. We're a gonna contact th' Battle Sickbay on Deck Fifteen raight now. O'Connell out."

"Thank God for small miracles," she muttered and tugged her jacket down into place, standing and surveying her crew. Ens. Cir'Cie, she remembered her well. Yvette, turning to face her, a blonde Bajoran Master Chief - Mala Kariko her mind filled in fast - sure to be working to assemble independent maneuvering, decoupling the Stallion from Lt. Veridan's control on the Helmet. She saw Lt. Masuda  Yukimura having joined her from the bridge along with -  Zelosa Ejek; whom she had met for the first time the other day, in the staff meeting where Captain Ives formally integrated the crew of the surviving Resolve with that of Theurgy. Poor Captain Ives...stolen away - no time to think of that, not now.

"All Vector commanders, this is Commander Trent. You are to set a random escape vector and will engage at your best speed on my mark. You all know what you need to do. Godspeed to all of you, and I'll see you at the rendezvous" The voice came over the comms before Natalie could begin to issue orders, nor had she received her damage report. She looked to her new XO - A counselor? and then to Yvette, an officer she knew and trusted - waiting for either to reply. It was the later that spoke up.

"Commander - er, Captain Stark," Yvette stumbled over the title. "We were just struck by some kind of...I'm not even sure what it was. It punched us through and through." Natalie blinked in disbelief as the Operations Lieutenant continue. "We lost one of the holodecks. Completely destroyed. Reports are coming in - Chief O'Connell has restored full warp power with the new crystals and -"

"INCOMING! Tri-Cobolt torpedo barrage inbound!" Yukimura's warning cut off the woman, and Natalie's head whipped around to look at the - at her - tactical officer. He punched up something on the screen, and bless the bajoran noncom, she was already moving the ship before Natalie could order evasive maneuvers. They all watched in mute shock as the space between the Theurgy's vectors, the Asurian saucer ships, and the Savi monstrosity lit up with explosions, pulse phasers and blasts from the Vectors and the Wolves meeting the harsh, inbound flight of death.

A bright, unearthly light filled the screen, then dimmed, and there, a single surviving speck danced across to impact against the Savi ship, melting the hull around it. Even despite the best efforts of MCP. Kala, the Stallion was still rocked by the shock wave that lashed out across local space.

The whole thing lasted barely 3 seconds.

"Micro burst warp impact," Lt. Masuda added, shaking his head from the station and diverting his eyes from Natalie's gaze, down to his controls, having described the source of the damage for the Savi vessel. She gave him a soft nod and muttered out a, "Thank you, Mr. Masuda. Bring up targeting solutions and prepare a few parting shots. We're going to be bugging out and I want solid cover fire for us and the other vectors." She knew that might not sit well with some of the crew, but the Protocols were clear.

How they came through the sudden barrage of torpedoes was beyond her ability to understand in the moment. There wasn't time for it, not really. "Helm," she barked the order, "Giant hole in our side or no, we have orders. Plot a course away from here, maximum warp," She turned and gripped the arm rests of her chair. "Engineering," she called out, the comm system picking up her words and opening an internal connection.

"Billy-Bob, I know you have your hands full," she kept her tone even, and confident, though God only knew how - Natalie Stark sure didn't. "But I need as much power as you can give us, keep the radiation shields in place and engines - we need a confirmation that the crystals have been swapped out so we can get out of here faster than warp 3." She said it as much for her own sake, making sure she understood the situation, as for O'Connell, who probably didn't need her to tell him how to do his job.

"We have our orders and we need to punch it." She didn't wait for a reply, but slid herself into the command chair proper and squared her back. She then used the controls on her armrest to open a vector wide channel.

"All hands," she began. In her mind, the words of Carrigan Trent echoed, make a decision, any decision, then stick with it, "We are cleared for independent command as per the Continuance Protocols. A further briefing will be given when we're no longer under imminent threat. Prepare for maximum warp jump." She paused and looked around again. "I know this won't sit well with any of us, but we have our orders from Captain Ives, and Captain Trent." Bless her, she didn't trip over the new title for the ships XO. "And i know you will follow them. The stakes are far too high to expect anything less then the best from you, and I have no doubts you'll give me just that. Stark out." She killed the channel and settled into the chair.

Heavy is the head that bears the crown Natalie thought, and for the Stallion, Vector 03 of the USS Theurgy that head was hers. If they couldn't meet back up....if they were on their own...then it would be up to Natalie to get the word out about the infestation at the heart of Starfleet Command. How...she didn't know.

Over the comm, she heard the order given from Carrigan Trent. It was time.

"Tactical, fire at will. Helm," she looked out at the view-screen. "Execute evasive pattern Epsilon-Four, until we are clear, then engage escape course at maximum warp."

[ Ensign Cir'Cie | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] 

Truth be told, Ensign Cir'Cie breathed the equivalent of a Vulcan sigh of relief when she ended up being scooped away and appearing on the eleventh deck of the starship Theurgy of the third vector's battle bridge. A Vulcan equivalent of a sigh of relief was probably more accurately described as a momentary break from disorder in order for logic to wash upon her and purge the mental walls that kept the tempest of toxic emotions at bay. He walls were great barriers, but even the greatest of barriers had their moments of needing cleaning. This convenient Deus ex machina which whisked her away from alien intruders in one of the Theurgy's science labs was subtly appreciated. However, a Vulcan was not about to breathe a sigh of relief nor jump for joy. Instead, she simply raised her eyebrow, cocked her head, and nodded simply reflecting at the convenience of good timing.

Though she would have much rather been taken away and rematerialized in the starship's arboretum or even the library, perhaps in her preferable reading nook, she was not about to complain. She would make due with the hand she was dealt. In this case it was quickly apparent that she was on the battle bridge of the ship's third vector, and of course closely behind the science station. The console was quickly illuminated with her gentle sweeping of her hand and the input of her access codes, unlocking the console from its black mirror of rest. "Science station reports ready" she said calmly and steadily as she began to process the most recent events that had occurred to the starship. She was a trained science officer, part of that training meant the occasional bridge station duty. However, there were probably several dozen officers and enlisted personnel whom had logged more bridge time than she had at a science station. Ensign Cir'Cie was most preferably suited elsewhere farther away from the 'action' of things.

Ensign Cir'Cie was more of what one may consider a Limited Duty Officer though the term was probably not entirely accurate to describe her. Her expertise and specialization was Botany, Horticulture, and practically anything and everything to do with plants. She was rounded enough to have a good grasp on general Biology, Geology, and a decent heaping of Chemistry. Her technical knowledge was acceptable enough to work a science console and perform the basics of science officer bridge duties. However, where she excelled was most definitely in the laboratories. She was unceremoniously dubbed 'The green blooded green thumbed goblin of Hydroponics' for a reason. That reason was she lived in her science laboratories and concentrated on the plants rather than people aboard the starship.

Jaya Thorne (https://orig05.deviantart.net/12e0/f/2016/300/a/4/imgpsh_fullsize_by_auctor_lucan-damefg0.png) | Battle Bridge | Vector 2  | USS Theurgy | Attn: @Auctor Lucan , @chXinya, @Top Hat , @DocReno , @Nolan
[Show/Hide]
Jaya's hands remembered the motions.  Her fingers tapped the helm console with the same sure strikes as during her Kobayashi-Maru test earlier in the day.  They were similar to the helm commands used when piloting a shuttle, or the captain's yacht, but there were more of them.  Piloting an entire vector was a bit more involved.  More power, more options, more responsibility.  This morning she had been ready for it.  Excited even.  But now?

Now, when they fled on the battlefield?  Now, as she guided them under the belly of the beast?  As they followed the retreat orders of the continuance protocol? 

Now, she wasn't so sure.

She had coveted this position.  Worked for it, lived for it.  But now it was overwhelming.  She was responsible for the lives aboard Vector 2.  Her piloting skills would save the day or ruin them all.  As they flew under the colossal ship, the bridge was blanketed in shadow and Jaya felt the uncertainty creeping in.

There was no way out.  This enemy had tracked them through an untraceable and dangerous nebula only to announce their hostile intentions and attack.  Even if they managed to escape somehow, they would just be found again.  There was no place the Theurgy and her vectors could run to and be safe from this monstrous threat..

..Except those were the words of the defeated.

Jaya had seen first hand what this crew could do when they believed in something bigger than themselves.  She had witnessed the impossible twice in the last few weeks and it stirred something inside her.  They weren't fleeing for their lives, they were regrouping.  If they went to war with this enhanced foe right now, their fighters would surely be ripped to pieces and countless lives would be needlessly lost.  No, this was the right call.  Regroup.  Reunite the vectors.  Return guns blazing and give 'em hell.

Officer Sunshine had issued her orders entirely too long ago for Jaya's response to make any sense, but she spoke anyway. 

"Aye Sir.  We'll live to see another day so we can show them what we're really made of.  Sneaking up on us while we're wounded is hardly a fair fight anyway."

[ Cmdr Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Waiting was always the hardest part.  Sure, a starship engagement could be over in minutes, seconds even.  But while one was in the midst of one, it always seemed much, much longer than it was.  Especially when one was in the command chair.  And, as acting Captain of the Theurgy, Carrigan Trent was being bombarded with all the information from every station.  But when the comm line from Sabine chirped again, with that unknown woman demanding to be briefed on the tactical situation and presuming to tell him she would advise on his choice of course of action, his hand simply came down on the console on his armrest and not only did he close the channel, he locked it down altogether.  Oh, he did trust the crew to do their duty, but this was the kind of distraction no one on the Bridge needed.

The margin of error was already paper-thin as it was, and the last thing he needed was to have someone presume to give him and the Bridge crew orders, and the auditory clutter when every second of verbal communication was precious beyond compare. 

And the situation was not getting better.  The Asurian saucers' own boarding actions were going to be a problem, but Security and the ship's crew were on top of it.  And, to make things even better, the dilithium crystals had been hot-swapped, something that probably no one in any of the three engine rooms had ever considered doing live; but they had done it, and having better than Warp 3 to use was always a benefit.  In fact, it considerably broadened the margin of error in their escape.

And, there was the drones.  It didn't take long for the Savi to see them as threats, but one of them managed to make it.  The impact on the monstrous Savi vessel was cataclysmic, to say the least.  The two-meter, relatively light unmanned spacecraft hit with more force than he had expected.  There was a burst of light, heat and radiation, and when the screen cleared up, the after section of the Savi vessel that housed its engines was little more than a mangled wreck, spewing debris, plasma and atmosphere, and the readings on the holographic plot before him showed that not only it no longer possessed a warp signature, it was no longer under effective thrust whatsoever.

And that was Trent's own cue, for between the disabled Versant and the incoming tri-cobalt warheads, it was time to go. 

With one touch of his hand, he opened a link to the other two vectors and the fighters that were still out there.  "All assets, you know what needs doing.  On your escape  courses, on my mark..."  His other hand came down, stabbing at the button that was slowly pulsing red that would send the pods the firing command.  As he did, dozens of the autonomous launch platforms floating in space started to disgorge their payloads, precisely sequenced for a simultaneous detonation that would be thoroughly scramble sensors and wipe off warp trails.  "Engage!"

[Lieutenant Keval ch'Rayya| Battle Bridge| Vector 2| USS Theurgy] Attention: @Even Angels Cry  @Top Hat  @Nolan @chXinya

<We're on final approach, combat effective in one minute. Inform Commander Wenn: Deputy zh'Wann was KIA. Warrant McMillan abducted.  Hi'Jak a traitor-- repeat, turned traitor, his actions resulted in a Klingon ambush that splashed our CO. His status is MIA, presumed abducted along with WO McMillan. Also, be advised: we recruited an asset, designate El-Aurian female Zyrao Natauna as a friendly.>

Keval's eyes narrowed tightly in thought as he heard Mariner's words, hoping that the young man understood the severity of his actions of declaring someone a blooming *TRAITOR* during combat operations and how it could also hurt him in the end as well if the accusations turned out to be false and he hoped that his young friend understood the full depths of what he was doing.

Suddenly there was the familiar feeling of a Federation transporter effect and Keval found himself on the battle bridge of the secondary vector as he noticed that Jaya was already at her station and operating with a crisp professionalism that brought a warm smile to his face as he strode across the deck towards his station, stopping only to whisper "You got this." before making it to tactical, signing in and quickly bringing up the current battlefield reports.

The voice of the acting captain himself came over the ship's communication system with <All assets, you know what needs doing.  On your escape  courses, on my mark... Engage!>

Keval was checking a sub-screen on his boards to see what the current status of the fighters landing was as he heard Jaya's words which made him nod in agreement but he otherwise kept quiet as his light blue eyes kept an steady hand on the tactical controls, quickly tapping firing patterns and counter-patterns to keep the incoming torpedoes at bay. "To be honest, I would love to have more information on that species...that way I can help come up with ways to kick their asses for pulling this." he said firmly as he watched the tactical heading of his Vector on his board.

[Zyrao Natauna | Waiting is a Fool's Game | Mother Fuckers are Easily Intimidated | Ship Run by Idiots]

When she met the first officer of this unfortunate vessel she planned to make sure that he regretted his movements with her in the most physical way that she could imagine.  He was not used to dealing with someone like her.  Looking a gift in the face without realizing the wealth of knowledge that was there.  This was what got lesser Captain's killed.  Believing you were the only person on a damn ship that could actually accomplish anything or had any value in the situation. 

He was wrong.

He was handicapping his own ship by thwarting her efforts to assist.

One day he would realize his mistake and it might very well be today.  She did not like being cut off and her intelligence being cast out the window.  When she did eventually get to speak with Captain Ives face to face she would tell the Captain about her own thoughts and feelings on her piss poor choice for a First Officer.  It was not personal, even though on the outside it might seem such, it was merely that it pissed her off to see someone turn their back on someone that could be able to help without even giving them a chance to prove themselves worthy of a position.  Instead, she was discounted for merely being a stranger that he did not know.

Foolish.

Sera, smart woman, admitted that she didn't give the people here too much merit and that they believed they knew it all.  She rose her brow listening to the woman as she said this.  Though that when she, herself, had come on board they had been fighting a battle beautifully and thus must know what they were doing. 

“I would assume that it was Captain Ives directing not a man playing in his father's boots.” she stated coldly as she gave a long sigh. 

They were both looking out the view window that they stood in front of.  The drones were making their way out there amid all the ships and everything hoping to help, make a dent, but she could see the error of their ways already.  Not enough evasive maneuvers.  Even though they were drones, they should have been flying in such a way that would make them harder targets.  But as she stood there watching was one after the other exploded in small pops of color and light before they were only more debris added to a field that was already populated with such things.  There was one left, and Zy, like Sera, believed that it too would end up the same only she was wrong.  Moments later she found out that was not the case.  The drone took a different course and actually wounded one of the ships.  Zy's brow rose, wondering who was piloting the drone, they ought to teach classes to the others.  That was how to use a drone properly.

Not everyone is unintelligent then.

The two women were all that was left in the Sabine and Zyrao's back tensed along with her shoulders an an arm came around her shoulders.  She fought her very nature to shrug the appendage back off her shoulder.  She knew that some people preferred physical touch to the fact of camaraderie being something that could be given without invading the personal choice of a near stranger.  However, currently, this was the only woman that was on her side and she needed that.  She needed someone that could vouch for her.  She needed someone that would make sure that she did not get shot in the face as soon as she stepped out in her Klingon issue clothing and her disruptors blaring over and over again.  In a battle like this sometimes it was hard to look at what the people on the battlefield were shooting at.  Instead, thinking, different must die.

“It seems there is some intelligence afterall.” she stated calmly as she folded her arms across her chest watching the battle unfold in front of her.  She was dying, she did not do well to sit by and watch things.  At the very least, she wasn't contributing and that was where the problem in fact lay.  As Sera began to curse the aliens, Zy had to feel a bit of a connection with the woman, she had fight.  Was feisty, and it was something that Zyrao could accept and appreciate.

It was nice to find someone on this ship that wasn't wary of her because she was different.

The woman turned to her, and Zy tilted her head to the side slightly, almost like a bird listening to her words.  Thanks to the Universal Translator she could understand the woman and it was important that she could.  Learning languages would come later when she was fully settled.  For now though, she would do what she could to continue on this way. 

“I could use a little body counting today.  Calms the nerves.”  Zyrao grinned.

Sera's arm dropped off of her shoulder and Zy twisted her body to the side.  One to negate the option for it to come back and two to face the woman better.  Her eyes took in Sera as she told her that either way, no matter what happened, that she would vouch for Zyrao once everything was said and done.  When the dust was settled.  Zy smiled, just slightly.  Not a full one, mind you, she couldn't actually remember the last time she had smiled off a battle field.  But, it wasn't overly important.  When you lived a long life it was harder to see the good and sometimes far easier to see the bad.  However, having someone to vouch for her solved many things.

If she could stay close to Sera that meant people would not think she was an enemy and therefore kill her.  They may use her now for her intelligence and talents on the hunt but there was something else to be said for once the battle was over.

“Thank you, Sera.” she said testing the name of the woman on her lips.  Then she grinned, the grin that those on the Theurgy would one day come to know it was shit kickin' time.  “Lets suit up and go save these people's asses.  It seems they could use assistance and I'm not one to sit around and watch the show.” she said as they headed back towards the weapons locker to suit up.

It was time for Zyrao Natauna to make herself indepensible to the Theurgy.  Right along side Sera.

[Lt. Commander Wenn Cinn | Battle Bridge | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy]

At a glance, Commander Wenn recognized the Hermat sitting at Ops, and he was both impressed and amazed that the being was trying to work considering the serious injuries s/he’d taken up in the Flag Bridge just a few minutes ago.  Tovarek beat him to the order, and Cinn agreed without a second thought.  Nodding towards the turbolift door behind them, “Go now Lieutenant.  The next shift doesn’t need to worry about dragging dead bodies off of their consoles later on.”  He wasn’t sure if the gallows humor would’ve done any good, but he needed to get the point across.

If only the scientist had left it there.  Openly questioning Wenn’s orders right on the Bridge?  What was the man thinking?  Glaring at the man, Cinn’s look alone would make it clear that the human had crossed a line.  “Our point defense systems can handle the torpedos.”  Indeed, the phasers were already at work, picking off tri-cobalt warheads long before they reached the Vector.  “And this has nothing to do with revenge.  We are facing an enemy we know nothing about, and we need to know how to beat them.  Take your station now.” He practically growled the last word.  “I want every byte of data on how effective our weapons are against their shields and their hull.”

Returning his attention to the main viewer, the Bajoran watched as the elements of their escape fell into place.  “Oh, and Lieutenant?”  He turned back to Simon for a moment.  “That is the only time I will explain my orders.”  Swinging back to the forward, Commander Trent’s voice came over the comm, giving the order they’d been waiting for.

“Execute.” Cinn echoed, giving the order to blitz the drifting dreadnought.  Dozens, if not hundreds of micro-torpedos joined the Sword as it rushed forward.  Tovarek will have plenty of data to sift through very shortly.

[ Zelosa Ejek | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | U.S.S. Theurgy]

The situation was resolving in sickbay, but not within herself. She had seen and dealt with violent patients before, but this was violence on a level that should not exist in the world. Without a doctor, the LMH would have to be called up—the one Nicander deleted. Luckily, Jovela seemed to be able to boot from a saved copy.

She wanted to be sure that, before she left, there would be a doctor in sickbay. She wanted to affirm the LMH worked. Before she got the chance to ensure that would happen, she felt a sensation starting in her core. She knew this feeling, but her memory flipped right away to the darkness, hearing someone woosh away randomly. Without knowing why it happened, she assumed Nicander had somehow had them transported to some hellish place. The last thing that went through her mind was visions of hell...

[ Zelosa Ejek | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | U.S.S. Theurgy]

...and she almost wished she was correct.

When consciousness next held her, she was aboard the battle bridge. Others were beaming in around her, all in varied states of startled. They were plucked from their places with no warning. Apparently, the Continuance Protocol was enacted. She had just temporarily become the XO of this vector.

She had no time to digest her fright, or calm herself, or even make the mental jump from counselor mode. It was one adrenaline rush after another. She took a seat and crossed her legs. She did not betray her inner turmoil, because now was not the time to do that. Now was the time to let everyone else who had better training and preparation do what they do best. If she raised her voice, it would certainly be lost in the cacophony of chaos regardless. So she sat, poised like a cat ready to strike, analyzing the situation, calculating the best move...

[ Lt. Tyreke Okafor (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tyreke_Okafor) | Battle Bridge | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]Having appeared at the science station on the Sword's bridge, Lieutenant Tyreke Okafor and looked around, perplexed, until he remembered the briefing he'd got on the Continuance Protocol, and how he had been submitted for the role if IrnaShall ch'Xinya would have been indisposed. Standing there, in the middle of a raging battle, Tyreke was a bit overwhelmed. Not just because the Stellar Cartographer might be dead, nor that he'd been slotted for a duty he had far too little experience in, but the fact that there were torpedoes inbound, and the only veil between them and death were the point-defence phasers and the aim of the Lone Wolves.

To make matters worse, it seemed that they were arguing in the new chain of command. He supposed that might be expected, but he didn't care for it in the least. He cast a worried glance between the new CO and XO he was to report to. They were both original Theurgy crew, and having spent years on Bajor in the line of duty, he was one of the few aboard who'd accepted the mysterious return of the Chief of Security. Wenn Cinn seemed an able leader, but since Okafor was used to be self-reliant in his research, he couldn't even begin to make any comparisons between other Captains he'd served.

With a deep frown on his dark brown features, he set out to do what was expected of him, keying up sensor controls, and swallowed, ready to try and take as many possible readings of the damaged alien ship they meant to pass by. "Stand by for sensor sweep readiness," he said, his Beninese accent faint, hoping the bold move would pay off. He glanced towards the helm station, seeing a woman with scars and a pony-tail, not sure if he'd seen her at any helm controls before, then again, he was very rarely slated for bridge duty, so he could but hope she knew what she was doing. "Thea seems offline, but I am readying as much of a magneton pulse as I can muster in such short notice, Captain. If the enemy manage to regenerate its shields, I am not sure how much we'll be able to see. Recommend immediate approach if we're to see anything at all."

Yet the enemy figthers out there, he could see them on his sensor readings too, they were converging on the Sword, so escape was of equal merit. The orders were given, so as prudent as the XO's caution was, it was too late to argue.

[This is Chief Curt Lucas, I've assumed command here in Engineering, just like that protocol said I would,] called a voice on the intercom, [we're switching dilithium crystals here, in five, four, three, two, one! Done! Regulation switched now, we are ready to go to maximum warp!]

---

OOC: @Even Angels Cry , would you please close the scene for the Sword? Check the orders from Wenn Cinn in ch'Xinya's earlier posts. End it with the Sword going to warp and getting clear from the Savi fighters converging on their Vector? :)

[ Lt. JG Derik Veradin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Derik_Veradin) | Main Bridge | Deck 1 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]"All assets, you know what needs doing.  On your escape courses, on my mark..." 

Captain Trent’s words sounded across the bridge, their escape coming soon, if Derik could keep them alive long enough. Hands dancing across the helm controls, Derik was all concentration as he put the Helmet vector through an evasive pattern, the Savi fighters engaging them in earnest again since their cruiser had been heavily damaged by the warp drone. These pilots were no joke, and while the Helmet was much more maneuverable than the Sword or Stallion, none could really outmaneuver fighters. All he could hope for was mitigating damage and keeping them away from the main nacelle and engineering.

As he rolled the ship to bare just their sides and belly to the enemy he noticed almost absent-mindedly as massive explosions filled the screen again, this time of their own doing. His own sensors began to go fuzzy again with the flood of energy and knew it would be happening to the enemy as well. This was their chance, he put the ship into a dive, back towards their planned escape vector, dodging around debris, getting some distance from the fighters.

"Engage!"

The captain called out the order and Derik pulled a sudden swing thirty degrees to the starboard side straight towards his already programmed warp vector and engaged the warp drive. He was hoping the sensor static and his last maneuvers would at least buy them some time as they escaped.

Able to relax for a second, he turned to A’vura, his good friend and fellow Resolve family member who had replaced Stark as the Ops officer. Seeing her next to him was comforting, but it made him think of members of their family on the other vectors. “I hope the rest of our family makes it out,” he said to her softly, but pain creeping through. He wasn’t ready to lose more, not so soon. He shut his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath and regained his focus, hoping only A’vura noticed. He cleared his throat before he announced, “Warp velocity achieved, Captain, no immediate signs of pursuit.”

[ F'Rell of the 12th House | Corridor outside the Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

The unexpected opening of a jefferies tube hatch and the emergence of F'Rell was more than enough to rattle even some of the most hardened security officers on a good day. She was alien and everyone who saw her was struck by how alien she was. She moved in a manner unlike any other of the crew's sentient lifeforms and as a result those who were not expecting her often responded in fear and aggression first.

She was thus lucky that the security guard stationed outside of the bridge was from the Resolve and was used to her emerging from jefferies tubes and unexpected times, especially when the ship started to shake.

For a moment after emerging F'Rell looked around, getting her bearings. She spotted the security guard and moved up to him. "<Crewman Tucker, what is going on>?" came upset and mildly panicked tone from her translator.

Crewman Tucker, taken aback by the emotion in F'Rell's new voice, took a second to reply. "We're under attack by these alien guys and they didn't tell me more than that, just to be ready in case we get boarded," Tucker replied. He was young, or he was younger than most of the other crew, and after the trauma of the Resolve he was prone to panic attacks.

"<Breath Crewman Tucker>," F'Rell's translator said, the tone more soothing as she moved forward to press and appendage to his forehead. "<I will endeavor to ensure today is not the last day of our lives>." She spoke, as always, in her more alien manner of speech, but her body language was clear. There was urgent business to attend to. "<I need you to let those who are in command that there ship is not fast enough. I can fix this, but I need to speak with whoever is in charge of their propulsion department without delay. Do you understand>?" Her silvery eyes never left his as she spoke, her tone was calm, but stern. Now was not the time to allow herself to panic, she had done so earlier, but seeing the young man's face made it clear how much of a mistake that had been.

"Y-yes ma'am," he said and slapped his combadge. "Crewman Tucker to the bridge. I have F'Rell here and she says she can help get the ship faster... or something." He really was panicking at this point. F'Rell could not help but think perhaps security was not the right department for him, yet on the Resolve there had been no luxury as to figure out which department was the right one for which person. There was simply work to be done.

Jaya Thorne (https://orig05.deviantart.net/12e0/f/2016/300/a/4/imgpsh_fullsize_by_auctor_lucan-damefg0.png) | Battle Bridge | Vector 2  | USS Theurgy | Attn: @Auctor Lucan , @chXinya, @Top Hat , @DocReno , @Nolan
[Show/Hide]
"Yessir, Acting Captain Cinn-shine.  Getting us out of this shitstorm in 3...2...1."

Jaya entered the coordinates she'd been given.  Wherever they were going, she hoped the others would meet then there.  It felt cowardly to run in the middle of battle.  Especially since the ship itself wasn't even a whole ship.  They were effectively abandoning their friends to the whims of their captors..

But..

They would live to see another day.  They would regroup and plan a rescue.  It was their duty as Starfleet Officers and it was their responsibility as friends.  They would seek out this strange new foe even if it meant they had to track them down beyond the known galaxy.  No matter how long it took, they would rally together and go boldly into that dark night.  Who knew what dangers they might face?  What horrors and surprises might await them when they arrived?  Jaya had a feeling that no one knew those answers.. but they were headed down that path anyway.  They had friends to rescue.

In that moment, Jaya did something she hadn't done since she was a child.  She prayed.  Just a simple message to whatever unseen force was at work in the galaxy.. because she wanted to believe that there was a reason for all this.  Something more than random acts of the cosmos reacting to their recent transgressions.  Something bigger, more powerful.  She wouldn't name it, but there had to be something!  She whispered just one sentence.

"let them be ok.."

Jaya held course as long as she could before executing the warp command.  It gave their fighters just a bit longer to get into the FAB.  Any who didn't make it in would have to rendevouz at the coordinates.  But the Savi weren't keen on letting any of them escape.  As a swarm of their alien fighters made a beeline for the Sword, Jaya punched it..

The middle section of the Theurgy streaked across the light-speckled darkness like silver scissors gliding across black velvet.  Whatever damage the Sword had taken from the onslaught of Savi fighters that closed in at the last minute would be assessed once they got clear of imminent danger.  Traveling at warp speed could be serene at times, when it was done at leisure and for no other reason than to explore.  Jaya wished this was one of those times.  She knew only where they were going, but it was enough.  She had placed her faith in Captain Sunshine and the other officers to get them through.  They would make it.

..Still... she let one more prayer slip past her mind's defenses.  "..let them be alive.."

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]Trent gave the word to jump to warp, and until the last moment, Jennifer found herself looking for the other Vectors, to make sure they would make it out.

Vector 2 - the Sword - took a route below the white behemoth, avoiding alien fighters, and then, it vanished in bright light. She believed that most, if not all, of the Lone Wolves had made it back into the Fighter Assault Bay. Her green eyes moved to Vector 3, and while it had taken heavy damage, it seemed like the CONN officer aboard the Stallion remained in access to propulsion, for it also jump to warp, leaving the Helmet alone with the enemy ship. In the final moments, Dewitt turned her eyes towards it, and even though she never wanted to see it again, she also knew that the Savi had abducted crew from them, and taken Thea. She knew not if they would see the ship again, if the Savi would be able to repair their engine systems, but either way, the this first battle had come to an end.

Derik Veradin had turned the Helmet around, and even if Savi fighters were tearing up their hull plating, the Trill managed to find form the warp field around the Vector...

...and they were gone. Only streaming stars where battle and debris had once been.

Dewitt closed her eyes, and tried to ignore a voice in her mind - a memory from some old move. It was an ill omen, but one she couldn't shake.

United we stand, she thought, hoping there was no merit to the words. Divided we fall.

- FIN

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OOC: Chapter 01: Protectors of Truth is finished! The new Chapters are already up, so the story continues there :)