Star Trek: Theurgy

Unidentified Flying Object in the Beyond
March 22, 2381
Day 12, 0830 hrs.

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton – callsign “Meerkat” | Conference Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] @Havenborn @DaValle @Brutus  @Griff  

At 0825 sharp, Liliana’s combadge chimed with a gentle reminder from Thea about a briefing scheduled at 0830 in the conference lounge off the main bridge. Lt Commander Dewitt had sent a message to her earlier about it, mentioning only that the pilot was needed for an away mission that day prior to her scheduled patrol. Walton was unsure why she was being selected for an away mission and decided to assume it was because they wanted her to fly an away team somewhere – probably to the surface of Aldea. She was aware that the ship’s CONN department was kept constantly busy with assisting in repairs, so it would not be a surprise if they needed to tap one of the fighter pilots occasionally for that.

Thankfully, Walton was already on her way to the conference room. She wanted to be there earlier than the rest to make sure she had time for coffee and a quick bite to eat from the room’s replicator. Maybe early enough to even get a moment alone to look out at the planet they were orbiting, assuming the view wasn’t obstructed by the shipyard. Once inside, she made a beeline to grab her breakfast before moving to one of the chairs at the long table in the room with a warm cinnamon roll in one hand and a cup of sweetened vanilla flavored coffee in the other. She hoped whatever this was would be routine enough.

Well, at least whatever passed for routine for this ship.

OOC: Considering this is set during the time range for Havenborn's flight's patrol per Nolan's post in Shipwide Call, it'd really be up to Griff and Havenborn as to whether they're listening in from their fighters, I guess, or physically in the room with the rest.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie “Hellcat”] Attn: @Brutus, @patches, @Griff, @DaValle

Daniel was sitting in his cockpit as they flew around the shipyard for the dozenth time today.  His flight had been tapped to help an away mission that was scheduled for 0830.  He had sent Meony and Neko to continue their regular patrol while he took Bloodwing with him.  He still didn’t like having the NCO in his flight but then again it wasn’t his decision nor was it for him to decide squadron formation anymore since he was no longer an SCO.  As much as he wanted to have either Meony or Neko with him, he wanted his veterans to continue on the patrol he’d have to make due with Bloodwing and hope that she was just as good as his other pilots.

He had activated his communications system and linked into the Theurgy conference room, he knew that Bloodwing had done the same as he could see her connected to the communications link.  Now it was just a matter of waiting for the rest of whomever had been summoned to arrive and the briefing to start.  He had volunteered part of his flight for whatever missions came up during their patrol, he had gotten very tired of the monotony of patrol duty so any mission that allowed him to get away from it was very welcome.

“Salvo to Bloodwing, switch to my starboard and decrease to one-third impulse.”  Daniel said as he began to slow his fighter down, he was going to put them into a patrol circuit around Vector 1 during the briefing and there was no need for them to be going at the half-impulse they had been.  “Knight, run a diagnostics scan on the engines, they’re feeling a little sluggish.”  Daniel said to his RIO. 

“Acknowledged, beginning diagnostic.”  Came the reply behind him.  “So you and Meony have been spending some time together.”  Daniel said to Knight. There was a pause and Knight responded.  “Is there a question there?”  Daniel smiled, he and Krystal had dated before he had become an SCO, he had explained why they couldn’t be together anymore and she had accepted it, in Daniel’s mind it had made them better friends, even family in some weird way.  “Just curious as to what your intentions are.”  Daniel asked.  “I like her, but I’m not going to ask for your blessing if that’s what you’re thinking about.”  Knight said as he watched the diagnostic continue.  “Not at all, just as I said, curious.”  Daniel stated.  Knight was about to say something when he heard the briefing begin, the two of them sat in silence as they listened in.

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen | Conference Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy] @Brutus @patches @Griff @Havenborn 
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Only a half hour ago Kaylon got ordered to attend a meeting in the conference room. He got only told to be there, since they needed someone for an away mission but more than the information that the mission will be on the surface of Aldea wasn’t mentioned. Now he stood in a turbolift and waited for the door to open. It wasn’t a bad feeling he had about the situation, he was just curios, since this was his first real mission ever since the Theurgy arrived at Aldea.

The door opened and behind of it stood two crewmen who cleared the way for the lieutenant. He went out of the lift and moved to the conference room at the right side. Kaylon recognized again that the ship was in a pretty good condition after all the fights it went through and the engineers had done a lot of work to archive this. But since self-praise is no recommendation and he had other problems to think about now, Kaylon stopped thinking about the condition of the ship. He went on to the conference lounge and saw on a console at the wall that he was still some minutes to early.

When the door opened Kaylon discovered Liliana Walton, who was sitting on one of the chairs with a cup in her hand. This reminds him that he had woken up to early only to get told that his daily shift was cancelled and he was instead requested for this away mission. On the other side had Kaylon enough time to wake up without consuming a half ton of coffee in the morning. The Trill went into the room and said to the pilot: “Good Morning.” Then he made his way up to the next free seat and added: “I hope I’m not the only one who had time to breakfast before this.”

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Havenborn @patches @Griff @DaValle 
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Almost, he had raised a protest. What, by all things held holy among this crew, did anyone have to consume to convince themselves that it was a good idea to send the Theurgy's resident Time Traveler on an away mission. The summons had come in over the evening, and had been waiting for Sarresh when he had dragged himself out of his (empty) bed to face another day without...Without Sel. You can say it, damn you. Another day without Sel.

He frowned at his reflection as he trimmed the grown under his neck. Sarresh had been surprised to find that if he didn't bother with it for a few days, he did actually start to grow a beard. Ash'reem were physically incapable of growing facial hair, or really, any hair, save at the very tops of their head. After his transformation, Sarresh had tried to do everything he could to hold onto what he had been. and that included sheering every stray hair from his body, as if desiring to still be that sleek, aquatic being he had once been. While Sarresh still swam, and quite frequently, as it was source of comfort, he had not bothered with shaving since returning from the Savi ship Versant. He'd had little ability to do so while in captivity, and even less desire to take care of himself since his return, for all the normal reasons one ridden with grief might have.

When he could hide himself away in his lab, monitoring the time stream, tracking little blips that - so far- lead to nothing, and generally avoid interacting with anyone, he didn't care what he looked like. He had no cult to impress, after all. Admittedly, he had stopped his one man assault on his own liver after the nasty hang over he had been punished with days back. But self care hadn't gone much beyond that and sonic showers. Not even the water kind that he thrived on usually - he could remember the last one he'd shared with Sel, and was struggling to adjust to that. of course, he knew that.

Sarresh also knew that if he were smart, he would book a session with a counselor. He'd know that when he was drunk off his ass, and days after the fact, he still knew that. He just ,....didn't. Not only was he unsure anyone had clearance to do so, as so much of what plagued him could be contrived as 'classified', he was unsure that he wished to stop hurting. For if the hurting stopped, what was left? Duty?

Duty was what got him out of bed in the morning, replicating the tea that Sel had introduced to him, as he padded across the room to review the messages from the night. The summons had been right there, and he'd stared, unblinking for a full minute after he'd finished. He'd set the tea down on the table, and managed not to wrench the terminal from the desk and fling it into the far bulkhead. He mastered his breathing, and his rapidly beating heart, pushing both back into submission. Then he re-read the summons and laughed.

"What dumbass thought this was a good idea?" He asked the empty room.  And then, a mix of amused and frustrated he got up from the desk and took the tea into the shower with him.

Twenty minutes later, he was dressed in his uniform, a freshly replicated one, and managed to scarf down something that the replicator insisted whats suitably nutrition for his species. A 'Breakfast Burrito' of some variety, that he only noticed in passing, as it was easy to eat one handed. The earring - her earring - was in his pocket, where it had been for days now. His neck was shaven but then he'd gone and left the rest of it in place, casting a gruff sort of look about him, but nothing that was out of regulation. He was hiding behind the guise of professional attire and detachment, but inside he alternated between seething, mourning, and the urge to laugh.  He'd strode into the lounge form the access corridor  that ringed the bridge, without actually setting foot on the bridge, certain he was unwelcome there.

This must be some kind of punishment, he thought to himself as he strode in and looked over the room. So far there was one human woman present, dressed in the white collared uniform of a fighter pilot, and Lieutenant in Ops Gold, a Trill with the same rank as he himself. Sarresh arched an eyebrow, but otherwise ignored the Warrant Officer and the other man. Instead, electing to make use of the replicator, he ordered another cup of what he'd started this morning, and every morning since he'd returned, with. "Tea, Pyrellian ginger. Hot." And reached in to take the steaming cup of the Bajoran brew in the Theurgy logo'd mug from the replicator when the lights faded.

[PO3 Lillee t’Jellaieu (Bloodwing) (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Wolf 12 | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Aldea Prime Orbit ] Attn: @@Havenborn [member=116@patches[/member] @@DaValle @Brutus 

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It was the one of the oldest truth of fighter pilots: running patrol was boring. It had been true when Lillee had flown with the Romulan Grand Fleet, it had been true during the Dominion War and it was true now. There was only so much that one could fly through the same space without becoming restless, and after all, six hours of patrolling a day was a long, long time. Certainly the flight could spend the time chit-chatting, but even that wasn't very appealing. Meony was a pleasant woman and apparently a skilled pilot, but even with the Universal Translator, Lillee could barely understand a word that the human was saying.

And then there was Salvo, the flight leader. Lillee didn't know what to think of the man. He was certainly professional, but he also seemed to have a duranium rod rammed so far up his rear end that he had to be tasting metal. The other pilots thought well of him, to be sure, but then why was he then so cold and distant to her? It was nothing blatant, certainly, but nevertheless, Lillee was certain of it. The man disliked her. Or he distrusted her. Either way, it was deeply irritating.

Starting yet another patrol circuit around Aldea's busy orbit on Meony's wing, Lillee glanced at the time. The mysterious new mission, whatever it was, could at least prove a pleasant distraction assuming that it didn't end in the usual mess of phaser fire and dead bodies everywhere. Of equal value, Havenborn had chosen her as his wingmate for the mission, so perhaps he was reaching out in his own way. Or perhaps it meant nothing. Sighing in frustration at how little she knew, Lillee activated her comm system to tie into the meeting that was about to begin over on Vector 01 of the Theurgy.

"Salvo to Bloodwing, switch to my starboard and decrease to one-third impulse."

"Acknowledged," Lillee replied, automatically slotting in behind Salvo's Gryphon. With that, there was to do but listen and wait.

 [ CWO3 Liliana Walton – callsign “Meerkat” | Conference Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] @Brutus @Havenborn @DaValle @Griff

As the other two filtered in, Lily smiled and nodded politely at both of them by way of greeting. She chuckled at the Trill’s greeting, responding as the other man entered and grabbed his own drink.

“No, you’re not the only one. This meeting took me a bit by surprise. I wonder what we’re needed for.”

With that, the viewscreen flared to life as a man in Aldean dress and a dour look on his face. He took only a moment to check who was in the room before launching into his briefing.

[Greetings. I am First Appointee Radue of Aldea. Just now, the Theurgy reported a ship landing in the Beyond. It is – or was – cloaked and bypassed our own and the Klingon’s sensors and it was only detected to your ship detecting it while it landed in a sandstorm. Whatever cloaked it is clearly not of Klingon origin. As the only way to track it is through these … ‘particle sensors’ on your ship, we need you to investigate this unidentified flying object before the sandstorm clears. Speed is therefore paramount. You three have already been cleared for this mission and we have also requested two of your fighters as backup.]

Liliana blinked and looked at the other two. A fighter pilot was not in her prime when groundside and she somehow doubted that either the Operations or Science officer were ideal for this kind of mission either. Why wasn’t a Security team being assembled for this? Surely, there was at least one standby.

“Sir, we’re not Security. This kind of thing isn’t exactly our forte.”

[Your captain has already given approval for your participation in this. Your computer has all the necessary information.]

There was so many questions Walton yet burned to ask but it was already abundantly clear that this Radue was not in a mood to answer any of them, seemingly in a hurry to see them sent off to investigate a mystery craft. She still wondered why them of all people. Were they scheduled for something else of lesser priority and then just dumped on this? Something about this didn’t feel right but what could she do? She reached for a nearby PADD and logged into it.

It had all the information she needed to fly there, alright. There was the proper clearances to take a shuttle, weather information and a map of the area highlighting possible landing zones, coordinates for the cloaked ship, and everything else – all signed with Captain Ives’ credentials where needed. She would have to double check on what gear she could take, given that they were to minimize obvious signs of Theurgy involvement. Rules of engagement seemed to be also Federation standard. Fighter escorts were marked as Salvo and Bloodwing, neither of whom Lily had flown much with yet. On the page describing the mission, there was a note from Ives explaining a bit more about why there was a need for speed, reinforced by a mention that those present would be the quickest to deploy in time, and that there would be a six person security detail on standby just in case. The fighter cover was deemed to be more than enough firepower, it seemed, as well as the present officers' own training. The petite woman looked up from the PADD and at the three others before tossing the PADD towards the Ops officer.

“Everything does look set,” she said with a shrug, her dark green eyes slightly out of focus as she mentally ran through the next few steps. ”We’ll be launching from the upper shuttle bay.”

OOC: Last one to post this cycle can have Radue signing off as everyone leaves the room. DaValle or Brutus can pick out which shuttle we board. Next posting cycle will have the away team in the shuttle, per AL’s PM.

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen |Conference Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy] @patches @Brutus @Havenborn  @Griff 
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Kaylon listened carefully what Radue said and stopped a moment when Walton asked for the reason why they three got dispatched and not some security guys. Then again Kaylon thought that a trip down on the planetside could be funny, or at least exciting, but if anyone would asked him, he would meant that he trusted in the decisions of his captain and nothing else.

The Aldean ends his… answer for the question of the pilot and she took a PADD to read the information she didn’t got from him. Kaylon tried to resit but this Radue almost begged to get taunted: “Oh hell yeah, a blind mission in the morning what could go wrong.”

[If you’ve got any problems with the amount of information, I gave you, then you should probably consider to look in the PADD.]

Almost on command gave the pilot Kaylon the PADD and he read it himself. A cloaked vessel in sandstorm, more precisely between a stone formation. There were some details for the pilot but at all nothing he should care about. Their mission was now to identify the vessel and to find out why it was here. Kaylon also thought about the cloaking field this vessel used, something good enough to tricks the Aldean and Klingon security systems, he definitely want to take a look on this systems.

The Trill gave the PADD to the scientist and meant: “We should probably hide the energy signature of our shuttle too. I don’t think that this object knows that we’ve noticed it and I would prefer not to change this, till we know who or what it is. At all I guess we could use a type 12 shuttlecraft, to get down there but it should also work with a type 9”

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Havenborn @Griff @patches @DaValle 
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He'd managed to find a seat when the briefing actually began, with the view screen coming up directly. Looking around the room and holding the mug of Bajoran ginger tea in his hands, the Temporal Affairs Officer realized that he knew neither of the officers in the room personally. Perhaps he had seen their faces a time or two here or there. When he bothered to check later, he'd realize that both were recent transfers to the Theurgy, having joined on while he was in Savi captivity. Joined, or been stranded on. Take your pick.

The man on the screen was familiar to Sarresh, at least in passing, though the voices listening in on the comms - two other pilots on patrol - were not.  At least he didn't recognize them, or their names. Maybe another case of a face in a crowd. It mattered not. The man before them was one of the leaders of the Aldean people  - the leader, if Sarresh understood their hosts political structure correctly, though he knew that there was no guarantee of that. He'd paid precious little attention to something as mediocre as local politics.

Maybe you should have, he noted dryly as he frowned over the brim of his mug, before setting it down, his face cast in shadow. Surly or depressed were his two functional emotions right at the moment, and surly was currently winning out. He watched with growing incredulity as this First Appointee Radue laid out the situation. He couldn't stop the eyebrow from going high up on his forehead, nor could he keep from tapping his fingers against his tea mug. I'm a temporal analyst, not a foot soldier he thought, but then stopped.

Memories flashed back - again - of the Harbinger mutiny. And not the ones of being pressed close to the woman he'd later come to love. No the more violent ones. of threatening to slice a mans throat open with a laser scalpel. Of skills that lay just beneath the surface.  Something of it must have shown in his face, because the man on the viewscreen shoot Sarresh a curious look. The former Ash'reem had grown still. Quite. Ice cold. Everything locked down.

He flicked his eyes back up to the man, and again arched his eyebrow. This time however, it was just a silent, what? And the FIrst Appointee seemed to like what he saw, and went back to what he'd been saying.

The tension broke for Sarresh as he took a sip of the tea, and wondered if anyone else had noticed. Maybe, maybe not, he decided, picking up a PADD and reviewing, just as the Engineer next to him handed it over. He let out a little grunt, and set it down. To say this was less than ideal was something of an understatement.

The device clattered on the desktop and Sarresh sighed aloud. Turning to the Trill, he suggested, "Type 9 is smaller, correct?" He had no real clue, just a vague notion, so he asked all the same, as he scratched at the bristle on his chin. "Less of a profile to hide, or pick up. Smarter to go in with as little notice as possible."

[It sounds as if you have your assignment well in hand. Time is of the essence] the man on the viewscreen said, his expression dour. Sarresh liked...none of this at all. He felt it was stupid to send a temporal analyst on a snipe hunt for some kind of UFO. Nothing in the report mentioned anything that he might be able to determine. And yet...it didn't belong here and that was in itself a possible sign of incursion. He wasn't drooling through another engram memory dump induced seizure, but all the same, what did he really know.

Picking up his tea again, he drained the whole thing in one long pull, setting it down. Sarresh of two weeks back might have been more cautious. Sarresh of today...gave less of a damn. Turning to the other two, all he asked was, "Do we ditch the uniforms once we're in the shuttlecraft, or just go in bedecked in all our Starfleet glory?" Even as he asked however, he was already standing up, making to leave. And Radue was signing off, with some claptrap about godspeed and good luck that the time traveler tuned out.

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton – callsign “Meerkat” | Conference Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] @Havenborn @DaValle @Brutus  @Griff 
 
“Type 9 is the smallest this ship has, likely, aside from the workbees,” Liliana replied with a nod as the scientist downed his tea. “I’ll contact the shuttle bay to make sure one’s available on the way there. All of our fighters have cloaks to blend in with Aldean craft, so the shuttles should have that installed by now as well. Hiding that won’t be an issue.”

As the call ended and the group started standing up, the same man asked another question – this time about their clothing. Walton shook her head slightly before she answered.

“Standing orders are to disguise ourselves as Aldeans on the surface. We can replicate appropriate clothes here or on the shuttle, whichever you prefer. Same for the weapons, with the exception of the smaller hand phasers. Authorization to replace phasers of Aldean make for this should already be logged in the system, I would think.”

She paused on her way out to set her cup down at the replicator for disposal before following the other two out of the room.
 
“I’ll meet you two at the shuttle. We’ll take off as soon as everyone’s aboard and I’ve run preflight checks.”

A few minutes later…

The pilot elected to change on the shuttle while the craft went through preflight checks, a choice spurred on by the urgency conveyed in the briefing and a desire to get that over with. Fortunately, the patterns needed for the custom fitted “chlamys” were already loaded on the replicator and it didn’t take long for her to change from her uniform to it. She supposed years of changing quickly in locker rooms made it easier for switch clothing on the fly, the thought prompting a longing for her to be able to use her exosuit. It was simply so useful compared to civilian clothing. At least today's outfit apparently included a scarf and goggles to protect the mouth, nose, and eyes against the sand.

This will be the first time I'm actually using my training for a sandstorm. Figures. Hopefully, it'll blow over quick.

She nodded in greeting at the other two when they boarded and stepped outside briefly to check in with the technician as he finished his own task. They exchanged only a few words before he jogged off to the next item on his list and she stepped back on. Once the other two looked like they had everything they needed from the replicator, she had it manufacture an Aldean phaser rifle for her and secured it to the pilot’s chair.

“Everyone ready?” Liliana asked as she took her seat and began the startup sequence. Most of the work was already done for her, it seemed, and they were already being given the authorization to launch when ready. “Taking off as soon as you two are strapped in your chairs. I am going to be taking us down pretty fast.”

She paused before following up her statement with a question and a look of mild concern.

“Neither of you get motion sickness right?”

---

OOC: I’ll have us take off and transit down to the planet in my next post. :D I picked out goggles and a scarf for the sandstorm, but any sort of eye, nose, and mouth protection will work. We won't need anything particularly fancy.

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Griff @DaValle @Havenborn @patches 
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There was an almost reptilian quality to the slow blink that Sarresh gave the fighter pilot that sat next to him as she responded to his query about shuttles. As with many other things, the somewhat derelict officer had not known there were any kind of cloaking devices installed on any of the small craft. A quick and dirty search on his PADD confirmed her words, showing that the Aldean's had something that was more like a sensor mask than a real cloak.

Don't think that violates any rules or temporal protocols, he thought as he set the PADD Back down and ran a finger across his bearded chin. Nor any treaties with our Romulan friends. Can't piss them off, even if we're on the run for our lives. Wonder how the cloaked shipyard plays into that? Since it was a Klingon run shipyard with Klingon made cloaks, it was probably fine. Not missing a beat - he was capable of multiple trains of thought at once, thanks to his education long ago - the former Ash'reem considered the room and shrugged.

"Here is as good a place as any," he said aloud, seeing no reason to go back to his quarters, or his lab. The shuttle would have the standard science kit needed for this kind of work.  He let the woman - Walton, he thought he'd heard - recycle her cup, before doing the same. Then he ordered up the local garb and checking what was available, made a face. "Great, more robes."

Soon enough a set of robes appeared for him, in dark, forest green tones. He arched an eyebrow, then shrugged, setting them on the table. As he had done weeks back in front of Ida zh'Wann, he went about the utilitarian process of changing. Ash'reem lacked many of, if not all, of the taboos that most humans held when it came to states of undress. He paid the trill no mind, and really wasn't aware of what the man was up to at all, or if the engineer had left the room before he started. In the end, he left, armed and attired, without a second look back, his robes kicking up with each step as he hurried along the access corridor for the lift.

---

[Shuttlebay]

Striding purposefully across the room, the unkempt time traveler looked about the expansive bay. There was one of the smaller shuttles, powered up. A steady glow list up the nacelles of the vessel and he could just make out the idling thrum of its reactor. Pulling a face and waving off one of the techs that tried to come and help him, Sarresh strode to the craft and blinked, looking around. The pilot had just finished dressing he realized, and was moving to exit the craft just as he was stepping in.

Without a word, he slid to the side and let her out to go talk to the same tech that had been after him. Shrugging he walked up, and tapped on the replicator. His keen vision had noted the scarf the woman had replicated, and the eyewear she'd chosen, and duplicated the effort, along with a filter to fit over his mouth in addition to the scarf. Great. I'm going down into a sandstorm. I already feel too dry and gritty. This day just keeps getting better. The bitter words lingered as he took a chair behind the front two, turing to the small sensor and science console wedged there in the second row. He was not a pilot nor an engineer. He'd let the Trill and the Human deal with the craft.

Looking back as the others settled in, he rolled his eyes and activated the seats restraints, feeling it pull him back into place, snug and secure. "Don't worry, Chief," he'd looked up what the rank pips meant between the conference room and the shuttle. "As long as the chip in my head plays nice, I won't vomit all over your shuttle." Not exactly the best attempt at humor, but it would have to do, as this was the best they were going to get out of Sarresh.

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Kaylon_Jeen) |Conference Room | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy]
Attn @Brutus @Griff @Havenborn @patches

The Trill listened to the rest of the dialogue, the others had and decided to get some cloths and change them quickly in his quarter on deck ten. One of the benefits, if your quarter was on the same deck, the shuttlebay was. On his way out of the conference room thought Kaylon, that the scientist had begun to get rid of his cloths simply in the same room. Kaylon had no chance to proof his thought, since the door closed behind him and he didn’t want to turn around, just to watch another crewmember stripping.

He moved to the turbolift, to get to his quarter and used the time, he got, for something more useful than thinking of stripping crewmembers. So, first things first. What do you know about the object? Superior cloaking technology, small to medium size and able to land on the surface of a planet. Which shipclass is fitting now? Stupid question, basically all. The question is which cloaking device the vessel uses. The only faction, that would have a cloaking technology, advanced enough to deal with the defence systems of this planet, would be the Romulans. He entered durring this thoughts the lift and left it automatic, when the lift reached his deck. He didn’t even recognized the ensign, who was the whole time together with him in the lift. Kaylon was obviously the only one of them who didn’t saw the other and the ensign had begun to salute almost immediately, when the doors opened the first time. Oh and till they closed on deck 10.

How likely is it, that the Romulans will travel all across the galaxy, just to fly with a shuttle sized vessel on the surface of an, in their database probably, uninhabited planet. Not to mention the strategical worthlessness of this system in their opinion, but if this ship would be of Romulan origin, it’s probably Tal Shiar. Kaylon has changed his clothes and made his way to the shuttlebay. He was not very happy with his clothes, since he looked like a monk in those long robes and the other stuff for his protection didn’t even fitted to this outfit. Still there was the order to disguise themselves and he had no desire for a half ton of sand in his eyes or mouth. He continued the thoughts about the vessel. If they are the Tal Shiar, it’s not very unlikely, that they’ve already secured the area and dispatched some patrols. And if they aren’t the Romulans? Which other faction would have an interest and the technology to do this? Good question, but I guess you'll know it very soon.

The door to the shuttlebay opened and Kaylon was able to take a look at the shuttle they’re using now. The preflight check were almost finished and it seemed like, beside the pilot, was the scientist already here too. The Trill decided to move a little bit faster, before they’ll start this mission without him. He passed the pilot, only a few moments after the scientist and decided to complete his equipment with a little aldean phaser. I hope you’ll be unnecessary down there, but just in case. He glanced at the rest of the shuttle and saw, that Sarresh has sat down in the second row. His problem, the first row had the better view. This was the safer way anyhow, since Kaylon had not to less experience with some rough flights.

The pilot began the starting sequence and mentioned the others had to strap themselves in, in addition she asked if anyone of them got motion sickness. Kaylon replied after the scientist, who had made a quite sarcastic comment. “Oh a funny joke from the back or was that gallows humour?”

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie "Hellcat"] Attn: @Brutus, @patches, @Griff, @DaValle

As the diagnostic scan was finishing up so to was the briefing.  It’d likely take the officers selected a few minutes to get to the Upper Shuttle Bay, as for the officers selected Daniel had to admit to himself that this was a very motley group; a pilot, an engineer and a scientist.  It sounded like the opening to one of Mariner’s bad jokes.  The diagnostic scan finished and it seemed that there was a five percent loss of energy, likely some sort of leak that was missed during the repair.  It wasn’t high enough of a priority for Daniel to remove himself from the mission though; though it would be something that he’d have to bring up to the flight crew when he put down in the FAB after the mission.  “It seems we have a leak.”  Knight said as he saw the same information on his screen.  “Indeed, we’ll have to let the flight crew know about it after the mission, although keep an eye on it just in case.”  Daniel replied.

“Will do Salvo.”  Knight replied as he put active information of the leak on the screen in front of him.  As the briefing was coming to a close Daniel figured he should inform the officers that he’d meet their shuttle once they left the hangar.  “Salvo to Meerkat; Bloodwing and I will be waiting for your shuttle outside the Upper Shuttle Bay.”  He said.  He then switched his communications channel back to Flight Only.  “Salvo to Bloodwing, follow my wing; time to begin this escort detail.”  Daniel said as he banked his fighter towards the Upper Shuttle Bay.  It wouldn’t take him and Bloodwing very long to get to into position as he veered his fighter towards the hangar bay.  Daniel slowed his fighter down until he was positioned near the bay exit.  “Salvo to Bloodwing, we’ll hold here until the shuttle emerges.”  He said.

A few minutes later and the Type-9 shuttlecraft that had been selected exited the hangar bay.  Daniel activated his engines and followed after it taking up a position parallel to the shuttle.  “Salvo to Bloodwing, match the shuttle’s course and speed.”  He said as he did the same.  He watched as the planet came into view and his sensors began relaying information about the coordinates they were headed to, the sandstorm would limit their sensors so they’d need to rely on their eyes as well, hopefully the sandstorm wouldn’t limit their shields or weapons.  “Beginning our descent into the planet’s atmosphere, adapting shield harmonics.”  Knight said behind him as Daniel acknowledged him.

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton – callsign “Meerkat” | Type 9 Shuttle | Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy ]
@Havenborn @DaValle @Brutus  @Griff
 
The responses to her question left Liliana both a little bemused and amused in turn. She wasn’t sure what chip the scientist was talking about but she hoped it wouldn’t cause any issues while they were on the surface. As the Trill sat down and buckled up, he posed a question of his own in response.

”Gallows humor, probably! Don’t worry though. I’ve trained a generation of pilots in these things.”

A transmission from Salvo came in, alerting Meerkat that the escort would be waiting for them outside of the shuttle bay and she responded with a quick affirmative before returning to completing the launch sequence. A workbee ended up needing to make a quick landing before she could taxi out, but before long, the Type-9 Shuttle was out of the shuttle bay and on its way to the planet below. Lily noticed with approval that both the escort fighters were matching her speed and paralleling her course.
”Time to landing is going to be about fifteen minutes.”

Once the shuttle was clear of the shipyard and associated traffic, Walton increased the shuttle’s speed to its max cruising speed. She was focused on the flight, preferring to control the craft manually, so she only had half an ear to anything her passengers were saying during the trip. The course she set wasn’t one that approached the hidden craft directly but one that would pass by it to the north, seemingly on a course to a nearby ghost city.

”Meerkat to escort, I’m going to land the shuttlecraft next to that outcropping about 3 kilometers to the target’s north. I suggest you continue as if you’re going to that ghost city for a bit before turning back to this area. It’s vital that we have the element of surprise but we need as much info as you can glean while you’re up here.”

By the time she received a reply, they were almost at the outcropping she indicated. The shuttle’s sensors weren’t getting much detail and visibility was, while improving as the sandstorm began to move on, still pretty much shit. Lily dove the shuttle into the storm itself close to the landing site she selected. Even with all the advanced technology available in the 24th century, flying in a sandstorm itself was ill-advised. The high winds and low visibility in the few hundred meters closest to the ground typically precluded a landing or takeoff in the area as most pilots preferred to wait for it to pass. Thankfully, the deflector and modern materials science meant that the dust and sand in the air was more of a minimal worry these days.

Lily’s solution was to dive at a steep angle, cutting across the winds in a controlled moderate speed descent in a bid to minimize the craft’s flight in the most dangerous part of the sandstorm. Taking it in slow was perhaps safer but the mission profile seemed to call for something approaching a combat landing, relying on a mix of instruments and her own eyes to avoid crashing into the outcropping and compensate for the turbulence. The speed meant she had to brake harder and pull up later than usual, but experience and training meant the landing was still a fairly smooth one. She parked the shuttle in a way that sheltered it somewhat from the sand and allowed the occupants to exit without getting hit in the face with sand right off the bat.

She looked around at the other two, obviously pleased with herself, and gestured to the door. ”So, which one of you fine gentlemen want to go first?”

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Griff @DaValle @Havenborn @patches 
[Show/Hide]
Turning the chair slightly, Sarresh cocked an eyebrow up as he looked at the Trill engineer, sitting in the front row. how novel it must be to not know what you're dealing with. This was perhaps not a kind thought, but it was the thought that he'd had all the same. He dragged his hand down over his stubble clad jaw and scratched lightly at his chin, as he decided how to address the engineer. "Its truer than I'd like so I suppose that makes it gallows humor." He piggy backed the words on the tale end of the pilot's, adding, "No worries here."

Other than the fact that I'm the last person you should be sending on an away mission, unless there is some kind of temporal tampering going on, and I haven't really seen a sign of that yet. Still, he couldn't discount the possibility, so he kept his mouth shut. Maybe someone fucked up; maybe there was more going on than he thought. Or maybe Ives is finally tired of you and has decided to use this as a reason to get rid of you, despite your usefulness.

No, even he wasn't so bitter as to believe that. 

There was a barely perceptible shudder along the vessel as it lifted up off the deck, and Sarresh looked up, watching as the confines of the shuttle bay slid past his small corner of the view-port. The darkness of space and the brightness of Aldea it self soon replaced the view. And then Sarresh pulled his eyes away and tapped up a few controls on the Auxiliary Science/Engineering station. A few taps here, a swirl of the finger there, and he had the sensors routed to his console. Frowning slightly, he began to adjust his readings, trying to remember the protocols for detecting cloaked ships.

He heard the pilot talk about coming in over a ridge, and pulled a face, again pecking away to adjust some of the navigational sensors for surface topography tracking. He'd rather not crash into a mountain because one of the array's was pointed at the wrong fascinating little bit of data. Thus satisfied, he went back to his scans, which were proving more and more difficult. 

They hit the storm wall, and Sarresh felt himself being pressed back into his seat. He pulled a face, looking out the window, into the mess. "They don't need a bloody cloak in this weather," he noted, sourly. "If we managed to see anything in this soup it will be a miracle, let alone actually picking anything up on the scanners. I hope you've accounted for the sensor drift from the readings refacting off some of the minerals here." At least, he was pretty sure that's what he was seeing on his read out. 

It surely appeared that the pilot had. Sarresh felt a bit of a jolt as they braked hard, flaring the thrusters and then settled down on anti-gravs into a surprisingly smooth landing. He looked up, and out of his view-port, saw nothing but a rock face. Checking his scanners, he could now see (relatively) clearly that they were tucked into a heavy outcropping. Grunting, he stood up and readjusted his robes wondering just how this costume would hold up in the sands outside. His species - former species he reluctantly corrected - had very little use for such dry environments. They were anathema to the Ash'Reem. 

While he was no longer his former, amphibious self, Sarresh still found himself identifying with his previous aquatic life. Things still felt too dry, even if his body was completely adapted to them. He had, at least, mostly mastered the gait of a human, compared to the more awkward stride he'd had prior to Theta Eridani IV. Scowling openly now, he reached over and grabbed his air filter, fitting it over his ears, and then his glasses and scarf. 

"If we're going to do this, then lets do this," he muttered, leaving the two younger officers behind. He strode purposefully toward the back of the shuttle, coming to a halt by the rear ramp, and punching up the commands to lower it. He took out a tricorder as he did and began tapping in a series of commands - mostly around chroniton detection. Just because he didn't think this had anything to do with time travel didn't mean he wanted to be surprised, as he stepped out into the wastes. 

[[Lt. Kaylon Jeen (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Kaylon_Jeen) | Type 9 Shuttle | Orbit of Aldea ] Attn: @Griff @Havenborn @patches @Brutus
[Show/Hide]
It was a rough flight, but this kind of flights reminded the Trill sometimes on his former host and what he had done. The pilot set a course for the desert region and instructed the escort fighters to continue their course. I hope what ever is down there takes the bait and don't welcome us with a phaser salve. Before they were entering the atmosphere enjoyed the Trill the view out of the window, this was the reason why Kaylon loved to land with shuttles instead of beaming down on the surface. The view of a planet in the universe, surrounded by the cold nothing of the universe and protected just by a thin layer called the atmosphere. I guess I’ll never prefer to get beamed instead of seeing such a spectacular view. This were his thoughts until he saw what they were heading in.

The shuttle entered the atmosphere of Aldea and the Lieutenant was able to see the full scale of this sandstorm. The view of this storm was, despite Kaylons knowledge about the shuttles hull and deflectors, a frightening spectacle and Kaylon was not so sure, if they were actually flying closer to the storm or if the storm was just moving in their direction. After some time entered the shuttle the sandstorm and the impact of it hit Kaylon and the Trill thought that the beaming option wasn’t that bad compared to this situation. In the row behind him said the scientist something about the sensors and minerals, but it was probably for the pilot and not for him.

Their landing was quite smooth and Kaylon wasn’t sure if his former host would’ve handled the situation better than this pilot. After she has parked their shuttle… somewhere in the sandstorm, the pilot asked who of them would left the shuttle first. Sarresh reacted faster and made his way grumpily to the door of the shuttle. “Seems like you are not gonna waist time and neither do I.” Kaylon said and put on the equipment for the environment out there. The Lieutenant went to the door and took out his phaser. I’m still hoping that you’ll be needles, but who knows what we’ll facing there.

They left the shuttle after the pilot had gathered her stuff. Outside the craft mentioned Kaylon: “Just in case someone’ll ask us, the shuttle had those scratches already before we’ve entered it and parked in a sandstorm. I’ve got no desire to repair it only cause I’ve used it.”

[PO3 Lillee t’Jellaieu (Bloodwing) (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Wolf 12 | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Aldea Prime Orbit ] Attn: @@Havenborn [member=116@patches[/member] @@DaValle @Brutus 

[Show/Hide]
Sand. Why did it have to be sand?

While the away team struggled through the standstorm, the pilots above them had their own problems. Alone in her Valkyrie, Lillee hissed in irritation as she wrestled her Valkyrie through the roaring sandstorm. The fighter was designed for the vacuum of space, not the very different environment of a planetary atmosphere, and the typically graceful craft bucked, yawed and struggled awkwardly in the storm. The impulse engines were far too powerful to be used comfortably while the thrusters were conversely far too weak, leaving Lillee a formidable challenge to keep her Valkyrie stable in the sky. It was tedious, exhausting and deeply irritating, but there was nothing for it.

Lillee couldn't see a thing out of her cockpit save for the blanket of sand on her fighter's blue shields, but as she tried to navigate the treacherous gusts to stay above the away team, her computer at least kept track of them through the sensors. It was sorely tempting to fly to a higher altitude, above the wretched storm, but Lillee knew what Salvo would say to that. The man, strict as he was, would likely insist that they stay close to the away team to provide support as needed. It was the right thing to do (providing fire support from five kilometres up was far more effective than from forty kilometres up), but nevertheless, Lillee quietly grumbled to herself.

Still...

"Salvo, Bloodwing," she said loudly, forcing herself to talk over the roar of the wind outside as it battered the Valkyrie back and forth. "This storm is a nuisance. Recommend that one of us ascend to forty klicks to get better scans of this mess and give high cover. My bird is better suited for atmo, so I can stay down here with the away team if you want to go high. Your RIO can monitor things better than I could, anyway." She paused, then sighed in weary resignation as she wrestled her fighter through the shifting wind currents. "There's no need for both of us to suffer, sir."

With that, Salvo climbed up out of the storm, leaving Lillee to try to maintain position above the away team. She glanced occasionally at the little dots on her display that represented them, but the dots were moving so slowly through the storm that it could scarcely be believed. Even so, Lillee tried not to be annoyed as her Valkyrie was nearly flipped completely over by a rogue gust. From her time on Vulcan, she knew well how nightmarish and horrible it was to be caught in a sandstorm. The chafing, the total non-visibility, the brutal winds, struggling to breathe, the awful dry smell, sand getting everywhere...

Still, it was only three kilometres! Lillee could cover that distance in scarce seconds, land, complete the mission and then be back on the Theurgy before the away team even reached their objective. Such behaviour would be extremely risky, unprofessional and outright stupid, but even so, all of this interminable waiting was maddening!

Finally, after a long half hour of nerve-wracking flying, Lillee saw the away team's dots edge to within a hundred meters of the objective marker. "Salvo, Bloodwing," she called loudly. "The away team is a hundred meters from the objective. They should have visual any moment now, but I can't see anything through my shields."


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OOC: @Auctor Lucan is up next in the posting order, folks.

[ Narrator | The Beyond | Sandstorm ]

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/8/8d/Hide-n-Seek-1.png)

The three kilometre walk was likely proving more hazardous by the minute due to the sandstorm. The strong dry wind scythed across the desert known as the Beyond, carrying along clouds of sand and dust so dense it obscured the merciless bronze sunlight. Visibility was nearing zero and the weather was likely a result of convection currents created by the intense heating of the ground by the Aldean sun. Still they were almost right on top of the coordinates that the particle sensors had given them, and they were about to make visual confirmation about the craft any moment. Meanwhile, one of the Valkyries braved the storm - circling like a bird of prey over the rock formation.

Only there was no craft of any kind to be found at the drop site, despite how much the away team tried to locate it with their eyes and their tricorders. What they could see, however, was another storm front on their left hand side, sweeping in over the rock formation they'd entered. The force of those winds clearly suggested that they ought to find shelter, perhaps even try to have the Theurgy beam them up and into safety and abandon the shuttle for later extraction.

Though before any such decision could be made, there was suddenly a bright light enveloping the away team. Suddenly, the wind had died away completely, and there was no longer any dust smattering against their goggles. It was almost as if they had been transported out of the storm before the request to the Theurgy was made. However, when their eyes grew accustomed to the light, they soon saw that they were still exactly where they had been standing, but a corridor of shimmering light had been raised around them. Some kind of forcefield, clearly, that protected them from the onslaught of the sandstorm when the wall of dust hit them. Safely, they could but see it sweep by overhead. The corridor, however, was not empty.

In front of them, a ship could now be seen, and it appeared as if it was the shield of the craft that had been extended towards the away team, not only protecting them from the storm, but closing them off from their air support as well. The wall at the end of the shield-corridor was merely a couple of metres behind them. The shield would not just prevent intervention from the Lone Wolves, of course, but any attempt to safely transport them back to the Theurgy. They were, essentially, trapped with the decloaked craft in front of them. Even worse, they could not raise communications with the warp fighters or the Theurgy, their Aldean communicators jammed.

What they saw... was a saucer of unknown origin and design. It bore no familiar markings, but was clearly not of Federation model.

Only after a few seconds was a voice heard, amplified by the craft's systems. [Crew belonging to the USS Theurgy. Stand down, and drop your weapons. No harm will come to you if you comply.] The unspoken was clear, of course, in how the craft likely had armament and could open fire even inside it's own shield. [We carry information, and wish to speak without your hosts knowing of our presence. Given our peaceful intent, we merely wish that you abide by your protocols of Starfleet, and heed us. We carry word of what you call the Infested.]

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/6/67/Hide-n-Seek-2.png)

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OOC: Seven days to post for everyone! :)

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Havenborn @DaValle @Griff @patches @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]
He had, of course been right. Sarresh hated the sand. One could even go as far as to say he loathed entirely the way the dry bits of dust scraped at any exposed bit of flesh. The goggles over his eyes offered him protection, the mask and scarf about his mouth allowed him to breath relatively unmolested. But everything was so bedamingly dry. He would weep over it, or nearly, save that he was scarcely inclined to off up that much moisture for the storm to steal away from him.  There was a private promise made to himself that when he got back to the Theurgy, he would seclude himself away in his quarters and run that one shower program Sel had shown him, that she had created, and never mind how much that would make him miss her. Or perhaps even go the public bath that the ship had, and soak in something entirely too large, just to feel properly wet again.

Overhead, he heard some kind of whining note in the storm, and assumed it was on of their fighter escort, taking a pass. The engines just barely audible in the malestrom of noise and sand. He didn't bother to look up, wagering that folly at best, and instead hunched over his tricorder. The more potent the sand storm, the more restricted the range of the scanners. They still weren't picking up a blighted thing as far as chronotons were concerned. "You'll be happy to know none of this mess is going to suddenly sweep you up and deposit you in the 20th century," he blithely informed the others. "Though that can hardly be worse than this mess already." Even here in the 24th century, it was common enough knowldge that entirely too many time travel 'incidents' were somehow, some way, tied back to the 20th century, usually in the proximity of Earth. What the human's had done to so strongly effect the ebb and flow of time was the thing of nightmares for any good temporal agent. Even Morali could remember that much.

What he could not remember, in one hundred and twenty five years of existence was being quite this miserably dry. He kept coming back to it, fixating on it, as he swept the device in his robed hands once more, before plodding on. They walked without speaking, until the device in Sarresh's gloved hand let out a chirping trill of noise. "All right....we should be there," he noted, over the comm channel, because simply talking to each other was a near impossibility. The wind was howling now, but there was no ship. He spun in a frustrated circle, noticing a wave of wind and sand bubbling up in the distance. It was hard to make out, because the currently storm wasn't exactly dying down, but this new front looked to be set to blast them into the cliff wall in short order. 

"Bloody hell," he swore, cursing more and more whatever brilliant officer (Dewitt?) that had seen fit to volunteer him for this most recent poor life choice. "Every body find she -"{ There was a burst of bright, almost searing light, intense enough that he immediately shut his eyes and raised a hand to protect himself. He no longer suffered from the near total light blindness of his prior species, but so too did he now lack the technological augmentation to adjust for such an outburst without shutting his lids. Purely human eyes, closed out of purely human reflexes.

The muted silence that followed was what Sarresh first noticed. Followed by how still it was. He blinked, until his eyes adjusted, and slowly lowered his eyes. The sounds of the storm were now at a remove, background noise instead of the howling gale they had been. Sand shifted and fell to the ground around him as the time traveler shook his robes out, and then his head, side to side. His eyes swept up first, to the energy shield that now encapsulated his immediate surroundings. He turned to look at the others, seeing them there, and then around - coming to a stop. 

"I guess we found them," he remarked in a tone as dry as the storm outside. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the strange saucer like shape. It didn't look to be Asurian, which was a small relief he supposed, but he had no immediate knowledge of it either. He had just about braced himself for a seizure to sweep over him, but for the moment, no new flash of insight came. Frowning, he reached into his cloak and tapped a pair of fingers against the oddly shaped Aldean communicator in an effort to hail his ship, only to get a burst of static. That avenue cut off, he glanced back over his head at the beached fighter pilot and the engineer that made up their team. He opened his mouth to speak - and instead they were spoken to.

Hard to say which is more disconcerting. That they know where we are and who we are, or that they know about the infested. Most of the time, Sarresh considered his Starfleet Commission a necessary piece of fiction. If he considered himself anything, it was a temporal agent on detached duty from a very different sort of Starfleet, under the auspices of the Federatoin Temporal Affairs Council of the 29th century, and never mind that he had actually been born in the early 24th century, some 75 years prior, and lived a good portion of his life in that future time. So a general appeal to "Starfleet protocols" engendered a very different instinct from a temporal agent than a contemporary officer. 

Which, never the less, Sarresh was forced to abide by the more colloquial procedures. Loath though he was to do so, he fished in his robe and removed the phaser he had taken from the shuttle, and said grimly, "I don't suppose we have much say in the matter." This he lowered to the ground - he did not however, shut off his tricorder. What I wouldn't give for a trained security officer right about now... he thought, and never mind that he knew he had the muscle memory of such an officer, if not the actual memory.

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Kaylon_Jeen) | Aldea Prime | The Beyond] Attn: @Griff @Brutus @Havenborn @patches @Auctor Lucan

The sandstorm sucked, not that Kaylon would ever had said this loud, especially not during an ongoing mission with reports, but it was what he thought. Probably what everyone of them thought. Three god damn kilometres through a sandstorm in a wasteland by foot. Well it wasn't his funniest mission nor his exciting thus far. Nevertheless it was his first aboard the Theurgy and an important too. If there was a chance that anyone could pass the security matters of the Klingons and Aldeans, it could get life-threatening for the whole crew of the Theurgy.

Still despite those noble reasons of their mission, this walk through a sandstorm sucked. The sand was hot and hit them with the power of small punches, not small in strength, but small in size. The strength of them, anyhow, were still roughly equal to those of real punches.

This all wasn't the actual issue he and the others had during this mission. They were all trained Starfleet personal and non of them stopped scanning and searching for the UFO, but it was not their mental or physical state that almost cancelled the operation. The object has simply vanished. It wasn't detectable with Tricorders and there were no exact information about its location too. After some hours of crawling through the sand and avoiding dying due to the huge temperatures and the drought of the wasteland, just minutes before they would have ordered the Theurgy to bring them out, the storm settled down. Unfortunately not in the way Kaylon has hoped for during their search.

Neither was the object something Kaylon had expected to see during this mission nor excepted he such a response of the scientist. The Trill was not completely sure if Morali had made just a joke or if he didn't cared enough about the situation they were in right now, but either way was the reaction definitely not what Kaylon expected. Especially not by him.

He decided to believe that the scientist had made a joke and replied with a smile on his now finally not any longer covered face: "Well, if you stick to my version of the origin of the scratches then I'll write in the report that we've found them and not they us." After that he turned back to the strange object. It reminded the Lieutenant on something, but he wasn't able to figure out on what exactly. The object ordered them to lay down their weapons and with a bang in his head Kaylon recognised what he wasn't able to remember before. The object finished its message and Kaylon couldn't resisted to reply after he threw his phaser in the sand. "In standard we say Hello, but this worked too, I guess." Then he turned to other two and told them his best clue on what this thing actually was: "You're freaking kidding me. The good damn UFO here is actually a flying saucer. But more important right now is that it has missed its chance to say 'We're coming in peace' or 'bring us to your leader'." He realised that the words had sounded way better in his brain than now in reality. With a more serious voice and not so unprofessional as he has acted before, he asked the others: "Since I've mentioned our 'leader' are you able to contact the Theurgy or the fighters? I have tried it but there is no response yet." He glanced back at the object after the response of the others and meant: "Not sure what you think about this, but I don't see the necessity of this whole action if this saucer just want to talk. Since they’ve got such kind of superior technology, they could have contacted the captain without our help."

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton – callsign “Meerkat” | Type 9 Shuttle | Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy ]
@Havenborn @DaValle @Brutus  @Griff @Auctor Lucan

Bringing up the rear of a group that included two taller men had the mild advantage of not getting quite as much sand and wind in her face, but Lily was still very thankful for the goggles and scarf that acted as a shield for her face on the trek to the marked coordinates. She had become so focused on the path in front of her that she very nearly bumped into the Trill in front of her. The sudden stop and silence was a bewildering mix to confront as she walked around Jeen to get a look at the source of the increase of ambient light.

A saucer? I don’t recognize-

First a voice from apparently the saucer spoke, identifying them as members of the Theurgy crew and asking they put down their weapons. Walton was still trying to make sense of just what the hell was going on as the two men beside her spoke… Well, it was mostly Kaylon speaking. The pilot nodded slowly in acknowledgement and broad agreement with the points being.

“I suppose we don’t have much of a choice here…” Her voice trailed off as she tapped her combadge. “This is Meerkat to escort, Theurgy. We found something.”

The lack of a response was more than a little disconcerting.

“Meerkat to Bloodwing or Salvo, respond.”

She rose an eyebrow at the continued silence. It wasn’t just Sarresh and Jeen having issues then. Whatever was in the saucer didn’t want them talking to anyone else. It was with very clear reluctance that Liliana put down her phaser rifle, following it with her pistol.

“I do wonder why they didn’t just hail the Theurgy too, Lieutenant, but we’re here now and I guess they knew we would come,” she responded softly before stepping forward to look at the saucer more closely. “Hi there! Starfleet protocols also include identification as part of an introduction. You seem to have us at a disadvantage in that regard.”

[PO3 Lillee t’Jellaieu (Bloodwing) (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Wolf 12 | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Aldea Prime] Attn: @@Havenborn [member=116@patches[/member] @@DaValle @Brutus 

[Show/Hide]
"Fvadt!" Lillee swore, yanking her control stick sharply to the right to swerve away from the bright forcefield that had suddenly snapped into place right in front of her. She wrestled her Valkyrie through a rough curve, battling the winds as she glanced at her sensors, already knowing what they would find. The dots representing the away team had passed just beyond the forcefield perimeter, leaving Lillee just outside it.

"Fvadt," Lillee swore again, this time more quietly. The forcefield was intensely bright, clearly visible through the raging sandstorm and Lillee's own shields. Wincing, she nudged her Valkyrie closer to the forcefield perimeter, hovering (barely) within a few meters of the perimeter, but then she had to blink her eyes and look away. The forcefield was completely opaque, and the electric blue energy was so intense that it was blinding.

"Bloodwing to away team," Lillee said into her comm out of pure habit, knowing full well that her signal wouldn't penetrate the forcefield. "Bloodwing to away team, please respond." Still no answer. She glanced up at her sensor readings which, unsurprisingly, also couldn't penetrate the forcefield. "Salvo, Bloodwing. I have lost the away team. They're being covered by some sort of high-power forcefield. Sensors and comms will not penetrate and I have no visual."

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Fvadt: a common Romulan curse used by the lower classes.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie "Hellcat"] Attn: @Brutus, @patches, @Griff, @DaValle

Flying through the sandstorm was interesting, and it sort of reminded him of Mars, sandstorms were rare but they did happen from time to time, he had flown in two during his military schooling in a trainer-gunship.  Unlike other members of his class he never really got the hang of flying in a sandstorm, he had always felt that flight operations should be suspended during Martian sandstorms.  However right now he was grateful that his instructors had been so insistent that they learn to fly in sandstorms, that experience was paying off now; not that any of his instructors would care anymore.

Daniel listened as the storm frenzied around his cockpit, in a way it was quite an eerily beautiful concert that he was slowly finding himself getting lost in.  His concert was interrupted however from his wingmate, Bloodwing.  She was offering to stay in the sandstorm to keep watch over the away team and suggested that Daniel fly his fighter above the storm to monitor the situation from there.  “Salvo to Bloodwing, keep a close eye on the away team and inform me of anything unusual.”  Daniel said into the communications channel before he slowly maneuvered his fighter upwards towards the top of the storm.  Maneuvering back into the upper atmosphere was a struggle as he tried to rise his craft slowly; part of him wanted to stay and listen to the beautiful music that the storm made against his craft, but at the same time he had a job to do and he needed to do it.

As the Gryphon broke through the sandstorm Daniel smirked as he viewed the beauty of the storm from above, it was quite a breathtaking sight.  He found the eye of the storm rather quickly and he smiled again.  “Have you ever seen such a beautiful storm Uriah?”  Daniel said calling his friend by his name rather than his callsign.  “Does it remind you of Mars, Daniel?.”  Knight replied from behind him and Daniel smiled. “It does indeed, if ever there was a place I could retire to, this planet might be it.”  He said, thinking back to his first date with Amelya and their time down on the planet.  He had thoroughly enjoyed her company and surprisingly he actually enjoyed spending time on the planet below, however the Aldean’s fashion sense could use an upgrade.

As was flying in the upper atmosphere he noticed a city in the distance and maneuvered towards it; it was one of the abandoned cities that they had been briefed about.  Daniel decided to investigate it a bit but he decided to send Bloodwing an message.  “Salvo to Bloodwing, I’ve found a city on the outer edge of the storm.  I’m going to give it a quick pass then circle around.”  As he waited for a response the communications channel was silent.  “Knight, is our communications system working?”  He asked.  “It is on our end; it could be that the storm is interfering with communications.”  Knight replied.

As he was maneuvering towards the city he heard a distorted response from Bloodwing.  It seemed that the storm was wrecking havoc with their communications system.  He only caught a few words but it seemed like the away team was getting close, but she couldn’t see them anymore.  That was to be expected since they were closer to the ground, if she was having trouble locating them, then communicating with them would be almost impossible for him.  As he neared the city he began to take a quick scan of it, nothing untoward as far as he could see so he circled around the storm moving into position over where he assumed Bloodwing was.

A few minutes went by as Daniel watched the storm, then he heard another communications signal coming from Bloodwing.  “Salvo to Bloodwing, understood.  Have you tried firing upon the forcefield?”  Daniel asked.  He assumed that she had tried already tried non-invasive means to contact the away team.

[ The Voice of the Vigilant | Spectate-class Saucer | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ]

The air-lock hissed open, and he raised his arm to observe the live-feed of the group of Starfleet officers outside - their faces showing on the holographic image above his forearm. He switched to sensor feeds, and compared it with his records.

One, he thought, guessing it could have been much worse. It did not change much, aside from expected temper.

The inside of the saucer lay in dim light, making him squint against the luminescence of the extended shield corridor just outside the Spectate-class Saucer. Already, exterior vents on the craft was changing out the toxic air of Epsilon Mynos III to something more breathable. It would hardly be noticed by the three individuals, aside from a slightly more laboured breathing. Nonetheless, he kept his helmet on for the time being, just like the equally armoured guard complement that had accompanied him to this arid and inhospitable planet. Expectations were high on his leadership, and some had questioned the necessity of communing with 'the primates', but he had put the objections to rest with the truth of what he'd learned. There was also, of course, the incident in the Azure Nebula to take into account, which had wreaked havoc in more ways than one. He had stood his ground, even against his mate, for he understood the motivations behind their actions.

That being said, while he understood, the cost to his people had been too great, at the worst of times.

"<They have complied,>" said the chief defender of the guard compliment, receiving a slow nod in answer.

"<It's time to speak,>" said the leader of the Vigilant, and together with three guards, he stepped out of the saucer. The question from the female Human had not gone unheard, and he meant to answer. He dealt his orders in his native tongue first. "<Keep an eye on the warp fighters, without showing hostility. Do not open fire unless I give explicit permission.>"

"<Acknowledged,>" said the chief defender, and relayed the orders to the operators that would stay inside the saucer.

Looking at the three individuals from the distance of the saucer through the visor of his helmet, he switched to Federation Standard, and his voice filtered through the rebreather before his mouth. Whilst he spoke, he approached them, with the armed chief defender following at his side, and the other two staying by the saucer. "Correct," he said in regard to their Federation protocols, which had been a subject of research of his for years. "While breaches have been made on both sides last we met, I will honour that in respect of a common interest. We have not come for retribution, for I know the faults of my people, and what you suffered before I put an end to it."

Perhaps Specimen Nine-Zero-Six - named Sarresh Morali - would recognise the extraction hardsuits, but be that as it may, he would not offer them any reason to defend themselves. The only reason why the chief defender and his men carried armament was because they put import in his survival. In fact, the chief took it upon himself to introduce his leader, as according to the Code. Unlike the Voice, he had to rely on a translator system of theirs to make himself understood.

"You are in the presence of the Voice of the Vigilant, the Eye of the Flotilla, the Keeper of the Archive, the Defender of the Code, the Hope of the Antecedents, and the Memory of Sa," said the chief next to him, his voice a raspy static through the helmet. While he suffered the titles to his person being brought up in such a formal way, he raised his forearm and checked the air conditions inside the force-field. They were at an adequate level by then, so he slowly raised his hands to his neck and decompressed the seals of his helmet. He was grateful to remove it, not used to having to wear such since he normally never left the ships. His black eyes sought theirs, each in turn. According to the Archive, a meeting such as this had never happened before, but the times were changing for the Savi - the Old Code just being one facet of it all.

"Given the aid you lent my people on the Versant," he said in his contralto voice after he lowered his arms, "you may call me Echtand." [Show/Hide]The chief defender had the wits to keep his graviton rifle raised, and they had come to a stop a few yards away from the trio of Theurgy officers.

"My apologies for the manner of contact, but just like you are keeping an eye on your hosts, they are also keeping their eyes on you. If we were to contact the Theurgy itself, the risk that our communication would be compromised was too great. Knowing you had your particle sensors, the sandstorm was the ideal means in which we could arrange this kind of meeting," he explained in a cursory way, the means of deduction and forethought a small matter in the grander context. The immediate concern, perhaps, was that the warp fighters might draw too much attention to the current exchange. "Officer Sarresh Morali, if you kindly give me your communicator, I can calibrate its transponder with the necessary harmonics to restore communication with your escort crafts. Would you be willing to tell them to stand down and not open fire on us while we speak of our common enemy?"

---

OOC: Another seven days of posting for you all! Hope you like the dramatic development, and the reason why Echtand can stand before them was revealed on the Director's Cut board (https://uss-theurgy.com/forum/index.php/topic,2750.0.html) not too long ago. :)

[PO3 Lillee t’Jellaieu (Bloodwing) (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Wolf 12 | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Aldea Prime] Attn: @Havenborn @patches @DaValle @Brutus 

[Show/Hide]
"Salvo to Bloodwing, understood.  Have you tried firing upon the forcefield?"

"Negative Salvo," Lillee responded with concentration as she flew her Valkyrie around the forcefield perimeter, the sizzling bright field shining brightly through the fierce sandstorm. She kept an eye on her altitude, painfully aware of how easy it'd be to crash in near zero visibility conditions when she was flying a mere hundred meters above the ground, and it was only a few moments before she'd make a full circuit around the perimeter.

"The forcefield is a full dome, Salvo," she continued with frustration. The away team were in there, possibly trapped, and she was helpless to assist them. "I can strike with my cannons, but this forcefield looks very powerful. I have never seen anything like it, and even if my cannons are sufficient, collapsing the forcefield would be a hostile act, Salvo." She hissed as her Valkyrie bucked in the gale, her nacelles groaning at the unusual structural stress being placed upon them.

Still, Lillee knew that Havenborn might have to give the order anyway. With the away team in danger, he might not have any choice. She hated that she didn't know the man better, couldn't predict what he'd decide, but it couldn't be helped. So, cursing under her breath, she sped her Valkyrie around to the other side of the forcefield, where the energy field itself provided some shelter from the gale. Feathering her thrusters as delicately as she dared, Lillee spun her Valkyrie about to face the forcefield, bringing the warp fighter to a mid-air stop. Taking a breath, she tapped the controls that lowered the powerful tetryon cannon from its mounting.

"Salvo, I am in position and standing by," Lillee said slowly. "Please advise. "

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Havenborn @Griff @DaValle @patches @Auctor Lucan 
[Show/Hide]
An eerie sense of foreboding crept down Sarresh's spine after he stood back up, now unarmed. The pink tongue darted out from his mouth, wetting the cracked dry lips. Ahead of him, in the shielded column, the ship was opening. There was a hiss, that filled the otherwise quiet corridor, and then a collection of tall, gangly figures strode out. That creeping sensation ratcheted up, as if someone had gripped and shook him from head to toe. He knew those suits. What they represented. As dry as he felt a cold sweat broke out all the same, and his breath hitched. 

"Oh, fuck," he whispered, going stock still where he stood. Just as he had feared, the voices called out, and they were the voices he knew, the ones he feared to some extent, more than he wanted to. The ones that had taken him from the Theurgy and from Ryuan Sel. Never mind that if he had been on the ship he still would have been able to do nothing to save her. He felt like he might. Anger, and rage and fear and so many things welled up inside of him that he could not even bring himself to speak, simply to stand there, shaking with hands clenched knuckled white and a sick, acrid sheen of sweaty fear breaking out on his sand swept face. 

There in followed the pompous sort of introduction that Sarresh associated with Betazoid Ambassadors and Cardassian Legats, and not really fit for clandestine contacts with a species that had done its damnedest to rewrite everything about him, before either wiping his memory out (ha!) or deleting him entirely from existence. That they had 'seen the error of their ways' did little to assuage him, but the former Ash'rem kept his face mostly impassive. His bearded jaw twitched, just the once, as the one carrying the gun finished. There was an urge to reach out and grab for the phaser again, but Sarresh violently tamped it down, keeping his hands balled into those aching fists. 

Front and center raised his hands and disengaged his helmet and sure enough, while they all looked alike, this one looked more than a little familiar. Impossibly familiar. That's a new and unpleasant trick. The thought flitted across his conscience and a ghost of a smile tugged at his lip. How did you come back from the dead, bobble head? There were implications there that he wasn't quite able to grasp, and felt that he should be able to. That he couldn't bothered him, and more so that he was aware that he couldn't. What else have you done to my head, Ducane?

Coming to with a jerk, Sarresh's eyes snapped into focus when he heard his name. Slowly, as if made of badly jointed wood, he reached into the voluminous robes he wore and extracted one of the local comm devices. Just as slowly, he approached and handed over the device to Echtand. "For someone whom is dead, you're looking pretty spry."

Even to his hears his voice sounded ragged and gravely.  Swallowing, Sarresh forced himself to take a deep breath in and hold it, before exhaling it in a puff. "For the sake of a common enemy, yes. I'll pass that along." And as soon as Echtand handed the device back, Sarresh activated it. For just a moment he thought about asking the fighters to unleash everything they had on his position. But he wasn't there to extract a bit of payback. He was there to stop an infestation. There, in the metaphysical sense in any case. 

Still simmering under the surface of his skin, the time traveler barked out a sharp order. "Morali to escort. Hold position. For now. We're opening...negotiations with our UFO. Keep the locals off our back, if they send anyone out this way. I'll provide more details later." he killed the channel after a brief reply and looked back at Echtand. It would be so easy..."That should suffice. Now, what is it you have for us? And what is it you want from us?" That you didn't already take he thought bitterly.

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Kaylon_Jeen) | Aldea Prime | The Beyond] Attn: @Havenborn @Brutus @Griff @patches @Auctor Lucan

The Trill listened to the both aliens that walked to the team. One of them was armed with some kind of rifle, obviously the security guard of the other one. As the unarmed continued to talk, Kaylon tried to find out who those aliens were. The unarmed finished his sentence and Kaylon came in mind which species they could be. Well, it’s not like there are actually so many species with superior technology, we’ve fought with and who would fit in those suits. His thought proved to be right.

The two individuals made their way up to the away team and Kaylon heard a whispered curse from the scientist. At least thought the Lieutenant that what ever the scientist had whispered was a curse, since he had never heard of a short and friendly expression that ended on ck. Nevertheless was the expression not wrong here. In front of those aliens and considering his past.

Kaylon understood the reaction of Morali, it was a though thing to stand in front of those who took someone from you. Even thougher to not start shooting at them on sight, but the Lieutenant JG did a good job to hide his emotions. At least as good as it was possible in the moment. Kaylon had a strange luck with this situation, he was the highest officer of the three and therefore he was compelled to be the one with the most professional attitude of them and since he had no actual hatred for the Savi he was able to, at least, act like he didn't considered their deeds and actions to be disgusting. Oh and he thought only once about the phaser in front of him. Just in case they’ll give me any reason.

The guard or executer, not sure what fitted more in this case, ended his introduction of the Voice and Kaylon was reminded on the diplomatic missions of his farther, but not the funny ones. It additionally reminded him on something his dad used to say, when they had met one of those over-important ambassadors. To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy. The unarmed Savi introduced himself too and Kaylon couldn’t resist to roll his eyes. Was this introduction actually necessary? Echtand ordered Morali to give him his communicator to signal the fighters that the three officers were in no danger. Or at least not yet.

After he contacted the fighters asked the scientist the Savi for the purpose of this action. The Trill added with one of the forced smiles he ever had: “A good question, since you’re definitely not here for small talk.”

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie "Hellcat"] Attn: @Brutus, @patches, @Griff, @DaValle

A full domed force field didn’t really mean much.  Most force field projectors formed simple geometric shapes, either because it was basic or for other reasons.  He thought to himself for a moment, trying to decide which course of action to take.  On the one hand if he was too aggressive he ran the risk of hurting the away team, but on the other hand they had had no communication with them and Daniel wasn’t really happy with that.  He had originally assumed that it had just been the storm, but not it seemed like the domed force field was the culprit and if Bloodwing had already exhausted all options to contact them then he was really left with no other choice but to have her fire on the dome.

Actually the more that he thought about it, the reports had been a ship that had slipped by Klingons and Aldean defense nets, so technically in a manner of speaking these unknowns had already committed a hostile act, and they were now illegally detaining fellow Starfleet officers on a mission for the Aldeans, so he was completely justified in having Bloodwing open fire on the force field, but he decided that he’d move down and see the force field first before he gave the order.  If he was going to have her fire on it he wanted to be there as well ready to support.

“Understood Bloodwing, hold position, I’m coming down.”  Daniel said over the communications channel.  He maneuvered his fighter down, using delicate bursts of his thrusters to control his descent, letting the gravity of the planet do most of the work.  It didn’t take long for him to see Bloodwing’s fighter, albeit with his sensors not his eyes, the domed force field however was hard to miss, and he took aim, locking onto the area with his mass drivers, if there was anything hostile there he wanted to make sure that he used the most accurate weapons so that he didn’t hit any of the away team.

Well it seemed like now was as good as time as any, nothing else was happening.  “Salvo to Bloodwing…”  He paused for a moment, hoping that something would happen, but nothing did.  “Open fi-Hold!”  He shouted as he heard the communications channel crackle and he heard the voice of Junior Lieutenant Morali.  “Salvo to Morali, understood.  Would you ask your guests if they would mind if we listened in?”  Daniel asked, it was partly out of curiosity but it would also be a good way for him and Bloodwing to make sure that the away team was safe while they kept any locals away that came too close.  “Salvo to Bloodwing, rise to my indicated marker and hold position.”  Daniel said as he placed a waypoint marker just above the storm and began to maneuver his fighter alongside Bloodwing’s heading towards the waypoint marker.

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ] @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @DaValle

Walton kept a close eye on the suited figures that walked out of the saucer. It didn’t escape her that the more experienced Lieutenant of the two went very still, clearly recognizing the visitors. He was a hard man for her to read but it was clear that he wasn’t overjoyed at the sight. It wasn’t until the introduction that the pilot finally managed to put two and two together.

Oh shit.

She had heard snippets here and there as the crew played a game of telephone with the stories told by abducted crew after the battle with the Borg. A lot of them sounded quite frankly impossible, but she couldn’t deny that these Savi clearly were clearly advanced technologically. The tunnel she had flown through in that Borg Cube was ample evidence of that. She frowned as the introduction finished and rose an eyebrow at Sarresh’s comment about looking spry for a dead guy.

Just what the hell happened on that ship?

Liliana was thankful that some communications were restored with the escort fighters because she knew what their first response was likely going to be. She would have ordered the same – destroy the shield, get friendlies out by any means necessary. As Kaylon and Morali spoke, she crossed her arms and leaned back on one foot as she stood there and waited for this Echtand’s response. This morning was already far too interesting for her tastes. Where was a coffee machine when she needed one so much?

[ Echtand qi Versant | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ]
[Show/Hide]The comment about him being dead was not very surprising. Of course, Echtand realised, they did not stay on amiable terms long enough to learn what happened.

After receiving the communicator native to the planet and the Aldean civilisation, Echtand held it in his hand and tapped an encryption protocol into the shimmering buttons above his forearm. While he did so, he replied without anything to hide. "While unorthodox practice in the Federation, the possibility of using a secondary annular containment beam when utilising a site-to-site transport has its advantages. While I remained in a pattern buffer in wait for proper medical care, my copy spent his last minutes calling for a rebellion against the Scion Directive. Had to be done before I was removed from the succession of command by the High Council. It was not until your crew beamed off the bridge and the fighting with the remaining Scions ended that I could return to lead the Antecedents."

The actions of his mate, Sclergyn, had been both unsurprising and understandable - doing as well as she might given the knowledge she had of the specimens from Starfleet. At the same time, he understood the actions of the abducted individuals cornered on the bridge. A tragedy, learning what had happened in his absence, and even more so when knowing the motivations behind both sides.

Before he answered Specimen Nine-Zero-Six's query, he had overheard the request from the tactical escort, and the request to listen in. Echtand knew that it was customary to shake one's head, but it seemed too... familiar, especially in the context of the necessary precautions. At least the escort had the wits to ask instead of just expect compliance. He had kept his voice low enough to not carry over the transmission when he gave his reply to the one named Morali. "Unfortunately not, since your hosts are likely already listening," he said, and he had waited for the former Ash'reem officer to end the conversation. Only when he was confident the away team were the only ones to hear did he expand upon his answer. "My apologies for the precautions, but already, the Savi Flotilla might be compromised by your A.I:s decision to assume command of the Versant's systems."

Echtand decided to address that particular matter first, before he spoke of what he'd learned about the Infested. To 'clear the air', as some in the Federation called it. Moronic idiom. Air and neonox are both clear.

"In plain sight," he said gravely, knowing he might no look very pleased, "before the eyes of a Klingon fleet and a Federation ship, you engaged the Borg. Already, the Klingons are singing songs of the battle, in which 'a ship as white as bone turned the tide, skewering the enemy's side, carving paths through which we rode, and saw the Queen and cube both explode'. I need not tell you that in all of Savi history, our existence has never been so bared - before or after the Scions corrupted us. There is nothing akin to that in our Archive, and many fear that the damage done upon our ongoing research might be irreparable."

He did represent his people, divided as they were, and while he understood the motivations behind the Theurgy's mission - even more so in recent days of discovery of their own part in it all - there were some things that the abductees had to be held accountable for. While his words were sharp, neither he nor the captain next to him offered any threat upon them. "We could forgive that, knowing as we are that you defended yourselves on the bridge, and prevented the Borg from invading this half of the galaxy. Far worse, even by your ethics, was the manner in which one individual deliberately sabotaged the systems of the Versant, threatening to expose the whole population of the ship to a catastrophic slipstream reactor failure. The entirety of the ship, including our young, were on the verge of being lost to the overload of our quantum slipstream systems. Surveillance of the bridge module might suggest that this wasn't sanctioned by the Aspect Maker...."

Echtand tilted his head forward, his browridge cutting a sharp line over his black eyes. "...but we know exactly who did it amongst you, and her Federation name is Kelleshar sh'Zenne. Fortune was on our side, no lives lost, but with her sabotage she could have ended our rebellion before it could spread to the rest of the Flotilla. Nor could I have stood here, before you, meaning to speak on mutual terms about our common foe. My demand before this conversation can continue, is that this Andorian specimen is reported for what she did, and will undergo disciplinary action in level with her breach of Starfleet ethics."

The captain of the guard made a subtle movement, likely not liking the modest repercussions that Echtand made a demand for, but unlike his fellow Antecedent, Echtand knew what was most likely to be accepted by the present officers, and their time was much too short. Of course he would have liked the Andorian turned over, but he already knew that - given recent history between the Theurgy crew and his own people - any diplomatic relations would be forfeit if he did so. The Aspect Maker would never agree to those terms. No Captain in the whole of Starfleet would agree to hand over a crewmember for what they believed would be execution - even if such barbaric practises had been outlawed by the reinstatement of the Old Code.

"If the three of you agree to take this to your Commanding Officer..." he said, knowing that the term 'Aspect Maker' might elude them, "we can speak further."

---

OOC: Seven more days to post, and for sake of reference, as of this thread, Kelleshar sh'Zenne is no longer aboard the Theurgy, having vanished several days ago, deserting or being AWOL. I will leave it to you all, however, what is said to Echtand in this regard. *grin* Play ignorant of the fact or be honest? Your call...

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Kaylon_Jeen) | Aldea Prime | The Beyond] @Auctor Lucan @Havenborn @patches @Brutus @Griff

The Echtand spoke, finally, about the reason of his appearance in the Mynos System. A prisoner swap. Not in the traditional sense, but still the same Idea. They said that they had information about the Infested and in return they wanted a member of the Theurgy. The former Asst. Chief of Operations Kelleshar sh'Zenne. Fortunately for the away team, since the Andorian had left the ship anyhow. I've never thought that a deserter could make me so happy, as I'm right now. One could even have said we have a blessing in disguise here.

The situation offered them the unique chance to check how good those Savi were in Pocker. “Sure, if the information you’ve got about the Infested are good enough, I’m… confident that we can arrange some kind of trial for sh'Zenne, if you’re wishing to accuse her.” It was the same forced smile upon his face, but the feelings behind this smile have changed dramatically in the last minutes. The trick now was to get as much as possible with the fewest possible effort. Everything Kaylon has promised the Savi wasn’t a lie. Probably not the whole truth, but still not a lie. A member of the Starfleet that has committed a crime got accused for their deeds, even in absentia. “Still, the Captain will definitely not arrest random crewmembers just cause a grey skin alien demands it, no matter who you are, or what kind of titles you bring with you.” He stopped shortly and recognized during this moment what kind of scene the other two officers see here. The one an abducted of the Savi, who would probably shot them on sight, the other one a fighter pilot, or with other words the even more unpredictable and trigger-friendly one of them. The Trill whispered a short curse and continued his more mono-than-dia-logue with this Echtand. Before the others would do anything to avoid the ‘sell’ of a crewmember for information, the Lieutenant decided to send them a message via the communicator in his hand. I hope you both knew that this whole dialogue is nothing more than a phrase to see how valuable his information is. “So Mister… Echtand. I’ve to admit I haven’t actually listened to your friendly companion, when he has mentioned your titles. No offens, I’ve just considered you to be hostile and therefore I haven’t had the desire to respect your titles anyhow.” The smile changed to a more hearty, still quite fake but less then before. “The point is, we definitely need some sort of clear evidence that you aren’t any longer the, and please excuse my expression, psychotic abductors you were, when the ship met you first. So consider this to be… a sign of good will.”

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Griff @patches @Havenborn @Auctor Lucan  @DaValle
[Show/Hide]
The great problem, Sarresh Morali decided, with upholding Starfleet ethics and ideals, is that people will hold you to them, even when they themselves do not adhere to anything remotely similar. See peoples eveidince number one, a bunch of twisted, self superior 'scientists' that donst view sentience as a stopping ponit for fucking around with peoples lives against their will. The sides of his jaw were pulsing again as Morali ground his teeth back and forth, listening to Echtand's requirements. On the one hand, the visceral part of Sarresh that had been in captivity agreed with everything the 'accused' had done. On the other hand, the Trill had taken over the conversation, essentially absolving Sarresh of any culpability in the matter.

He had already relayed the so-called 'Voice of the Savi's' refusal to their aerial escort. And then killed the comms entirely for the time being. That had been easy enough to do. And Ectands explanation about his miraculous recovery made sense. A sense he should have seen coming.  After all, the Savi leader had used the same trick before, to make everyone think that the 'specimens' from the Theurgy and Endeavour had all been recycled into their base components by the order of the Versant's corrupted Scion.That he had done the same thing to save his own skin was hardly a surprise. Federation law and Starfleet safety protocols existed to prevent that kind of thing from happening, but the Savi were hardly the only species out there with less moral fiber than the Federation.

Which again, brought them back to the issue at hand. Lt. Jeen had no issue selling the andorian in question up the theoretical river. Sarresh had no idea just how Ives would act. He didn't know much either about the Andorian in question, just what she had done on the Versant. At least, by requiring Shar be brought up on Starfleet charges and not handed over, it could be handled in house. He doubted the Savi would like whatever punishment was given. A slap on the wrist, if Sarresh had anything to do with it.

"Calling the ship directly, right now, to tell the Captain would likely draw the kind of attention you don't want," he finally said, his voice laden down with a false calm tone. That urge was still there, for violence, just beneath the surface. The kind that did not at all live up to 'Starfleet ethics'. A kind surprisingly easy to fall into. Very...primitive urges. He'd keep them reigned in for now, simply adding, "I assume you will be satisfied then with a promise to relay the request after this is done?"

Jeen could posture all he wanted. Sarresh wanted to get down to the brass tax, as humans apparently once said. And then crawl into a bottle of one of Blue Trian's finest concoctions.

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ] @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @DaValle

The Savi dropped an Andorian’s name that Liliana wasn’t familiar with but the story he told of her was familiar enough. She had had to talk down bloodthirsty pilots during the Dominion War that wanted nothing more than vengeance for lives lost to the war. Given what she heard of what happened on the alien ship, the veteran pilot could hardly be surprised that one of the Starfleet officers present wanted to exact some revenge for their treatment. Perhaps this Kelleshar sh’Zenne even justified it as ending the Savi or Scion threat for good. Who knows how many Federation citizens that they had abducted in the name of their cruel scientific pursuit?

Jeen took the opportunity to start talking again, this time seemingly promising the Savi everything under the sun, which elicited a soft sigh. She raised a hand as if to interrupt him, but decided to let him finish. It was almost worth it for the sly insults at the end and she put a hand up to her face to scratch at the spot between her eyebrows.

Wow, and here I thought officers all had leadership and basic diplomacy training.

Sarresh’s response was more in line with Walton’s own thoughts on the subject. She cleared her throat and stepped a little closer to Jeen so that she could “accidentally” elbow him in the ribs. It was too bad the situation prevented her from dressing him down for being so ready to sell another officer like this, even if he was bluffing. Perhaps later if she could get him somewhere for a private discussion.

“In any case, as you’re clearly aware of Starfleet protocols and ethics, you should be aware that our regulations regarding officer misbehavior means that we would need to investigate this independently before any conclusions can be made. It is certainly in violation of how Starfleet expects its officers to act even during war,” Lily said as she gave Jeen a sidelong glance and decided not to add on that Starfleet typically expected a certain level of professionalism and tact. “Such indiscriminate killing through an act of sabotage is a serious violation of the rules we serve by. We’ll certainly take any evidence you have of sh’Zenne’s act and report it to Captain Ives upon our return. Anything that happens after that is, of course, at the captain’s discretion.”

Oh! Now I remember the name. Isn’t she listed AWOL? Huh, no wonder Jeen was so ready to give her up, Still scummy of him.

[ Echtand qi Versant | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ]
[Show/Hide]While the three officers in the Theurgy away team spoke, Echtand stood silently before them - observing them. The range of their reactions and interactions were not too surprising, noticing how the Trill specimen typed some kind of note or message into his Aldean communicator. He also saw the Human female nudge the Trill, perhaps being unsatisfied with the development. Morali - the former abductee - seemed to have taken some kind of tolerant stance in regard to the development. There were demands for a sign of good faith, and promises to speak with the Aspect Maker about the Andorian's actions. He ignored the glib remarks about his titles. He wasn't fond of them either. Very well.

When they fell silent, Echtand raised his forearm and began tap with his fingers, making the necessary commands to accommodate their request. "Speaking with your Commanding Officer once this meeting is over is perfectly satisfactory, and I will arrange for a way to let hir contact me in forty-eight hours. I am sending the evidence to your communicators now," he said quietly, and as he did, he realised that showing them a sign of good faith might be preferable to immediately addressing present concerns and facilitating the exchange he had in mind.

"Burden of proof... that we are no longer 'psychotic abductors'," he said, taking no offence to the choice words, even though the captain next to him had shifted his stance a little. "I suppose that might be fair, as difficult as it might be. I think the most easy way to show you that we are here in good faith and willingness to cooperate in addressing the threat of the.... 'Infested' - as you call them - would be to show you that while we have every opportunity to do so, we are neither foraging your ship again, nor are we destroying it for exposing our existence to the Klingon Empire. I am sending you a live feed from the systems of our saucer, to show you the means at our disposal."

Idly, Echtand watched their faces while they looked at their Aldean communicators and saw what floated above Aldea. It was the means in which Echtand had been able to reach the Epsilon Mynos System after the transwarp systems on the Versant were destroyed by the Andorian. In the past two weeks - by Federation time-measurements - he had not been idle in bringing the revolution of the Old Code to the Flotilla. Indeed, what they could see would likely humble them, but perhaps also see the credence in his claims.

"It's the Erudite, which we've had deployed here to the Beta Quadrant for the last hundred years." [Show/Hide]Indeed, while the Versant had been deployed to the Alpha Quadrant, the Obiquitous and the Panacea remained deployed to the Delta and Gamma Quadrants respectively. There was no fifth Precept ship under development, but the Scion High Council were rumoured to be devoting vast resources towards something else in the Flotilla. It had been no easy task to overthrow the Scion Admiral on the Erudite, but at least he hadn't been Infested - like Semathal had been on the Versant. It had actually been the findings on the Erudite that begot the need to contact the Theurgy, since they coincided with what Echtand had learned when he claimed the command of the Versant. As it were, his mate - Sclergyn - held command of their crippled home in the Flotilla, while Echtand was evaluating Antecedents that could take a permanent commanding role on the Erudite.

The implications for the away team ought to be clear, since they had seen what a Precept-class ship could do to a Borg cube. At Echtand's command, he could have the cloaked Erudite open fire against the Aldea Prime Shipyards and destroy the Theurgy. The Aspect Maker would have no means to scramble hir ship in time, and the thinned-out Klingon forces would have no means to defend her either. In the feed on their communicators, Aldea could be seen far below the Erudite, yet the dreadnought did not linger in any hostile manner - with no graviton cannons directed towards the shipyards.

"I might speak at length of what the discovery of the Old Code has done for my people..." he said in his contralto voice, "but because of what happened on the Versant whilst we served the Scions, I suspect that our reformation and my words of the fact will fall on deaf ears. Instead, I ask you plainly, is the fact that I am down here - in person - during a civil war that rage through the Flotilla of my people, not satisfactory to show you that we bear no ill intent?"

He let that linger with them, to let them consider alternatives as best as they might, before he made his suggestion.

"I wish to make an exchange. Information for resources, and an alliance made that protects both your interests and ours."

There was a chirp, suddenly, from Echtand's tablet and he raised his forearm to verify what he suspected. On the sensor readings that came from the saucer, it was plain that the Klingon General had mobilised raiders and sent them out into the sandstorm. Mostly likely, the Aldeans had demanded that the Theurgy away team got aid. Or more likely, the Aldeans were getting suspicious because of the silence from the Theurgy officers. The ETA of the Phantom raiders appeared to be less than five minutes, and the three officers on the ground could see the same thing Echtand did on their communicators. No doubt the warp fighters above the shield were being contacted too.

"It appears like our time is short," he said, looking between the three faces before him. "What say you?"

---

OOC: Seven more days to post! I think the questions ought to be plain in this situation. "Why?" might be the foremost one, for many reasons. As for the approaching Klingon raiders, @Griff and @Havenborn , one of you please NPC the Klingon squadleader and stall for time, or try to convince him to turn around? The other pilot can be contacted by First Appointee Radue himself. Your call and have fun with it. :) 

[PO3 Lillee t’Jellaieu (Bloodwing) (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Wolf 12 | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Aldea Prime] Attn: @Havenborn @patches @DaValle @Brutus 

[Show/Hide]
Together with Havenborn, hovering in front of the domed shield, Lillee waited for the order to fire on the shield. Her fingers rested gently on the trigger for her tetryon cannon, waiting for Havenborn to give the order.

"Salvo to Bloodwing..." Hearing Havenborn's words over the comm, Lillee focused, her fingers tightening on the trigger. "Open fi-Hold!"

The sudden change of mind struck Lillee like a heart attack; a fraction of a second later and she'd have fired. Swearing in Rihannsu under her breath, she listened to Havenborn talk to the away team, requesting permission to participate in the conversation with the mystery people. At the refusal, Lillee just kept on swearing. She was a combat pilot; all of this bizarre nonsense was beyond her.

At Havenborn's order, Lillee gratefully began her ascent up out of the storm. She was far too tempted to simply raise her nose to the vertical axis and tap the impulse engine to rocket directly out, but instead she took the more sedate approach. Using her thrusters for a steady ascent while maintaining position on Havenborn's wing took longer, but soon enough, the two fighters were high above the raging sandstorm. It was weirdly peaceful by contrast, with beautiful blue sky stretching out in all directions while Aldea's sun shined brightly.

In the following few minutes, while they waited, Lillee didn't make conversation. Given that Salvo appeared to have a rod rammed firmly up his rear-end, such a conversation would be as dry as the sandstorm down below. Finally, however, as they waited for the away team to contact them again, Lillee's computer beeped in warning as she picked up new sensor contacts.

"Salvo, Bloodwing, I have four Klingon Phantom-class raiders on approach, bearing 067-mark 1," she said as she rotated her Valkyrie around to face where the Klingons were coming from. "ETA four minutes. Those idiots won't hesitate to fire on that shield."

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @DaValle @Havenborn @patches @Griff @Auctor Lucan 

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Morali had lapsed into silence after he'd said his piece, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. The lack of wind let his attire settle about him, and he tried hard to look more collected than he felt. Which was hard to do, dressed in such a ridiculous fashion of the local attire. Sure, he'd look like a native, but he felt like a child at a fancy dress party. It certainly did not help things that his original, native species preferred close clinging fabrics, when they bothered to dress at all. Human skin needed such different treatment though, and his physical discomfort at the situation did little to settle the inner tumult that battered him.

The desire to rend the grey-skinned alien's into tiny bits regressed somewhat into an angry simmer as Echtand continued to make his case. Agreeing to the common sense measures was fine with Sarresh, if one could ignore the acts of the Savi prior to now. Echtand, or a version of him, had been the best ally they had on the Versant and there was little that Sarresh could do in the moment in any case. He'd just bottle, and wait. 

Even his efforts could not restrain his surprise as the holographic images began to appear above the communication devices the local government had allowed the Theurgy crew to use in place of their Starfleet comm badges. Dark eyebrows shot high upon his forehead, his jaw slackening slightly in shock. There it was, the familiar, crescent bladed forward hull, and long tapped rear of the a Savi Precept-class vessel. A giant thing of nightmares. One that had apparently been in the quadrant for some time, and now held position somewhere high above them. As the Voice of the Savi made his point, Sarresh could only nod and swallow in mute (unhappy) agreement. There was nothing at all, no real warning that could be given to the ship, docked as it was, that would allow it to escape before the Savi ship destroyed it - if they so chose. 

"Sword of Damocles," the former Ash'reem muttered, in regards to the threat that hung above them. The old human proverb seemed apt then, if not a perfect fit, a close one. In this case, the implication was 'we could do this, but we're not, so we're good.' Aloud, Sarresh added, "I can see the point you are making."

Not that he found it reassuring. Not that he agreed with it. All he said, committed to, is that he could see it. There was little better that he could come up with, in any case, so what was the point? He ran his tongue over his teeth, behind his lips, and drew in a long, slow breath through his nose, nodding once. Conceding to Echtand the logic of the moment, if not the displeasure at seeing the Savi again. Distrust such as what he had - and the PTSD he was surely suffering from - would take time to fully overcome. He just hoped no one noticed the way his hands were twitching, trapped under his arms. 

"You'll have to forgive us if we seem more than a little surprised by this," Sarresh pointed out. "You, yourself have a history of helping -" when in your best interests - "But trust will take time. Without making any commitments on Ives behalf...I would be greatly interested in seeing what exactly you purpose and offer. And...would recommend the same to Captain Ives."

There, he said it, loath as he was to do so. The threat of approaching patrol craft was less than welcome. He would allow Jeen, or the grounded fighter pilot, to decide what to do about those. They were not his concern. The Infestation was. Better the devil you know, he thought to himself, borrowing another saying of the species he'd become. He detested the Savi and what they had done, what they had taken from him, directly or indirectly, just as he did the Borg, But the infestation that wracked the galaxy, that was the real threat. 

He could work with the Savi to deal with them.

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ] @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @DaValle

Echtand’s response was both expected and not. Liliana had glanced over the reports on Savi tech – at least bits about it that weren’t classified above her grade. The mention of advanced cloaking technology was one of the first and more prominently discussed technologies on display as well as conjecture on the nature of their weapons based on available data. The proof of these Savi no longer being “psychotic abductor” being that there was a dreadnought sized ship securely cloaked in Aldean orbit and not fucking up the entire system was an … interesting choice, but also an illuminating one. It was identified as the Erudite. So there were at least two. The alien’s words suggested more. How many more? She mentally acknowledge the receipt of the proof she had requested, filing it away to be looked at later, as Echtand spoke of an Old Code and a civil war in their Flotilla.

Normally, she would have stayed quiet and let the officers handle this but her concerns about Lieutenant Jeen’s response compelled her to speak up quickly so that she could be first after pulling the scarf away from her mouth.

Is it just mean or does the air feel a little thinner?

Sarresh was quicker on the draw and she had to wait for him to finish before speaking. He at least wasn't calling Echtand psychotic.

“I was one of the pilots that flew through the holes your ship punched in that Cube. There’s no doubt your guns are exceedingly powerful and your technology far beyond ours,” Walton acknowledged with a small smile. “Your people are quite capable and clearly have access to vast stores of information. The Theurgy would definitely benefit from any assistance you can give us."

She put up a hand, palms up, as if forestalling a response.“I know we’re short on time, but I need to know as to what specific benefits you’d get from any alliance or exchange us when you outstrip us in just about every respect. Especially when it’s prompting you to take on this level of risk.”

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Kaylon_Jeen) | Aldea Prime | The Beyond] ^{@Auctor Lucan @Brutus @Havenborn @patches @Griff}

Kaylon knew it was probably unwise, at least, to call this alien a psychotic abductor, still it wasn’t Kaylons opinion, he tried to show there, it was the opinion of the most other crewmembers of the Theurgy. The armed one beside Echtand hasn’t understood this way to make things clear obviously not so good or was just searching for any kind of reason to kill them all. In both cases, you thought about your choice of words a little bit more now. And during Kaylon thought about his own words a little bit more, Echtand explained his reason for being here and basically threatened them, as a sign of good will. Kaylon checked the live feed short if there was something the Theurgy could use as a weakness against the Savi, but as he had thought there was nothing usable.

Kaylon realised gradually that the Savi had no problem to speaking openly about their superiority or more threatening with this superiority. Still Echtand was right about the rest the only reason for his presence right here was that the Savi needed something badly from the Theurgy. Kaylon had no idea if the story of this civil war was right or not, but from what he knew of them have they at least changed their greetings dramatically and maybe more than just that.

Sarresh was the fastest of them, not that Kaylon had much intention to answer Echtand very fast. The Officer muttered something and Kaylon wasn’t sure what the scientist actually meant, but he thought that it wasn’t that friendly. After Morali has finished his sentences added the fighter pilot quite fast that she has seen the devastating force of a Savi ship and was additionally very enthusiastic about a possible alliance with them. In the end she asked Echtand the same question Kaylon has thought about the whole time. What did we have that you have not?

Kaylon smiled now, but this time there was a real smile on his face. This was a potential ally and such was rare right now. He decided to simply accept his requests thus far. “I guess as the most senior Officer here it will be my… ‘duty’ to report your request Ives later. The Captain will definitely deal with the request very carefully then.” Kaylon stopped shortly and glanced over his shoulder at the pilot and then at the Savi guarding Echtand. He decided not to provocate after that he spoke again to Echtand. “So Echtand, Voice of the Savi and the rest of those titles...” He made an overdramatic stop and added with a bright smile on his face: “Show us what you got.”

Again? Another provocation? You wanna find out who, the Savi or Walton, will kill you first?

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie “Hellcat”] Attn: @Brutus, @patches, @Griff, @DaValle

“Daniel I’m receiving a hail from First Appointee Radue.”  Knight said from behind him.  Daniel switched the communications channel and spoke.  “What can I do for you First Appointee?”  He said.  “I’ve tasked a KDF Flight to help support you, use them to resolve this situation Lieutenant.”  Came the response.  It wasn’t the response Daniel was hoping to hear.  He really didn’t want or need help from the Klingons, honestly he’d prefer it if the Klingons hadn’t been dispatched.  “Understood sir.”  Daniel said before closing the channel.  “Fucking asshole.”  He said after the channel closed.  “A typical politician.”  Knight said in agreement.

A moment later and Bloodwing reported the Klingons bearing and estimated time of arrival.  He was acutely aware that the Klingons wouldn’t hesitate to open fire on the shield.  He had to try and convince them that they had everything under control, not an easy feat considering that Klingons were uncivilized barbarians.

“Knight, contact the KDF flight leader, maybe we can convince them that we’ve got things under control.”  Daniel said as he swung his fighter around to face the incoming Klingons.  “Channel open.”  Knight said.  Daniel took a breath and then spoke using a tone he hadn’t used since his days as an SCO.  “Attention approaching KDF Flight, this is Lieutenant Daniel Havenborn, while your assistance in this matter is appreciated our ground team has the situation under control and is in the process of resolving the issue.”  Daniel paused for a moment.  “I would appreciate it if you turned back now as the sandstorm can be quite dangerous.”  Daniel added.

There was a crackle before the response from the Klingons was heard.  “We have our orders Lieutenant and we shall carry them out regardless of the storm!”  Came the loud and gruff reply from the Klingons.  Not even an introduction, how very typical of them Daniel thought to himself.  As he watched his screen he saw the Klingon Flight ident, Lomqa’ Flight.  It took his computer a moment to translate the word, which roughly came out to Ghost or Spectre, the computer wasn’t really sure which was correct.  “Lieutenant Havenborn to Lomqa’ Flight Leader, I am ordering you to turn back, we have this situation under control, if you continue on your current path I will consider that a hostile action and be forced to defend my ground team.”  Daniel said.

There was a long pause and Daniel was sure that the Klingons were just going to ignore him and continue on their path, he wasn’t entirely bluffing, he would fire on the Klingons if they tried to fire on the dome, he was just hoping that his threat would be enough to get them to turn around.  He’d deal with the consequences later, there was likely a reprimand and possibly some brig time for what he’d done but if it got the Klingons to turn back it’d be worth it.  Suddenly there was another crackle.  “Understood Lieutenant, but know that I will report your threat to my superiors.”  Came the response, it was clear that the Klingon officer wasn't really happy about being ordered to turn back but Daniel really could care less about his happiness right now.  He watched as the Klingon Raiders began to turn around and move off.  “Are you sure that was a good idea?”  Knight asked him.  “Damned if I know, but what I do know is that we needed to buy our ground team some time and I’ve done that.  I’ll deal with the damned consequences later.”  Daniel replied. This had better be fucking worth it he thought to himself.

“Salvo to Bloodwing, maintain geosynchronous orbit above the damned dome.”  Daniel said as he allowed himself to relax for a moment before he moved his fighter back into position above the dome.

[ Echtand qi Versant | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ]
[Show/Hide]It appeared to Echtand that the three before him - on some level - understood the logic he tried to illustrate by showing them the circumstances in which they found themselves. Given their lack of trust towards his people, he'd had little to offer otherwise, so he was content that they accepted his word for the time being. Now that he'd presented this burden of proof they wanted, it was time to speak of what the Savi needed, and their questions already prompted him to move on while they still had the time.

"Correct," he said, his black eyes leaving the sensor readings showing the approaching Klingon raiders and focusing on them instead. "We have little more to wish for in terms of resources at our disposal, but we are scientists, not soldiers. Even more so now when we adhere to the Old Code, which forbids us using any armament unless in self-defence. We may not, and will not, bear arms against the species of this galaxy which we study. The time under the Scion Directive has armed our Flotilla and given us a skewed amount of means to wage war. The ultimate intents of the Scion High Council remains unknown, but clearly they did not seek for the Flotilla to stay hidden indefinitely. What use are cannons and squadrons of interceptors if not built for a purpose? We do know that one part of their plans were to replace us Antecendents with android labour, automating functions and shutting down research projects to accommodate efficient wartime operations."

Did he have to be more overt in his explanation? Perhaps it was for the better. While he spoke, he slowly began to pace the still sand dune below their feet - the storm still raging violently outside the saucer's extended shield. "To be perfectly clear, our civil war against the Scions concerns you as well. All the species we have been observing, abducting and experimented upon in this past century, in which our culture and efforts were corrupted, should fear what the High Council means to do with the Flotilla. This, merely based on what means they sought to have at their disposal before our civil war began. That, however, is not all..."

Echtand paused his steps and looked away from the tempests of sand that smote the shimmering protection around them. His mien was grave as he stared upon the three that had walked all the way from their shuttle. "What I have found, is that Admiral Semathal qi Versant - whom your shipmates and I killed together in order to both liberate the Aspect Maker and give me command of the Versant - was not the only Infested Scion in our Flotilla." He turned to face them fully, the light of the shield shimmering over his hardsuit. "In fact, information on the Eurdite corroborated the truth of it... that most - if not all - the Scions in our High Council are the same as Semathal. Possessed... by a chaotic force of atrophy beyond our dimension."

Just like their leaders in Starfleet, if the information about the Theurgy's mission was accurate.

"As a species, we are the Vigilant of Sa. We have already learned that you have an Infested person in your care. Moreover, second-hand information suggest that you have provided High Cancellor Martok with means to dephase the parasitic presence inside the Infested - killing both the host and the entity inside them - by use of subatomic emissions. This clearly suggests that your source of information, this 'Doctor Nicander', is cooperating with you, and can help you in your mission. Furthermore, we have also intercepted proof that your Doctor possess something called Farsight, and can see through the eyes of other Infested. He could learn what the High Council is doing from within their very midst."

Slowly, he had paced back to the three Starfleet officers while he spoke. "I think I need not explain further. We have the same enemy. As the Voice of the Antecedents, I am asking you now, that we pool our resources, and you arm my people with the knowledge you glean from your Doctor and your research. In exchange, we offer means to upgrade your ship for the mission to come. Our technologies might not be entirely compatible, but I am positive that we can do more than the Aldeans and the Klingons can. You will merely not divulge the source of your ship's new features. If you do, you can consider the alliance broken."

Echtand hoped that his offer was tempting enough, because the Scions still held two of the Precept-class ships, as well as the majority of Flotilla. The rebellion had merely begun, and anything might happen.

"While I am not willing to violate the Old Code by openly support you in battle, or let our presence become common knowledge across all four Quadrants, the Antecendents will be your hidden ally. We fight together... but on different front lines. Will you take this offer to the Aspect Maker, your Commanding Officer?"

---

OOC: Seven more days to post for you all! :) @Griff , could you NPC Radue when he contacts both Lillee and Daniel, going at them with something along the lines of "WTF are you doing?" @Havenborn could then reply to that as well. Hope this post makes sense but please PM me or write me on Discord if something is unclear! What Echtand is alluding to is stuff brought up in Scrying Through the Storm Front as well as New Hope Rising.

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | Conference Room | Deck 01| USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Griff @Havenborn @DaValle @patches @Auctor Lucan 
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When he'd first been called into the staff meeting, befuddled at the stupidity of assigning him to an away mission, and risking his person in such a way, Sarresh had not at all imagined the day would unfold as it did. Yet here he stood, shielded in the middle of a vicious sand storm, looking into the faces of the creatures that had experimented on him, and truly tore from him any last visage of his former race, save for the memories that he'd somehow been allowed to keep. Standing right there, within arms reach - and offering them information and technology, in exchange for secrecy, and the same in return - information. 

That information came in the form of Lucan Nicander, formerly Chief Medical Officer of the USS Theurgy, and current prisoner/science experiment/spy. Arguably, one of a few, if not the only, person on the ship possibly more screwed than Sarresh himself. All the grey skinned bobble heads wanted was whatever Nicander could share, and they'd pass off advanced tech and intel in return. A common enemy, infested the upper echelons of the Savi as much as it did the Federation. His mind raced as he tried to suss out a good reason to say no. He had a half a dozen bad reasons readily at hand, but every time he compared them to the mission he'd been given (or taken upon himself, according to Ducane and Ives), Sarresh found the reasons wanting. 

Face it, Sarresh. You might wish that they all destroy each other in their richly deserved little Civil War, but you know deep down you need them. Since the future tech programming in his head wasn't screaming or sending him into a seizure, he had to conclude that this wasn't some kind of timeline breach. Though after the massive edit to reality that he'd already helped execute - the sever lack of Borg Invasion - Sarresh had to wonder if Ducane and those that programmed him still existed UpTime, and if the Memory Engrams' still functioned properly. Or if he'd be getting a visit from any fell time travelers, though more on the enforcement, than the analytical side of things. 

Shaking his head to dismiss the errant wanderings of his mind, he looked between Jeen and Walton, trying to get a read for either of them. In the mother of all irony's, he once again found that he missed the enhanced medical cybernetic ocular implants that he'd had been outfitted with to replace the destroyed Ash'rem orbs when he'd nearly died. He was no doctor, but they had been engineered with medical sensors that he'd learned to read decently well, when deciphering the general well being of those around him. Things like elevated heart rate could tell you a lot about someone, and Sarresh wished he had that insight now. Instead, he had completely human eyes, with all the benefits and detriments inherit to the species. 

"While the call is ultimately yours, Lieutenant," Sarresh said, carefully keeping his sarcasm out of his voice now, because he didn't give a damn about anyone's position or rank, but he wanted to be taken seriously, "This seems like a reasonable gift horse. And Terran's have some sort of saying about not looking those in a mouth. I say we accept the deal." Following his words with a shrug and a smile that didn't reach his eyes, Sarresh put his vote in, for what good or ill would come. When it came down to it, he didn't see how the crew of the Theurgy could reasonably refuse.

[PO3 Lillee t’Jellaieu (Bloodwing) (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Wolf 12 | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Aldea Prime] Attn: @Havenborn @patches @DaValle @Brutus 

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Havenborn's ploy bought time, but not much. Scarce minutes later, Lillee's sensors again picked up the four Klingon fighters on approach.

"Salvo, Bloodwing," she said into her comm. "The Klingons are back, bearing 070 mark 2, ETA three minutes. Their disruptors are powered and they're coming in faster this time."

Then the two Wolves were hailed, and this time, First Appointee Radue sounded as if he was on the warpath. "Lieutenant Havenborn!" the Aldean politican shouted angrily. In her own fighter, Lillee winced at the politician's disregard to protocol; the Theurgy crew's names weren't supposed to be used in communications. "I have been informed that you threatened to fire upon the pilots that I sent to aid you! Have you lost your mind!?"

"Two minutes, Salvo," Lillee warned, her eyes glued to the dots on her sensor readout. Almost without thinking, she reached up to power up her own phasers as she aimed her craft at the oncoming Klingons. It wasn't even malicious, not really, how Lillee prepared to kill the coming Klingon fighters. For many Romulan soldiers, killing Klingons was considered more akin to play than war, hardly something to be considered a challenge.

"Havenborn, you are here on my planet, our homeworld! You do not give orders to us, you do not make threats, and you do not defy our orders while on Aldean soil!" Radue was clearly not being shy with his browbeating. "Since you are so eager to hide whatever is in that sandstorm, and since we have lost contact with your away team, we will find out what is happening ourselves. You will join the Klingon fighters and follow their orders. Interfere and they will stop you."

Lillee snorted. "Not likely, Salvo," she scoffed on their private comm channel. "Even one of us alone could best those four idiots. What are your orders?"

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Kaylon_Jeen) | Aldea Prime | The Beyond] ^{@Havenborn @patches @Brutus @Griff @Auctor Lucan}

The Trill listened carefully to the offer the Savi made and it was definitely worth to listen to it. The chance to upgrade the Theurgy with some Savi-tech would improve their chances to win the fight against the infested. Nevertheless, Kaylon hadn’t expected that the Savi would actually gave them their latest technology. There were many reasons why the Savi shouldn’t offer the Theurgy some of their best technologies. Echtand used the phrase ‘not compatible‘ but for sure he also meant ‘We’re not going to boost your technology in one day over 300 years in the future‘. Still, even if they just jump the next couple of years, this would mean a significant benefit and maybe exactly the benefit they had needed.

Sarresh spoke first and he had obviously the same opinion about the offer, Kaylon had. Not that any of their acceptance would be necessary in first place, since the captain had to decide how they should handle the offer. Nevertheless, the knowledge to have at least one of the away team on his side was very helpful for Kaylon. Especially since he had the slightly feeling that whatever he’s going to do from now on Walton would definitely issue a formal complaint about his behaviour... or simply show him the next airlock, whatever was easier.

“A good point, Mister Morali. We’re definitely not going to stare in this mouth, but unfortunately it’s neither yours nor my final decision if we accept the deal. We’re just letting the captain know that a lot of Federation researchers loose their jobs or have to search a new one. Oh, and despite the ethical question this is, I would have no hard feelings to simply accept it too.” Hoping this would at least calm down the Savi guard beside Echtand, Kaylon glanced now directly at Echtand. “Alright, Echtand, I’m positive that the captain will know about this proposal, especially since I’m not only mentioning it as a side note in my report. Well, I mean I’ll also mention it in the report, but that’s more a formality.”

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ] @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @DaValle

As she listened intently to Echtand’s explanation, Liliana kept her eyes on the sensor readings depicting the Klingon raiders. For a moment, it seemed like Salvo and Bloodwing managed to dissuade them but now they were returning and at an angle that suggested weapons were going to be running hot. The former flight instructor idly noted that a situation like this would have made for a simulation to train pilots on nonaggressive forms of deterrence. Most officers had some basic training in diplomacy, at least enough to not fuck it up entirely for the actual diplomats that would take over after initial contacts. Fighter pilots ostensibly received all that same basic training. Most simply let it get buried under all the specialized knowledge required to fly a fighter well. Usually, by the time fighters were sent out, the situation no longer called for a diplomatic touch.

Usually. Havenborn was lead pilot in a particularly novel situation and she was keen to see how well he could handle it. From what she was hearing Echtand say, such novel situations were going to be a bit more common.

The chief warrant officer looked up at both men next to her and refocused her gaze on Echtand as he finished speaking. Whoever these Infested were, they sounded like immensely bad news for everyone involved. She was going to have to see what reports on them her clearances gave her access to at some point. It certainly made a lot more sense now as to why the Savi were offering this. Whoever this Nicander person was, it seemed he was going to be in high demand. Damned if Walton wasn’t now finding out just how weird shit on the Theurgy got.

Infested. Farsight. Alien technology from a species that has likely studied us for centuries. All before noon.

Morali’s response was much more subdued than she would’ve expected from a Science officer in this situation, but a good one. For once during this away mission, Jeen didn’t sneak in some insult when he spoke up though the pilot was a little exasperated at the amount of hedging he was doing.

Why doesn't he just say we'll make sure the captain knows about this and leave it at that?

“Looks like we’re decided then?” Liliana said as she pulled the scarf back over her face. “It looks like Salvo can't buy us any more time. Those raiders are almost in weapons range even with this storm. I recommend we get going, sirs, before today gets real spicy.”

She waved at Echtand and his guards and then started walking towards where she set down her weapons, leaving it to the officers to wrap it up and follow when they could. Ideally, they could avoid being targeted by Klingon raiders today. That would be too much of a headache to deal with without more coffee.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie “Hellcat”] Attn: @Brutus, @patches, @Griff, @DaValle

Hearing Radue speak over the channel using his name and rank instantly caused Daniel to become angry, sure he threatened and told the Klingons to leave but that was just basic etiquette when dealing with Klingons, if you didn’t show your strength they’d think you weak.  Apparently this politician didn’t seem to understand that, but at the moment Daniel didn’t really care what the man had to say, he needed to warn the away team that the Klingons were coming and there was nothing he could do to stall them anymore.

Hearing the two minute warning from Bloodwing made up Daniel’s mind for him.  “Form up with the Klingons, I’m going to make a run to warn the away team.”  Daniel said over the private communications channel.  Then he immediately maneuvered his fighter towards the ground and pushed his engines to full throttle.  “What the hell are you doing?”   Knight said from behind him.  “Don’t worry, I got this.”  Daniel said confidently.  Deep down he really hoped he was right, the last thing he needed was the death of another friend on his hands.

Daniel smiled a little as he listened to the storm against his shields, it really made him miss his homeworld.  He watched as his altitude dropped fast and the ground was approaching even faster, when he was a fifty meters from the ground he straightened out and from the amount of dust he added to the storm he hoped that his fighter would be masked for at least moment or two.  He slowed his speed down as he approached the dome then activated the fighter’s external communications system.  “Salvo to Away Team, the Klingons are coming and I cannot stall them any longer, you need to evacuate.”  He said as he activated his engines again and maneuvered his fighter back towards the incoming Klingons, hopefully they heard him over the storm and would get out before the Klingons arrived.

[ Echtand qi Versant | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ]
[Show/Hide]The three from the Theurgy agreed to the offer, about to speak with the Aspect Maker. Echtand had expected they would, but was nonetheless pleased. He raised his left forearm and concluded their business, momentarily distracted by the white shape in the sandstorm that came to hover outside the shield - the pilot to his credit announcing that their time had come to an end without having to resort to subcom usage.

"I am sending you a program that your Commanding Officer can use in order to reach me, which will prevent any Klingons and Aldeans from listening in. Tell the Aspect Maker that he has to decide within ten hours, otherwise the Erudite will have to leave and continue the war without your aid," he said, tapping at the interface above his arm. He did so while slowly walking backwards, the necessity to cloak the saucer paramount because of the incoming Klingon crafts. His fellow Savi were talking to him in his native language, urging him to step inside. He was almost finished, having accessed one more program.

"I am transporting you back to your shuttle using a Federation signature containment beam. If asked, I suggest you tell your hosts that you used your shuttle to issue the transport, and that the conditions of this storm prevented you from finding anything." He dropped his arm and looked at the three one last time. "When they search this area later, they will find something that will explain all of this. My gratitude for listening, despite what the Scions made us do to your crew."

Without any further ado, Echtand stepped aboard the saucer, and just when the three officers were lit up by the transport protocol he'd written, the operators cloaked their vessel and dropped the shield. Those form the Theurgy were gone, just like the saucer, and any other evidence about what had transpired was gone from sight by the time the Klingons reached the area. Even their footsteps, erased by yet another storm front.

I wonder if I ought to have sweetened this exchange with.... that did they call it? 'Twinkies'? Echtand thought while he withdrew into his own research lab on the saucer, Then again, perhaps it was only Commander Tiran that appreciated those sweetened atrocities to the palette. Idly, he wondered if the woman who'd aided him in taking over command of the Versant would be willing to speak while the Erudite remained in orbit.

---

OOC: After the storm passes, the Aldeans will find debris of a crashed shuttle - too destroyed to reveal much. It will be written off as a pirate activity, because of parts of a destroyed Romulan cloak found in the debris, likely stolen since the shuttle seemed to originally have been a cobbled together piece of garbage. One last post from you all within 7 days, where you ought to clear up the mess with the Aldeans and the Klingons using NPCs. I will not post with Echtand again, so just give this a fitting end? After that, objective complete! :)

[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sarresh_Morali) | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ] Attn: @Griff @Havenborn @patches @DaValle @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide]
Pulling a face, Sarresh looked up at the bright light and hull of the fighter overhead, listening as Havenborn delivered his warning. As with Echtand, the time traveler was pleasantly surprised by the fighter jock's ingenuity in finding a way to deliver a warning that couldn't easily be intercepted by the locals. Perhaps their escort deserved a bit more credit than Sarresh was usually prone to giving, well, anyone really. He still squinted up all the same, and his face bore a scowl as he turned back to the Savi and the rest of his team, taking it all in. A protocol program for contact made sense, but he privately wondreed just what it might do to the ships communications system.

Comm's wasn't his particular focus, of course, but he occasionally suborned the array to help with his own temporal monitoring. He decided he'd want a look at this program, to see what he might glean from it to refine his own methods. Assuming, of course, that bastard Ives lets me anywhere near it. Or Hirself. There was bad blood there, in the wake of the events on the Versant and neither officer had as of yet made all that much effort at reconciliation, each clinging to the trappings of 'decorum' and duty. It served, after a fashion, and while Morali thought Ives foolish for how they had handled Hi'Jak, and the immediate dismissal of Sarresh himself, he gave no outward impression of this disdain. Nothing he said or did, he'd determined, would be able to be construed as anything other than loyalty. He'd made his bed with Ives in this little fiasco. If he'd wanted someone else in charge, that time had passed to do something about it.

"I imagine the captain won't need all 10 hours to make a decision," Sarresh noted, in a tone about as dry as their surroundings. One thing Ives had never been was indecisive. He looked up at Echtand, scowling again at his parting words, but held his tongue. The desire to say something bitter and harsh was strong. The desire to deal a blow to the parasites infesting the galaxy was stronger however. He contented himself with a curt nod, wondering just what the Klingon's would eventually find.  He stood a little straighter, readying himself, and sure enough, the confinement beam took a hold. The world shifted, in a bright blue white light -

- and returned to focus once more in the hold of their tiny shuttle. Letting out a puff of air, Sarresh discarded his scarf and re-breather unit, as well as the goggles and rubbed at his face, feeling suddenly weary. "Well, that was fucking delightful," he swore, striding the few short steps to the auxiliary station he'd re-purposed for sensors and a bare bones science protocol suite. He glanced at the readings and grunted again, turning and moving over to the other lieutenant. "Deal with the Klingon's. I want to run this through a security scan," he not quite ordered, taking the protocol disk that Echtand had delivered from Jeen and moving back toward his own station before pausing and detouring to the ships small replicator.

"Water, cold." He paused, "Three cups. You two had better drink up as well. Oh, we probably should lift off pretty soon, yeah?" Sarresh added the words almost as if an after thought, letting the others grab their own drinks, and downing half of his in one go. He was so terribly parched, but worked to push past that, sliding the cup into a holder by his station and placing the disk with the communications software atop a small sensor panel for reading externally stored files. He keyed up every security protocol on the shuttle and began his scan, trying to see if anything looked familiar, based on his own efforts aboard the Versant. He grunted a bit as he ran it through the patchwork translation protocol he and Hi'Jak had come up with, lamenting the Klingon's spy's absence in that moment. Not that they'll let him anywhere near this, he thought. But he hadn't exactly been keeping up with ships scuttlebutt, and could be wrong about that. He only listened with half an ear to whatever passed between Jeen, Walton, and the Klingon's. He needed to make sure there was nothing overtly malicious on the disk before it was introduced to the Theurgy's ODN network and computer core. A shuttle made a fairly secure location to do just that.

Worse case scenario, its a massively disruptive virus and we have to blow the shuttle up. But it'll be contained. Of course, he didn't tell the others that. And it wasn't as if he actually expected that to be the case. The Savi had far more efficient ways of destroying the Theurgy, if that had been their goal. No need for this cloak and dagger bullshit. The words were bitter, but as he delved into the code, he felt his scruffy lips curl up into a genuine, if dark, smile for the first time in ages.

[ CWO3 Liliana Walton | The Beyond | Epsilon Mynos III: Aldea ] @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @DaValle  @Havenborn @Griff

Liliana had to raise her rating of Salvo a bit for the way he warned the away party about the incoming Klingons. She managed to get to her weapons soon enough to holster the pistol and grab the rifle before she cottoned on to Echtand stating they were going to be beamed back to the shuttle. She grinned, silently thankful to the Savi for saving them the return walk through the storm.

Once she registered their presence back in the small shuttle, the pilot wasted no time in returning to the pilot’s seat to start the process of getting it back in the air, shedding the scarf and goggles in the process. Sarresh told the other lieutenant to deal with the Klingons and Walton was initially content to let him do that until she saw the incoming communications request from another source.

That must be Radue.

She waved Jeen off before he could hail the Klingon flight leader and gestured to the comms request light with a smirk. “I’ll handle the Klingon flight. Our gracious Aldean hosts want to speak with the man in charge here.”

The petite woman winked at the Trill playfully before opening a channel to the Klingons and escort fighters.

“This is callsign Meerkat to … Lomqa’ Flight and escort. Away team secured in the shuttle,” she said with a strange yet practiced mix of authority and cheer. “Found nothing of interest at the site. Returning to base now. Appreciate the welfare check, boys!”

Walton hummed quietly to herself as she finished the last of the preflight checks and grabbed the cup of water from the replicator, all while listening to Jeen’s conversation with Radue. As soon as they got into the air and far enough from the surface to engage the shuttle’s autopilot, she leaned back and let her eyes rest on the view while her mind could finally run riot at imagining what Savi tech could for improving her Valravn’s flight and combat capabilities.

[Lt. Kaylon Jeen (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Kaylon_Jeen) | Aldea Prime | The Beyond] ^{@Havenborn  @patches  @Brutus  @Griff @Auctor Lucan} 

Kaylon took his weapon after the Savi went to their vessel and before they would left and shut down the forcefield around them the Trill put the equipment again on. The last thing he wanted to be in was a sandstorm without wearing this equipment, but after the Savi left the away team was beamed back to their shuttle.

The scientist offered them something to drink after he requested the protocol disk from Kaylon. Lieutenant Jeen took the water and went to the seat beside Walton. He thought that he could start to work out some excuse why they haven’t responded to the Aldeans and Klingons. Before he was able to actually drink the water mentioned the pilot that Radue was hailing them. Everyone but not him now.

Kaylon opened the channel and the face of Radue offered the Lieutenant a very detailed imagination of the choice of words the escort fighters have used during their dialogues. “Hello, Mr Radue, how can I help you?”

[Lieutenant, I’m certainly hope that you’re giving me now a good explanation why your escort pilots threatened to attack the Klingons and why your away team hasn’t responded till now!] Kaylon shifted his stance and was obviously annoyed by this. Before he could answer to Radues questions he heard what Walton said to the Klingons. Kaylons response was obviously not fast enough for Radue and therefore he continued. [Those Klingon fighters were your allies and a threat to attack…]

Kaylon stopped the politician from continuing his sentence. Maybe it wasn’t the polite way, but he wouldn’t waste a single minute for Radue the captain could use to decide about the Savi deal. “Mr. Radue, with all due respect an intervention of the Klingon fighters could have lead to a catastrophic disaster and probably to the death of one of the crewmen under my command. We had the situation under control and the only problem was a malfunction of the comm system. My report will give you a detailed explanation of the problem and I’m positive that we’ll all see that this mess was just a huge misunderstanding, on both sides.”

[I’m looking forward to read this report and check the data of it, but still your pilots have threatened the Klingons.]

“Of course I’m apologising for the message our escort fighters have sent either you or the Klingons. They were just very stressed, due to the problem with the comm system. It was very messy situation there, but I assure you they had only the best intentions.”

Kaylon closed the channel and turned back to the others. “So, I’m going to need your communicators now to… modify them.” Later Kaylon would write down that ‘the tetryon compositor of the stolen Romulan cloak had a major malfunction that led to the problem with the comm system’ and not that a mad engineer had tortured those little devices with some tetryon emitters in one of the cargo bays.

[PO3 Lillee t’Jellaieu (Bloodwing) (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Wolf 12 | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Aldea Prime Orbit ] Attn: @@Havenborn [member=116@patches[/member] @@DaValle @Brutus 

[Show/Hide]
As Havenborn darted down into the storm to warn the away team, Lillee accelerated forward to intercept the oncoming Klingon flight. It was with sad regret that she reached up to power down her phasers, knowing that the Klingon sensors would detect that she was powering down. It was the right choice; not even a Klingon pilot would be dumb enough to fire upon an unarmed ally. Still, Lillee sighed wistfully as she feathered her impulse engines.

Of course, that didn't mean that she couldn't have at least a little fun...

With the sandstorm far behind her, Lillee finally got a visual on the oncoming Klingons. She aimed her Valkyrie for a narrow gap in their formation between two Phantoms, relying on the computer to show her the precise gap on her HUD, and without slowing down a whit, she zoomed directly through the Klingon formation as a lightning grey blur. Immediately after shooting through she flipped her Valkyrie through 180 degrees, rolled around and pumped her impulse engines, this time zooming through another gap in their formation.

A moment later, Lillee decelerated until she neatly settled in at the head of the Klingon formation. She noted irritably (and with grudging respect) that the Klingons had maintained perfect formation discipline at her wild maneuver, not reacting in the slightest.

"Lom'qa Flight, this is Bloodwing," she said over her comm with a far-too-sweet voice. "Follow me to the landing zone, and watch for the stormwinds and low visibility."

"Acknowledged," the Klingon flight leader grumbled, plainly trying very hard to conceal his annoyance. "Who taught you how to fly, Bloodwing? Are all fools like you so reckless and stupid in military fighters?"

Lillee laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry, Lom'qa leader. Did I scare you?"  The frustrated silence was all the answer she needed, and Lillee's grin widened as she aimed her Valkyrie at the sandstorm, although she saw that it was weakening rapidly. She saw Havenborn's older Gryphon and subtly shifted a few meters to the side, giving him space to slot into the formation.

There was no time to wonder what was happening at the LZ. The storm seemed to dissipate with unnatural speed, permitting a view of the LZ which was far less exciting than any of the six pilots had expected.

The Theurgy shuttlecraft sat on the desert, its white hull coated with sand, with no sign of anything nearby. Lillee checked her sensors, which reported some wreckage some distance away from the shuttle. Even though she knew no more about what had happened than the Klingons, Lillee couldn't help but chuckle as the Klingon fighters raced away to scan the wreckage at close range.

"Go ahead, scan away," she said to herself softly, smirking at the Klingon fighters ahead of her as she decelerated her own Valkyrie to hover over the shuttle. "Stupid beasts."

Meanwhile, the comm activated again as First Appointee Radue called. "Salvo," he said with an ill-tempered tone, although he was at least observing proper communications discipline this time. "Please report what has happened. My pilots report that there is only wreckage on the desert floor."

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie “Hellcat”] Attn: @Brutus, @patches, @Griff, @DaValle

As Daniel slid his fighter into the formation alongside Bloodwing’s Valkyrie he had to hand it to her, she may not be an officer but she knew how to handle the fighter just about as good as any TacCONN commissioned officer.  He wondered if she had any plans on becoming a Warrant Officer, maybe that’d be something he could bring up to her later.

As the storm was beginning to clear Daniel spotted the shuttlecraft, it had been weathered by the sand and part of him was sad that the storm was dissipating.  He had enjoyed the storm while it had lasted but he knew that all good things must come to an end.  He also wasn’t really looking forward to the consequences that would be waiting for him back on the Theurgy.  He had threatened the Klingons sure, but when it really came down to it he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have gone through with it as much as he might have wanted to.  He was a Starfleet officer after all and not a military officer of the Neo-ECON.

Knight spoke up from behind him interrupting his thoughts.  “Salvo, I’m detecting some debris a few meters from the shuttle.”  Daniel checked the sensor readout that Knight had forwarded to his console.  Sure enough a few meters from the shuttle and near where the dome had been there was metallic debris.  After a few short moments his communications channel activated again, First Appointee Radue was asking him question, this time calling him by his callsign like he should have earlier.

Daniel smirked, he honestly had no idea, he could guess as to what happened but that wasn’t hard fact and the First Apointee would want facts not opinions.  “I don’t know sir, your pilots interfered in a critical moment.  We may never know what happened down there now.”  Daniel said with a smirk, he was glad that this call was audio only.

~ FIN