Star Trek: Theurgy

Chapter 03: Supplemental [ Day 06 | 0910 hrs. ] Replacements

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay  | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ]
@Multificionado @Havenborn @Triton @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @Firefox013 @The Ostrich @Vox

After the red alert ended and the ships were powered down, Thomas had moved over to the briefing room. He was made aware that a squadron of defectors, so to speak, had joined their ranks and that they had landed in the shuttle bay of Vector 1. Once he knew about it he had requested the ship computer to lead them to the briefing room. He wanted to meet the men and women of this squadron and merge them into the pack of lone wolves. A pack that needed such replacements badly...

He had also informed the rest of his current squadron to stay in the briefing room, wanting to have a direct and smooth cohesion between the new groups. What better way then to start off the bat with all of them in the same room. It might feel rushed to some, yet Ravon did not have the luxury or the time to have bonding sessions and additional training sessions to have them work together more closely. They'd have to do so on the next red alert or at the next sign of a scramble.

He heard the doors slide open of the briefing room as he saw the new group of pilots file in. Standing in his exosuit still, Ravon scanned over the faces. Nobody familia- "Walton? Bloody hell, I never thought I'd see you again, especially out here!" he called out to her.

As the doors closed behind them he wiped the smug grin off his face as he clapped his hands together "Okay, I'll make this short and not very official. Welcome to all the new pilots of their respective squadrons. My name is Thomas Ravon, I'm the current SCO of the Lone Wolves squadron." Or what's left of it... "You'll all be assigned to quarters at the nearest convenience as well be informed of the truth for which this ships is being branded as traitors. The information will be given down to PADDs, any further questions can be answered by any of us." He said to the gathered group of pilots "Feel free to mix with the current gang, freshen up or grab a bite. As for mission reports, I'll gladly read them over when you find the time to write them down. Any further questions? If not you are all dismissed."

[Lieutenant JG Evelyn Rawley, callsign "Ghost" | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan @Triton @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @Firefox013 @The Ostrich @Vox
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Rawley was of two minds when the alert stopped. Part of her was itching for action, she wanted get flying again, and as such, was disappointed. Part of her felt relieved that there was no need for what’s left of the pack to deploy, so relieved, she thought, Thank God.  It wouldn’t do for some bugger outside to finish them all off.

Eventually, the Wolves were herded to the briefing room, where she, still clad in her flight suit, Klingon blade on her, and the rest of the pack were informed of defectors joining in. Six new pilots.

“Brilliant!” she said when she heard the news. “That’s somewhat more than the number we lost, and those still in Sickbay!” she added, knowing Meony was still in Sickbay.

Then came in the new arrivals. And she was surprised at how many faces she looked familiar. She recognized her old flight instructor, “Meerkat” Walton, though Tom Ravon pointed her out; she wondered how many other of the Wolves trained under that flight instructor in her time. The other two she couldn’t put a finger on…

Once Tom had his say, Rawley went to meet her old flight instructor…but noticed the antennae of an Andorian. And she finally put a finger on their familiarity. There was another lass next to the Andorian, and she knew them both at once.

“Donna? Jhoza?” She made a beeline, and seeing them up close for the first time in…what was it, two years? The day couldn’t get any better. First her old flight instructor, then her two wingmates from the Jadestone, joining her pack…add to the fact that all the Vectors are back together, and she wondered how the day could get any better.

“Been a long time, lasses!” she said with a wide grin. “Ev Rawley. Starship Jadestone, remember? Cor, I missed yeh lasses! Almost like old times, innit, the three of us together in flight, aye?”

With Walton present, it almost felt like a class reunion. Almost. Depended on how many of the other Wolves, Lone or Black, trained to fly under Walton.

[PO3 Lillee t’Jellaieu (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing Room | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan, @Havenborn, @Doc M., etc.
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The summons to the Lone Wolves' den had been not been unexpected, given Lillee's encounter with the squadron leader just earlier that morning, but it was nevertheless an odd one. During the frantic rush to rendezvous and reunite with the Helmet, Lillee had found herself with the deckhands in the FAB, having nothing to pilot while the thankfully recovered Jaya Thorne had reclaimed her post. From the perspective of the deckhands, Lillee found herself grateful that the human pilot was back on duty as everyone looked out of the FAB's large open doors to see the stars whirling madly. The resulting hard clunk, and subsequent rush to warp, made it clear what had just happened. The level of ability required to dock with a presumably out of control spinning Helmet, while under fire, at high speed, with a kilometer-long starship, was mind-boggling.

True, Lillee privately believed that she could've pulled it off too, but perhaps not as efficiently. As soon as the deckhands had finished picking themselves off the deck after the hard jolt of docking (and after a couple of them had finished throwing up at the spinning stars outside), she made a private note to meet Jaya Thorne at some point. As soon as they had a break, anyway, assuming they survived the battles yet to come.

Soon after, as soon as the various fighters (and many new ones) performed their landings, Lillee heard the computer's call and left the deckhands to walk to the briefing room. She was conspicuous for her lack of flight gear, and for her red shirt that marked her as an outsider and a stranger to both squadrons. Nevertheless she simply watched, her arms crossed, listening to Ravon say his piece. It wasn't a job to be envied, she reflected privately. A patchwork fighter squadron, many of them strangers, using three different types of spacecraft. The whole thing was a recipe for disaster.

[ Lt JG Alessia Garcia - Callsign "Angel" (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alessia_Garcia,_callsign_%22Angel%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]
@Multificionado @Nolan @Firefox013 @Havenborn @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @The Ostrich @Vox


Beneath her helmet, Alessia's gaze hardened into a firm pre-battle scowl. Angel was motivated by payback for her entire squadron, and her ship. And for Dev. Gripping her controls wasn't going to make the green-light flash on, and fortunately neither did the SCO's command. They were to stand down and report to the briefing room. Garcia slid down the ladder that appeared beside her cockpit while Vinny leapt down and cringed noticeably, and Alessia cursed him out before grabbing his shoulder and insisting he not push his luck or she'd send him to sickbay herself.

Still abuzz with pre-battle adrenaline, Angel responsively took the opportunity to jog to the FAB's briefing room, barely panting or perspiring upon her arrival. She was indeed delighted to keenly spot some familiar Valravn logos. Never one to shirk from making friends, she was amazed that the Trill was in fact her old squadmate.

"Scylla? Hey! It -is- you." Alessia almost forgot that her joined Trill friend had dyed her hair blue recently. She'd almost forgotten that detail, having already buried her wingmates, except Dev and Fury. Shall and Dev of course were Missing-In-Action. After a brief happy-you-made-it hug with the same-age-but-much more ancient Trill, She noticed other Orcus and Valravn patches on the uniforms, including "Meerkat" Walton, the woman who'd been reminiscing with the SCO. Angel caught a moment to wave at her as she and Scylla found a spot to hear their orders. Still on her way, Angel looked around one more time for any other fellow Orcus Survivors-- Logan 'Wraith' Hale had also made it. She didn't know him well enough outside the squadron, but it was good to see him too.

Blizzard had made it. There was no mistaking Tali's friend and fellow Andorian Jhozahosh, who had been a force that drove Alessia to take up Andorian personality quirks. When their eyes met, Alessia gave her an old Guardsman nod. It was the most she could spare before 'Rawl-ball' charged in joy at having known Blizzard too. Something else to reminisce with next time at the showers. The best emotional moment yet occurred at the prospect of no longer being alone on a strange ship with only Jimmy, Rawley or Fury to watch her back.

Time was short and Ravon was mercifully brief. Angel had submitted her prior reports and had nothing to add in her own log, "Thank God we're getting outta this soup." Well, almost nothing. She was certain Razor might've had a good smirk. While Blizzard and Meerkat were distracted, Angel had to ask Scylla. "How'd you get here? Did anyone else make it?" Alessia asked, namely to hear if Captain Slayton, brother of her late squadmate Chris Slayton had survived the Battle; last Angel saw of that ship before she defected was that Orcus and her bridge were ablaze and critically damaged. After hearing any news from the Task Force and their pursuers, she neutrally answered with the names, rather than callsigns of their squadmates. "We lost good people. I'd hate to think we're all that's left."

[ Lt JG Sephiria Arn - Callsign "Scylla" | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

After having heard the message for stand down and for all fighter pilots to gather in the main briefing room, Sephiria followed the others, her Rio sticking nearby until someone ordered him to the medbay to get this antenna, well what was left of it, checked before joining them in the Briefing room if he could. Iceman had grunted but not protested otherwise before grabbing a turbolift to the nearest medical facilities.

Shortly afterwards, still in her flight armor, the tall Joined Trill accompanied her wingmates into the briefing room. “Ugh… I wonder who I’ll be flying with now… god I hope none of them are assholes like some of our former wingmates…” She thinks as she looks around, realizing her fellow White Wolves seemed pretty popular and well known, yeah her name was known too, and was for good things for a time, until the incident that landed her back as a Lt JG.

She stood a bit apart, alone, trying to not be all that conspicuous, but a nearly six foot tall blue haired trill wasn’t exactly hard to notice. A voice spoke up behind her and she blinked, instantly recognizing a young pilot she flew with. “Alessia is on the Theurgy!?” were her thoughts as she turned and blinked. “A-Angel!?” was all she stammered out for a while as the young Hispanic woman fired questions at her, Scylla held up a hand.

“Yes yes it is me Angel...” She sighed at the question about Chris Slayton and shook her head. “No... last I knew, he wasn't with us anymore Alessia I am sorry.” She took a breath and hugged the young woman. “But I am here and I did join you guys, its nice to know at least 1 person here knows me… least knows me better n the rumours and all that.” She said softly. I do hope what few of us there are here, can help keep this big girl going… somehow.” Just then her RIO walked in, his antenna looking like it had been properly checked and his face cleaned up of his bluish blood. “Ah there's my RIO, Iceman, over here!” She waved him over.

[ CWO3 Liliana "Meerkat" Walton | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 2 ] @Nolan et al.

It had been an eventful introduction to the Theurgy so far for Meerkat. First the defection where her flight picked a fight with an Akira-class cruiser and a handful of fighters alongside a modified runabout, then a combat landing where there was now the said runabout and six warp fighters squeezed into an admittedly roomy shuttle bay where they ended up confronting boarders from the really stubborn Akira-class cruiser, and then finally a quite frankly miraculous combat reintegration with the rest of the dreadnought while the top bit of the ship was spinning out of control. Liliana would need to track down the pilots on hand for that and congratulate them personally, she felt.

As it was, the Security personnel now finishing their sweep of the shuttle bay were not exactly making the diminutive starfighter pilot feel very welcome. Their recovery from the rough integration was quicker than most of the pilots there, probably due to some forewarning and the clear attitude they exhibited of not being sure if the pilots themselves were going to be trouble or not. Both Walton and her Rear Intercept Officer had given up their weapons readily enough, though the Klingon did his customary grumbling about it. It was to be expected. Defectors or not, they were not native Theurgy personnel and it was a wise policy to disarm the new pilots, at least for now.

It was while Meerkat was starting to inspect her Valravn and taking verbal notes for Haqr to write down that the computer relayed a request from the Theurgy’s squadron commanding officer to meet him in the briefing room near the Fighter Assault Bay on Deck 16. After sharing a look with the Klingon, she shrugged and gestured for them to leave their helmets in the fighter. There hadn’t yet been time to fully shut down the craft but that was now something to be done later, either by her after this meeting or by one of the techs. As it was, it was in standby mode. Safe enough.

The computer gave perfect directions to the briefing room and it wasn’t long before the pilots from her flight all found themselves there. She was one of the first of the new pilots to enter the room, prompting a reaction from the SCO at the head of the room. Haqr went off to join one of the other RIOs as he followed her in.

“Who – Ravon?! Stars, it’s been ages!” Lily gleefully responded as she rushed up to him, rethinking the hug for a handshake instead. After all, he was a proper senior officer now. “I see they gave you an extra pip! Definitely a big step up from the Peregrines, eh?”

Looking around illuminated a few other familiar faces outside of her flight, mostly pilots she had seen or tutored at the Tactical CONN Flight Academy during her time there. Strangely, of the Valravn program test pilots that defected, she only saw Angel there. Liliana frowned at that, silently wondering what happened to the squadron to deplete it so. The room felt overly large for the number it contained compared to what it was designed to hold.

Thomas’s welcome speech was mercifully brief, paralleling Lily’s memories of how he spoke before she was reassigned. He had rarely been a man of many words. It was a trait the often enough garrulous veteran admired. It was going to be a bit of an adjustment to see him as her commanding officer now. While the two had flown together briefly during the opening phase of the Dominion War aboard the Thunderchild, she had met him fresh from the Academy and taken him under her wing until he got oriented properly.

“You know, mission reports are often best given while the memory is fresh and it has been so long since the Thunderchild. I’ll review your information about this ‘truth’ of yours later.” She said as she moved closer to Ravon. “You’ve seen the Valravns in action, yes? What do you think?”

Lt. JG Donna ‘Chance’ Petterson | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]
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Donna could scarcely believe they had made it. Even she herself had given their mission a less than 5% chance of success and yet there she and Isel stood on the deck of the Upper Shuttle Bay of the USS Theurgy. Beyond the doors, the stars flashed by as the now complete dreadnaught dashed along at warp speed; escaping the clutches of Task Force Archeron by seconds. She couldn’t have planned it any better if she had wanted to make it as dramatic. 

She had been standing in the bay, wondering what to do next when the computer had informed her of a summons to the Fighter Assault Bay to meet the pilots of the ship’s Lone Wolves Squadron. The intelligence report from the morning’s briefing had listed their strength at about 12 with a mixture of Valravns and Mk3 Valyries but upon arrival in the briefing room, she was honestly shocked to see only 8 members. Even if only 1 or 2 of them were the RIOs, that only left a squadron strength of around 6 warp fighters. And that was scary.

She had stayed nearby to Isel Nix, hoping to get a chance to speak with the Vulpinian in private but the summons had delayed that idea for the moment. And so, she had stood there and listened as the squadron commander spoke. Despite his introduction, Donna already knew his name to be Thomas Ravon, callsign Razor. Thankfully he had kept it short and sweet. 

And despite her desire to sit down and hash things out with Isel, she had a job to do. Several of them. But before she had even taken two steps, she was confronted by a face she hadn’t seen in years, not since her time aboard the Jadestone. Ironically, it was the 2nd time in almost as many days that she had met a face from that time. First Blizzard and now it was Ghost.

“Of course I remember you Ghost,” Donna responded. She had developed the habit of calling fellow pilots by their callsigns unless in a situation where a name and rank were required. “I learnt a lot from you that’s for sure. And I’m sorry if this is rude but I need to talk to Razor about a matter of great importance. We should definitely catch up later over a drink or three,” Chance proposed.

Without waiting for a response or even checking if Isel was following her, she made her way over to Razor and saluted him.

“Lieutenant JG Donna Petterson, callsign Chance,” Donna introduced herself. “Sir, I need to speak to you about a couple of things, most important of which, is that I need to talk to Captain Ives as soon as possible.”

[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tessa_May_Lance,_callsign_%22Goldeneye%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan,  @Multificionado @Havenborn @Triton @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @Firefox013 @The Ostrich @Vox

In the meantime Lieutenant (junior grade) Tessa May Lance felt a little left out.  It seemed like all of the surviving Lone Wolves had served with at least one of the new meat.  It reminded her of how Lieutenant Commander Jaru Rel, callsign ‘Janus’ had chosen her to round out his squadron at the last minute.  Was one of these newcomers supposed to be flying in her place?  Had an injury or prior commitment left them unable to transfer to the Theurgy and left a slot open for her?   

Guiltily, she remembered that some of the new blood that had become the latest casualties had served aboard the Theurgy for such as short time that they had died before Tessa had ever gotten to know them.  The late Ensign Minjae Soh, callsign ‘Shinigami’ and his Rear Intercept Officer, Petty Officer First Class Karma ein Yueh, callsign ‘Tide’ had come and gone and Tessa couldn’t even remember greeting them in the corridor.  Would that be the newcomer’s memory of Tessa when it was her turn to fly her Valkyrie up to Heaven? 

The very thought inexplicably terrified her; the concept of dying and not being missed, dying as an un-person like that was something she couldn’t stomach, so she decided to introduce herself to one of the newcomers who already had a shipmate serving in the Lone Wolves Squadron.  The tall Andorian woman stuck out from the crowd.  She was the same rank as Tessa  but seemed more mature and self-assured.   Nevertheless, it was time to make a good first impression and try to help her assimilate… oops, that was a Borg word.  It was time to make a good first impression and try to help her feel like a part of the pack as quickly as possible.

“Hi there,” Tessa smiled as she inched over to Jhoza.  “I’m Tessa May Lance, callsign ‘Goldeneye.’  Pleased to meet you,” she added as she extended her hand and smiled warmly. 

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ]
@patches @Stegro88

Walton recognized him immediately which caused Ravon's his heart to warm as it felt good to show his old mentor what he had grown into thanks to her efforts. "Extra pip and all, trained by the best they say." he answered her jokingly as he shook her hand firmly before patting her on the shoulder. "Peregrines are overhauled shuttles after you've flown in one of these." he answered as he nodded out to the fighter assault bay and the mark III's "Nevertheless, they had their merits and tricks up their sleeve as well."

Walton's mention of reviewing this new truth later was met by a nod by the SCO, his lips curling into a smile as she asked about his opinion about the Valravns "I had the pleasure to RIO one a few days back with a rather skillful pilot called Devyrie Okhala. You wouldn't happen to know her would you?" he asked her curiously as, waiting for her answer before continuing "Either way, they felt rather delicate, great speeds and outstanding in maneuverability. Then again... The Valkyries themselves are quite agile and outstanding themselves. I'd say all in all... Both birds would be equally challenging when they'd have to go toe to toe. All depending on the person behind the stick." he concluded as he pushed his shoulder against Walton's "Thank the stars I was trained by the best Starfleet had to offer." he teased Walton.

After a bit more banter with Walton, Thom noticed a n easy on the eyes female pilot stepped forward towards him and saluted him after which she introduced herself. Thomas returned the courtesy of saluting her back as he stood in attention for her, if only to meet her level of professionalism. He glanced her over as she seemed to have urgent matters to discuss. He gave a simple nod as he looked at Walton "If you'll excuse me Meerkat, we should catch up on a later time." he smiled before he motioned Donna to follow him.

He lead Donna to the briefing room's small stage, excluding them a bit from the group to offer them some privacy "Lieutenant, is this a thing we can discuss here or would you rather continue this conversation in my office?" he asked on their way there "As for your request to speak with Captain Ives, I think that'll currently be impossible. The captain has been missing ever since we ran into an unknown Alien race known as the Savi. You can however inform me about it and I'll make sure it'll reach the appropriate channel or person." he informed her as they came to a stop at the stand of the briefing room's stage.

Lt. JG Donna ‘Chance’ Petterson | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan @Fife
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Donna had followed after the SCO to where he had led her nearer the small stage to separate the two of them from the rest of the group. She wasn’t sure about the amount of noise in the room or the distance, but she was fairly sure that Isel would be able to hear her words if she wanted too. If not, then she would tell her later. And then Razor dropped the bomb.

“Captain Ives is missing? That wasn’t part of the plan. Who do I give the message to now? Who can I trust? Should I wait to see if Ives will be found? And who are these Savi?” were all questions and thoughts that ravaged Donna’s mind at the man’s words to her.

“Captain Ives is missing, sir?” Donna asked as her mind raced over options. “Ah, is there a chance that he will be recovered? My orders were clear that my message was to be delivered to Captain Ives as he was the commanding officer of the Theurgy.”

“My other question is simpler by comparison,” Donna continued calmly despite the abrupt upheaval of the plan. “To get here, my wingwoman Isel Nix and myself sedated our RIOs to prevent them interfering. So, unless you have spare RIOs that will trust us enough to fly with us, we are probably going to need to upgrade to flying Mk 3s. Assuming that you have any spare.”

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ]
@Stegro88 @Fife

It wasn't that hard to see the shock going through Donna's mind as Thomas had mentioned that Ives was missing. Clearly something bigger was going on here and Razor couldn't help but wonder what. He kept his composure though as he heard her state the question about Ives' whereabouts and about any chance of them recovering him in the process. Thomas gave it a few seconds before he replied back to Donna about the first matter after hearing her question about switching ships to Mark III's.

"Captain Ives initiated a procedure called the Continuance Protocol. This protocol obliges us to continue our pursuit to bring light about the truth to the universe. We first did so as separate vectors, without much success... Hence why we merged together. In addition we have discovered a Borg threat that is imminent to our quadrants. We have no reason to believe Ives is still alive, seen certain developments..." he explained calmly "If I may be so bold, why are you supposed to deliver this message personally to Ives? I mean, no offense but... Considering the parasitic infestation growing through the fleet... Who says you aren't here to silence him? Like an assassin of sort?" he voiced out his concerns. Seeing no such reason to distrust the pilot, the concern for his technically acting superior had to be voiced out.

He gave her the chance to reply before carrying on with the second part of her question "As for your birds. We have some spare Mark III's in the bay. If your RIO's remain to be a problem we can switch you over to the single seat fighters along with your wingwoman Isel Nix." he answered her with a smile "Just get some sim hours in to get a good feel of the fighters before you move on to the real thing. I hate to say it, but most of our encounters end up with a high casualty rate. Considering those rates with experienced pilots in their fighters, I don't want to risk losing any more people under my command." he sighed softly, his thoughts going to those lost against the Klingons. "Anyway, feel free to inform your wingwoman of the change. Is there anything else I can do for you lieutenant?" he asked as he straightened up again and smiled friendly towards her as he gazed in her eyes.

[ Ltjg Jhozahosh “Blizzard” sh’Avhennes | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing Room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Multificionado @Doc M.

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Following the fiasco in the shuttlebay, Jhozahosh received orders to report to the briefing room lower down in the bowels of the ship.She had removed her flight suit, and was clad only in the light uniform shirt and trousers that she wore beneath it. She was mildly annoyed that her weapons had been confiscated, but understood their reasons for disarming the defectors. That hadn’t stopped her from threatening all manner of nasty things to the officer who had collected her weapons if he managed to misplace her Ushaan-tor. The walk to the briefing room was a short one, and easy due to the helpful guiding lights.

Jhoza slipped into the back of the room and listened quietly as Commander Ravon addressed them briefly. She was slightly annoyed that their reason for being branded traitors hadn’t been explained yet. She had defected on a hunch, something had seemed off about their relentless pursuit of the Theurgy, and she needed to know why. Her antennae angled forward showing her unease. However she wasn’t given much time to muse as she was approached by a shorter, human woman calling her name. It wasn’t until she introduced herself and mentioned the Jadestone that Jhoza recognized the woman. Her antennae relaxed and stood tall on her head as a small smile crossed her face. ”Hello Rawley. Old times indeed. I didn’t know you were aboard this ship.”

Before much more could be said a voice from beside Jhoza distracted them with another introduction, it really seemed that today was a day for new names and faces. Jhoza accepted the hand and shook it as her antennae focused toward Goldeneye. ”Jhozahosh sh’Avhennes, they call me Blizzard when I’m flying, and people seem to prefer Jhoza when I’m not. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

With introductions, and re-introductions out of the way Jhoza felt that now was the best time to broach the two topics weighing on her mind. ”Could either of you lovely ladies tell me exactly what is going on? I kind of defected to join you on a hunch. Something is not right in the upper levels of Starfeet and I feel like you know something about this/ I cannot say how I know, it is just a feeling in my antennae.” Her hand moved to her chest as she spoke and she began to fidget with her Shapla pendant through her shirt. ”Also, I don’t suppose either of you could help me to get my Ushaan-tor back from the security officers, it is very...sentimental...and important to me.”

[Lieutenant JG Evelyn Rawley, callsign "Ghost" | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan @Triton @Doc M. @Stegro88 @The Ostrich @Fife @Havenborn @patches @Firefox013 @Vox
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With Donna stepping away for a word with Tom Ravon, it left Jhoza with Rawley. Rawley nodded at Jhoza’s words. The Andorian definitely seemed to be in need of explanations, and Tessa, bubbly lass or not, as one of the original Lone Wolves, can confirm it.

“Oh, aye, something isn’t right with the upper levels of Starfleet,” she said. “In a nutshell, some of the head honchos of Starfleet are being possessed by these…parasites, for want of a better word. Better details can be provided by the higher-ups, like Commander Ravon, but suffice to say, they’ve infiltrated Starfleet, and they may have infiltrated our neighbours as well. As to what they intend, it’s possible that they mean to destabilize the Federation, perhaps all societies as a whole. As I said, the higher-ups can provide more, and better, detail.

“A prime example of one bloke whose been possessed is Admiral Sankalov. He and his task force have been chasing us for a few months noo, three or four, I dinnae know, and we’ve had a number of close shaves. And we have another such person, confined in our brig. He’s been a trusted member of the crew, and to think he was taken in by one of those parasites…it still makes my skin crawl. That man…is Doctor Nicander. He may very well have been mucking things up around this ship, to stop us from getting the truth out.”

Rawley felt somewhat on edge at bringing up Nicander, and as such, decided to change the subject.

“As I said, some of the higher-ups, like Commander Ravon, will provide better details of the threat we’re facing. I’m just a simple bird who can fly, shoot and kick arse.

“Now on your Ushaan-tor...yeh might have to bring it up with Security. We'll have a word with the lot once we get done meeting the new bunch.”

Rawley could understand Jhoza’s sentiments about her blade, now that she carried a souvenir from the Klingon boarders. She remembered seeing it on Jhoza’s person in the days of the Jadestone, and as silly-looking as it was, it was a blade not to be trifled with, and one could say the same thing about some Klingon blades as well.

Rawley never forgot Jhoza’s Ushaan. She always admired that blade, being dangerous as it was. After she finished the call, she showed Jhoza her souvenir.

“Yeh just reminded me,” she said. “This is a souvenir from when we took on a Klingon boarding party last night. Dinnae know what we did to get on the bad side of Klingons, and we lost half our squadron in the fight. I got this blade from Lieutenant Garcia,” she added, making a nod of indication at Angel. “I believe it’s a Klingon mek’leth. If we have the time, once yeh get your Ushaan back, we could try a sparring match, practice blade combat, aye?”

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OOC: If I got things wrong in Rawley's explanation of what's wrong with Starfleet, please let me know and I'll make the necessary changes.

[ Ensign Isel "Foxfire" Nix Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]

Isel had remained silent throughout Lieutenant Commander Ravon's debrief. The man thankfully kept it short and sweet, welcoming them aboard and speaking briefly about making themselves comfortable and mission reports. Gee, thanks Sir, but our mission isn't over yet. The Vulpinian thought to herself, her mismatched eyes scanning the rest of the faces in the room.

The debrief done, Isel kept to herself and hovered at the edge of the group, any sign of her usual happy go lucky nature gone. This little meet and greet was all well and good, but she and Donna had business to attend to. Isel kept her face neutral as she watched Donna talking to the SCO, the Vulpinian willing the other woman to hurry up so they could deliver this fucking message and be done with it. The presence of so many other defectors irked her slightly, and caused her to wonder why Donna had blackmailed her into taking part in this little mission.

The sooner they got the message they carried to this Captain Ives, the sooner they could move on to working through the rest of their issues. As things stood, they had a lot to talk about. Isel's multicoloured eyes fell on the woman in question, still talking with their new SCO. Deciding she was invested enough to butt into the conversation, Isel made her way over to join Donna and Ravon. As she approached, what she heard did not exactly fill her with confidence. The first thing she heard Ravon say was something about "bringing the light about the truth to the universe." which sounded more like someone selling religion door-to-door like in the old Earth movies Isel had watched at the Academy rather than a Starfleet mission. Then the bugger seemed to imply that Donna may be some sort of assassin. Was that really something that was being considered? They defected, killed their former comrades, took on an Akira-Class starship, and covered the Theurgy from torpedos, they helped clear boarding parties, all so Donna could assassinate Ives? This guy had run too many holonovels!

Isel's eyes flashed fury at the suggestion, though she kept her mouth shut for once, choosing to wait a short distance away while Donna to finish the conversation. Once they were clear of the rest of the group Donna could fill her in on the details.

Lt. JG Donna ‘Chance’ Petterson | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan @Fife @Auctor Lucan
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Chance could understand the questioning of her mission and the possible threat she might be towards Captain Ives. If someone had come up to her, having experienced everything she had so far and said they had a secret message to be delivered to Captain Ives only, would she believe them, much less trust them?

“Ah, could you pass a message to whomever is the captain of the Theurgy at present and let them know that Foxfire and myself need to speak with them at their earliest convenience?” Donna requested of her seemingly new SCO. “I can understand if it might be a day or two before that occurs but I believe it should be sooner rather than later, sir.”

“Other than that, if you can organise the simulators for us, Foxfire and myself will qualify ASAP for the Mk3s. I can’t speak for Bourbon, Foxfire’s RIO, but my RIO Tank will not come around. He was die-hard against the Theurgy an her crew as he lost several friends at the Battle of Starbase 84.”

“Thank you for your time, sir,” Donna said, rendering another salute to Razor. “If you could let me know what the captain says, I will be with my wingwoman.”

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ]
@Stegro88  @Fife @Triage

The wingwoman Donna Petterson had called Firefox seemed to be close by as Ravon caught on to her as she moved slightly closer. He couldn't quite shake an odd feeling about her, something familiar... It hadn't hit him just yet at what kind of species she was and he turned his full attention back to Donna as she requested an audience with whomever was in charge at the moment. The eyes of the SCo eventually came to rest on Cameron Henshaw as she had somehow entered the room without him noticing. A faint smile covering his lips as he nodded at Donna.

"You can start sim training whenever you like, they should still be up in the holodecks as we had a few new pilots before our Klingon engagement. Resolve pilots have trained in them to get used to them, so feel free to pop some time in them whenever you can." he informed her as he nodded towards Henshaw "As for a meeting with our acting captain, I advise you to go and talk to that woman over there." he smiled "She was.. Is the captain's yeoman an in addition she's our flight controller. I think she'll be able to get you to the right person the quickest."

He saluted both pilots before dismissing them and looked around if anyone else would need a word with him.

[ LtJG Sephiria Arn, Callsign: Scylla| Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ]

The rather robustly built Andorian walked over, nodding to them, his stub bandaged now, it didn’t prevent him from looking more than a little surly though. “Whiteout this is Angel, she and I used to fly together.” She said as Whiteout nodded. “Ah so this is the infamous Angel, Scylla here says you’re one of the most insane sticks she’s flown with.” He says smirking, extending a hand in what he knew to be an old earth greeting custom called a handshake.

While they spoke softly, the Theurgy’s flight leader was giving his short welcome briefing as Sephiria saw it, more of a ‘wham bam, we lost peeps, need peeps, you’re all peeps so welcome!’ Type of thing but she knew they were probably just tired from all that stuff. Sephiria stood there, listening to the others around and observed them. The easy confidence many around them were standing in their armor with told her there were no rookies here, no greenhorns. That said two things, first, the greenhorns were probably dead, part of their losses and second, the ones who weren’t were no longer greenhorns. She took a slow breath, sighing softly as she leaned her back to the wall, arms crossed, helmet resting on the floor, her booted foot atop it.

[ Ens. Cameron Henshaw (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Cameron_Henshaw) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan, @Stegro88 & @Fife
[Show/Hide]Upon the successful reintegration of the three vectors, Wenn left the bridge with some of the senior command staff and most of the bridge crew had been left with little to do. Stark saw no real need for the Yeoman's presence while the rest of Tactical Conn was standing down and meeting their new defectors, so she was allowed to leave her station and wander. The young woman's travelling brought her right to the Briefing Room, and she saw the new faces intermixed with the old. It was a very odd sensation in her gut when she saw the new faces and the old.

There was an instinct to count to see if there were more newcomers than the surviving original members. How many of them were even the original ones?

Moving stealthily and quietly, she slinked around the edges of the crowd, mostly observing the goings on, until she found herself near to Thomas Ravon, and the man was busy conversing or briefing the new pilots. Plastering a tired smile on her lips, the young officer watched for any greeters that approached her, apparently having been referred to by Thomas, and she said immediately to the first one, “Hullo, Ensign Cameron Henshaw.”

Lt. JG Donna ‘Chance’ Petterson | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife @Triage
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Chance looked over at the woman that that Razor indicated, noting both her youthful smile as well as her Ensign rank before returning her attention to her new Commanding Officer.

“Thank you again, sir,” Chance said before stepping back and turning away. Seeing Isel nearby, Chance decided to speak with her first before moving to speak with the yeoman. Hooking a hand through her partner’s arm, Chance pulled her aside and spoke to her in a lowered voice so that only the two of them would hear what she said.

“Isel, I know that we have much we need to speak of, and I owe you my life several times over, but there is more going on now than even I am understanding,” Chance revealed. “But, on the bright side, I got use two new fighters. And upgrades to boot.”

“But now we have to go talk to that Ensign over there and hope that she can point us in the direction of whomever is in charge of this ship,” Chance explained before walking over to the Ensign, who greeted her as she approached.

"Hullo, Ensign Cameron Henshaw," the woman introduced herself.

“Hi Ensign Henshaw, I’m Lieutenant JG Donna Petterson,” Chance replied. “And I need to speak to the Captain ASAP.”

[ Ensign Isel “Foxfire” Nix | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 || USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Stegro88 @Triage

Isel could see the seriousness in Donna’s expression as the woman approached, as well as hear it in her tone as she spoke. ”Isel, I know that we have much we need to speak of, and I owe you my life several times over, but there is more going on now than even I am understanding.” That didn’t sound good. What sort of mess had they walked into? ”But, on the bright side, I got us two new fighters. And upgrades to boot.” Well that was something, though Isel couldn’t help but wonder if the fact that their RIOs would be murderously angry with them had had something to do with it as well. Either way, it was a new toy, and the Vulpinian was looking forward to playing with it!

”I feel like this situation is even more fucked up than we thought…” Isel muttered, as her eyes scanned the room. The concern she heard in Donna’s tone turned the Vulpinian's feelings of frustration to those of worry. God, she was tired. ”Out talk can wait. I’ll watch your six.”

Isel followed as Donna approached a young Human woman wearing the red uniform of command, and saw that the Human’s collar sported pips announcing the same rank as Isel herself held. Isel moved up behind Donna as the young Ensign introduced herself, and listened as Donna followed suit, first introducing herself and then stating that they needed to see the ship’s Captain. Isel poked her head to the side to see the young Human past Donna, flashing a smile that showed off her sharp canine teeth and crinkled her nose slightly as she added her own introduction. ”And I’m Ensign Isel Nix.” Isel said by way of introduction, still peering at the Human from behind Donna.

[ Ens. Cameron Henshaw (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Cameron_Henshaw) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan, @Stegro88 & @Fife
[Show/Hide]“Pleasure,” said Cam conversationally, with her eyes crinkling in a smile. Nodding at Donna and Isel, she pursed her lips at the request to speak to the captain immediately. There was very likely something of great importance, but these two pilots were newcomers, and Cam was more than a little wary that it might be an ill-conceived assassination attempt on the captain.

Stranger things have happened.

“Duly noted, Lieutenant,” she said, as she considered her words, “Captain Wenn will be notified by myself of your wish to speak to him. May I ask what it's about? I gather you have a sense of urgency, but please understand, we have so much going on right now, so it would help if you can provide me with at least a hint of what you're bringing to the captain that's so important, I can at least prioritize it.”

She hoped that would be sufficient for the two, and she hoped she was dealing with this properly, or she was likely going to regret it severely. The Yeoman lifted up her PADD, ready to input information as provided by them.

Lt. JG Donna ‘Chance’ Petterson | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Triage @Fife
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“If I was a more trusting individual, I’d be insulted with the level of distrust I’m feeling right about now,”[/color] Donna thought to herself at the Ensign’s tone. She had answered exactly as she should have given her position and the situation but her tone, to Donna, was filled with suspicion and distrust. “But given everything that has happened both to them and myself before now, it’s just being prudent.”

“Forgive me Ensign but even I do not know the full nature of the message I carry,” Donna explained to the yeoman. “I was assigned by the Director of Starfleet Intelligence’s Covert Operations Department to deliver a message with dire ramifications regarding the fate of the Federation. Given what I have heard just now from Lt Cmdr Ravon, I think it has something to do with that. But I do not know the exact contents of the message.”

“In the course of my efforts to deliver the message, I have hurt those I cared about, attacked my own crewmates and turned traitor to Starfleet and the Federation,” Donna listed off, trying to keep her frustration at bay but struggling. “I know I have no credibility to my name but I would appreciate just a little bit of faith. Have whomever Captain Wenn wishes at the meeting but I am under orders to deliver the message in person.”

[ Ltjg Jhozahosh “Blizzard” sh’Avhennes | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing Room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Multificionado

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Jhoza’s face was impassive as Rawley explained the situation to her, however her antennae were not. They twitched and wavered with each piece of new information coming to light. Possession in the upper ranks of command, her antennae quivered, this was worse than she had imagined. Working to destabilize the Federation and her neighbours, her antennae were practically flat against her skull now, she was furious that anybody, parasite or otherwise would try to destroy something that she held so dear. Sankalov was one of them, that actually made some sense, several of his orders and actions while Jhoza had served with the Task Force had seemed very unlike Starfleet. One of the parasites was aboard the Theurgy too? She swore quietly in Andorian, it seemed this Nicander had been identified and taken into custody, but for all Jhoza knew there could still be more roaming the ship.

Her Ushaan-tor, security had it, and Rawley was right, it was with the gold collars she would have to speak to get it back. The sight of a Klingon blade in Rawley’s hand brought a small smile to Jhoza’s lips and her antennae relaxed. ”You wish to spar? Once I have my Ushaan-tor back I would enjoy that. Few people aboard the Dauntless were willing to spar with me. I don’t think they trusted me, on account of the fact that half my squad defected at eighty-four. But I promise you, my skills are as sharp as ever.” Her antennae angled toward Rawley, observing her like a pair of small blue snakes waiting for the right moment to strike. ”Have you ever used a Mek’leth before? I’m not the most skilled with one, but I did spar with them a few times while I was aboard the Chol’Vok during the war.” Memories of that noble ship sprung to her mind and Jhoza felt a momentary pang of nostalgia as she recalled the noble guardsmen and Klingons who had been there with her. It had been too long since she had seen them. ”You'll have to tell me the whole story surrounding how you got that weapon.” She smiled as she spoke.

The memories of her time aboard the Klingon vessel and fighting in the Dominion War returned, and leapt unbidden to her family on Andoria. Her eyes went wide and her antennae shot bolt upright. ”Rawley! I...I need to make a subspace call, is that possible? My family, my loving bondmates and beautiful children. They don’t know I defected, I don’t want them to think I’ve gone rouge. It was spur of the moment, there was no time to tell them, no time to warn them. Oh, what have I done! I need to warn them! Tell them to protect themselves and be wary!” Her antennae lashed in agitation as she felt fear for her family. Under normal circumstances the Federation wouldn’t extract any punishment upon them for her defection, but with these parasites in control of Starfleet who knew what might happen.

[Lieutenant JG Evelyn Rawley, callsign "Ghost" | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan @Triton @Doc M. @Triage @Stegro88 @The Ostrich @Fife @patches @Havenborn
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Rawley let out a very wide grin when Jhoza mentioned few people were willing to spar with her on the Dauntless.

“I dinnae know, I’m sure they’re rather more scared shiteless of yeh,” she said. “I dinnae blame them, of course; people would be scared of me with this…mek’leth, yeh call it?”

She hefted the blade slightly.

“Well, I hae never tried it before,” she admitted, “But I’d love to give it a try. It seems like a handy melee weapon.

“I acquired the blade when we encountered a bloody Klingon flagship,” she said. “The Sword – Vector Two – It was boarded as we had to make our getaway. I got this from ‘Angel’ Garcia, souvenir it is. I’m sure we’re not to be forgotten for long…”

When Jhoza burst out about making a subspace call, Rawley jumped in surprise.

“I…think it’s possible,” she said, “but yeh need to exercise a shite load of precautions; yeh need to make sure it’s secure, that it won’t be picked up. I send a message to me uncle Haldane from time to time, but I’m always careful; it wouldn’t do for us to have our arses tracked. Yeh may need to talk to one of the lads or lasses in yellow, the ones in Engineering, to set one up, but it’s possible to do it. Hope the rest of your family will be alright.”

Rawley left Jhoza momentarily and exhaled at the thought of Uncle Haldane. How long had it been since she last sent him a secret message, she wondered?

She looked for Donna, hoping to catch up a spell. It took her a moment, but she was surprised to find her so easily; she was chatting with one of the only people in the room not wearing the silver colours of a Lone Wolf.

Judging from Donna’s expression and the way she was addressing Ensign Henshaw, Rawley felt it best to give Donna a wide berth. She knew better to interfere with business. Besides, she can catch up with Donna later. So, she turned and bumped into her old flight instructor.

“Walton? Blimey! Small universe, innit?” she said. “Not exactly a class reunion, aye?”

[ Ens. Cameron Henshaw (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Cameron_Henshaw) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan, @Stegro88 & @Fife
[Show/Hide]Cam blushed a little when she realized that Donna saw right through her deflection attempts. Moreover, the pilot had a message from the Director of Starfleet Intelligence?!? She eyed the woman cautiously and then raised her hands in surrender, “All right, all right, I'm sorry. I'll let the captain know and clear the schedule.”

It certainly sounded crucial and urgent.

But it appeared the Yeoman wasn't going to be able to bring Donna in immediately as she had hoped. Looking at her PADD, new data had been updated pertaining to the Captain's schedule, and he was very very busy dealing with a crucial matter regarding the Borg. “I apologize again, Lieutenant,” said Cam as she looked up at the woman, “but while I respect the urgency, I'm afraid the matter regarding the Borg takes precedence, and it appears that I can't bring you to the captain immediately, not until the Borg threat has been addressed and dealt with.”

She stroked her chin thoughtfully and then arched an eyebrow, muttering almost to herself, “Would be nice if we were allowed a moment to breathe for a change.” She suddenly looked at Donna again and cleared her throat, “In the meantime, I suppose you can avail yourself to whatever facilities you might require after your flight. I'll prepare a suitable notice for Captain Wenn in the meanwhile, and classify this as top priority after the Borg. I hope this will suffice.” She looked apologetically at the woman, hoping she'd understand.

[ Lt JG Alessia Garcia - Callsign "Angel" (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alessia_Garcia,_callsign_%22Angel%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]
@Multificionado @Nolan @Firefox013 @Havenborn @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @The Ostrich @Vox

Angel returned the greeting, though she was amused slightly at her reputation. Good to know it was the one she'd had in her post- graduation years. "Infamous, huh?" Alessia smirked at the Trill, looking her up and over with a toothy grin then she shrugged, greeting in formal Andorian out of familiarity with a heel-click and chin-up salute stance that the martial species used as a common greeting, despite her lack of antennae, she avoided looking at the RIO's stub and didn't dare offend by questioning his efficiency without the perceived ability to balance.

Alessia turned a half-smile back as they reminisced. "Scylla's being generous. When the Odyssey was destroyed, the Hornet became one of the first Venture-classes. Skipper needed runabout drivers. Competition to get aboard his ship for anyone with a grudge against the Dominion was like initiation to the Yan-Isleth: get good and get noticed." The Imperial Honor-Guard and Something of a rival to the Andorian counterpart was mentioned when she heard Rawley bragging about her new weapon, which drew Angel to lead with a regard in the Scot's direction with just the halfmost of smug expressions. "Sometimes you gotta roll the hard six to get into a position to kick some ass. It is what it is."  She said in Ghost's direction, in some thing of an 'I heard that!' tone.

Lt. JG Donna ‘Chance’ Petterson | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]
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“Finally, now we are getting somewhere,” Donna thought to herself as the Ensign blushed and apologised before beginning to tap away at her PADD. While the yeoman was busy, Donna took a moment to glance at Isel. She owed so much to the Vulpinian that Donna wasn’t sure she would ever be able to wipe that slate clean. And then the Ensign was apologising again. “What now?”

“Borg?” Donna blurted, unable to restrain herself. “What Borg threat? The intelligence briefing we received aboard the Dauntless didn’t mention anything about a Borg threat. And as far as I know of, no one has seen or heard from the Borg since Voyager’s return.” “Some have even thought that the Borg might even be gone for good,” added silently. Her mind began to race at this new information, trying to form new conclusions as her training taught her but she forced herself to calm. She was no longer in a position to do anything. She was a fighter pilot now, not an undercover operative. She had her mission and now she needed to live long enough to complete it.

“Sometimes I miss the old days,” Donna noted to herself. “Back then, the information I gathered meant something. And if I needed help, I had a way to get it. But now, now I’m on my own, aboard a renegade ship with a crew that doesn’t fully trust me. And I am trying to deliver a message that I don’t even know the contents of, to a man that everyone is calling a traitor. Have I lost my mind?”

---

OOC: No one has told Chance about the Borg yet (laugh)

[Lieutenant JG Evelyn Rawley, callsign "Ghost" | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan @Triage @Triton @Stegro88 @Havenborn @Doc M. @The Ostrich @patches @Fife @Firefox013 @Vox
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"Borg?" Donna blurted, unable to restrain herself. "What Borg threat? The intelligence briefing we received aboard the Dauntless didn't mention anything about a Borg threat. And as far as I know of, no one has seen or heard from the Borg since Voyager's return."

Rawley whirled at hearing Donna blurted out. It occurred to her that neither she nor the new Wolves knew anything about the Borg threat. She excused herself and approached Donna to explain.

“Pardon, Donna, I cannae help but hearing yeh, bellowing aboot the Borg,” she said. “Allow me to explain: We picked up some refugees from an attack from the Borg. Their starship, the Endeavour, was destroyed, and they had been following the cube’s signature to its point of origins when we came across them. We foond proof of the attack from their logs and such, and we followed their signature to the center of the Azure Nebula, where we foond these apertures, enabling the Borg to make their way from the Delta Quadrant. Granted, we stumbled across a Klingon flagship commandeered by Chancellor Martok, and how we pissed him off, I have no idea, but I saw a cube going into one of those apertures as we scarpered.

“From what I hear since we’ve reintegrated with the ‘Stallion,’ Vector Three, if you will, that vector came across a starship attacked by the Borg, the Cayuga, Anya Zeigler’s ship, who was Theurgy’s former first officer. Fortunately, they were still alive, the ‘Stallion’ helped their arses, and they sent the Captain’s Yacht, the Allegiant, to follow traces of the Borg. The cube I mentioned earlier, it was following it. So we’ve determined that the Borg have cropped up in two places. For all we know, they’ve been scoping oot the Nebula, maybe using it, and the apertures, to mount a staging ground for a full-scale invasion. The whole Alpha Quadrant will be screwed unless we do something.

“I can understand that we haven’t heard aboot the Borg for some years,” she added. “Seems like, sooner or later, they just crop back up again. Almost makes me think of vermin; no matter how much we stamp them out, they come back sooner or later.

"Who mentioned the Borg to yeh?" she asked, before she realized who Donna was talking to before her bellow of surprise, and she turned to Ensign Henshaw. "Oh, sorry, Ensign. Might have mentioned it before, but I heard Donna mention the Borg; dinnae yeh think a thorough explanation was in order, particularly for the new Wolves in the pack?"

“It must be ironic, innit?" she added with a scoff, "Starfleet’s Most Wanted, and yet whole lot of us are the bloody quadrant’s only hope.”

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OOC: Having noticed Stegro's OCC note that nobody's told Donna about the Borg yet, I felt it could be a good idea that someone would explain to her about the Borg threat. If there's anything in the post that needs changing, let me know via PM.

[ Ens. Cameron Henshaw (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Cameron_Henshaw) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan, @Stegro88 & @Fife
[Show/Hide]Mentally kicking herself for assuming things, Cam realized that no one had briefed Donna about the Borg yet. What was she to expect? The woman had just come in from a tussle with Task Force Archeron and now they'd barely landed before more bad news was being unloaded. Fortunately, it seemed like Evelyn was more than happy to provide the entire spiel, sparing the Yeoman. But anytime Donna looked towards her, she merely nodded in agreement or confirmation of whatever the pilot was saying. She clutched her padd to her chest and sighed, “Welcome to the Theurgy,” said Cam in a cynical tone, “soon to be renamed Murphy.”

Because anything that can go wrong will go wrong here.

“Martok's livid with us,” said Cam to Evelyn, “because he blames us for the death of his son. The away team at the Coreless Moon had run afoul of a Klingon squadron led by Drex, and from the debriefing of Sera vers Aldnoah, Tessa May Lance, Eliska Bremmer and James Mariner, there were remnant structures of an ancient civilization there, whose defense mechanisms still worked and activated upon contact and interaction by one Heather McMillan. The ensuing result was a high energy defense using a powerful weaponized light amplification that has never been seen before which took out all Klingon ships within proximity to the moon.”

She shook her head and looked towards Donna, “You honestly came to us at the worst possible time. Captain Ives and a significant portion of our crew, the majority of them of hybrid origins and even our ship's AI, has been taken. Captain Wenn now commands, and we're dealing with the discovery of the Borg presence, as Rawley just explained. Leadership will deliberate on the best course of action, but I think it's rather obvious a choice to make. Will you need anything?”

[ Ensign Isel “Foxfire” Nix | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 || USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Stegro88 @Triage @Multificionado
[Show/Hide]Isel had listened to both Ensign Henshaw and Lieutenant Rawley’s explanations in dead silence, her eyes staring blankly at the two as they spoke. Donna’s initial outburst had more or less summed up her own feelings at first hearing the news about the Borg presence, though now that the details had been explained more thoroughly, those words no longer seemed adequate. Not by a long shot.

”Well, I have to say…” Isel began, desperately trying to keep her voice calm, ”that this all sound like… what’s the word I’m looking for?” Isel paused, her eyes rolling upwards theatrically as she played at thinking of a word that would be an apt descriptor, her hand coming up to tap a finger against her bottom lip. ”Ah, yes!” she exclaimed after a moment, snapping her fingers at though she’d come to some great conclusion. ”Like a complete and utter cluster fuck!” The words sounded odd, delivered as they were in a tone which dripped with cheerful sarcasm. As Isel turned her gaze to Donna, her eyes flashed a mixture of concern, fear, and burning fury. ”I swear to fuck, Donna! The next time you fucking take me somewhere, it had better involve warm sandy beaches, strong fucking drinks, and little to no fucking clothing! None of this taking to to strange ships full of traitors with everyone trying to kill and apparently now assimilate us! Fuck!”

Isel turned her attention back to Henshaw then, shaking her head ever so slightly. ”Man, you guys don’t do anything half-assed around here, do you? You’ve got an entire Starfleet task force up your ass, the Borg about to invade the entire goddamn quadrant and some angry Klingons thrown into the mix just to spice things up?”

Isel sighed, his shoulders sagging and her tail drooping towards the deck. ”Fuck me… I need a drink…”

[Lieutenant JG Evelyn Rawley, callsign "Ghost" | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan @Triage @Triton @Stegro88 @Doc M. @Havenborn @Fife @The Ostrich @Firefox013 @Vox @patches
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Rawley took in Henshaw’s words and was taken aback by what she heard.

“The Chancellor blames us lot for the death of his son, when it transpired some booby trap in some husk of a moon killed him?” she said, gobsmacked. That explained a lot, but it still took her aback.

She remembered hearing the drone lass earlier bringing up viewscreen footage of a sortie with Asurians; perhaps if she could ask Ensign Six to find viewscreen footage of what happened, or footage from one of the fighters detailed what happened to Martok’s son, and copy the recording to show the Chancellor? It could be handy evidence to prove the Theurgy wasn’t responsible for the lad’s demise.

Before Rawley knew it, a white-haired lass at Donna’s side burst out into a foul-mouthed tirade worthy of Rawley to make. Judging from those words, she must be Donna’s wingmate, as well as girlfriend. Rawley nodded in understanding at what the lass had to say.

“Aye,” she said, “There’s rarely a half-arsed mo’ that doesn’t slip by, lass. Though, in me experience, most of the time we dinnae go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds us.”

At mention that she needed a drink, Rawley added, “Yeh can grab a bevie in the lounge if yeh like, the lounge isn’t far from this room, but dinnae get yerself pished, we may need t’ be called up at a mo’s notice.”

Turning back to Donna, she said, “Yeh got yerself a nice lass, Donna.”

Then to Henshaw, she added in an undertone, “Henshaw, if Martok does blame us, we need to give him ample proof that we are not responsible; it’s genuinely possible we’ll run into him again, he’s nae gonna forget us in a hurry. Yeh remember that drone lass earlier, back at the Whetstone, and that show of the Stallion’s sortie? If yeh can get her t’ find footage of what happened to Drex, either from the Theurgy, or one of our fighters…we need a copy of that footage to show the Chancellor, t’ prove we didn’t kill Drex.”

[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tessa_May_Lance,_callsign_%22Goldeneye%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan,  @Multificionado @Havenborn @Triton @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @Firefox013 @The Ostrich @Vox

Tessa had simply been silently meandering around and aimlessly listening in on snatches of the other pilots’ conversations.  When did she become so socially awkward?  Back when she was a teenager, she had always been one of the ‘popular girls’.  Now she was the lowest on the pecking order, regardless of what rank pips she had on her collar.  It was almost as if the other pilots could tell that she was missing that ‘death or glory spirit’ that the rest of them had.   She had lost her warrior’s instinct and now she was a sheep that had been adopted by a pack of wolves.  No matter what happened, she just didn’t seem to click with anyone.  Thankfully the conversation mainly seemed to be the veteran pilots filling in the newcomers on the current situation.  Tessa appreciated the recap.  Truth be told, things were spiraling so fast that she hadn’t really caught up yet.

She didn’t have anything to add until Henshaw and Rawley started discussing what happened at the Coreless Moon.  “But what about that woman we picked up at SuD Lang?” Tessa chirped.  "She just showed up with the Klingons in the docking bay and started shooting them, even though they gave her a ride in their raiders.  Who is she?  Why did she do that?  And why did the Klingons start shooting at us?  I thought that the mine had been played out and abandoned decades ago!”  As the captain’s yeoman, Cameron Henshaw had access to the insider information of the big picture that few others aboard the Theurgy possessed.

Lt. JG Donna ‘Chance’ Petterson | Briefing Room | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Fife @Triage @Multificionado
[Show/Hide]
Listening to Ghost’s explanation on the Borg’s presence in the area was concerning, to put it mildly. There was one, possibly two Borg cubes prowling the nebula. Although, considering that there was also a Borg Transwarp Aperture in the nebula, that number was merely of confirmed sightings. The real number present was anyone’s guess. And that number could change rapidly. It was one of the first lessons that she had learnt when she was an operative for Starfleet Intelligence. If you sighted a Borg presence, you reported it immediately. And it didn’t matter what your current mission was.

Listening to Henshaw’s explanation of why the Klingons were pissed at them was just strange by comparison. Some ancient, undiscovered weapon system decided to wake up and vaporise every Klingon within range but leave the present Starfleet personal unharmed. And it killed Drex, Martok’s son.

“I remember watching Drex get his arse handed to him by Lieutenant Commander Worf,” Donna reminisced, thinking back to one of her early missions. She had considered him an idiot but had later watched as he had come good during the Dominion War.

Isel’s reaction to all this, well, Donna had to restrain herself from laughing her arse off at the Vulpinian’s words. They were just so typically Isel. So sweet natured and charming. And absolutely cutting. “And I could definitely go for a nice sandy beach right now with a prolific alcohol supply and a complete lack of clothing. And a complete absence of anyone but Isel. But I can’t see that happening for a while.”

“Don’t I know it,” Donna responded in agreement to Ghost’s words on having a nice lass. She couldn’t know the turmoil that lurked beneath the surface of both pilots; the betrayal. “And I would love a good strong drink as well Isel but we have more important things to take care of first,” she pointed out to her wingmate before turning to the yeoman. “Can you direct us to the simulators?”

[ Lt JG Alessia Garcia - Callsign "Angel" (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alessia_Garcia,_callsign_%22Angel%22)| Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]
@Multificionado @Nolan @Firefox013 @Havenborn @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @The Ostrich @Vox
Watching the new fighter pilots from the White Wolves mingling with the Theurgy crew, Angel was reminded about when she came aboard herself, and all the scepticism she'd carried. It had to be easier for them, seeing her there and knowing that another White Wolf had made the same choice that she did.

But at the same time, the day before, Angel had been there when the rest of the White Wolves were killed in action. The Valravn fighters had been in the second attack wave, deployed later from the Theurgy, and they had ended up right in Martok's crosshairs. Before that, it was the Savi. They lost Shinigami then, and his RIO. Devyrie... Fury told me she was beamed out. I can only hope she is still alive out there, and have teamed up with all the others who were abducted. I hate to think what might have happened to her on that Axe-ship.

Should it be that she was already dead, Angel tried to find courage in the sight of Walton and her Flight, knowing that she and Fury were no longer the last White Wolves alive. Those months on Luna Base and the brief time on the Orcus had tied the White Wolves together, but not well enough to make them all follow Terror when she defected to the Theurgy. She supposed she needed to tell Meerkat, Scylla, Wraith and Blizzard more about their lost SCO, detailing how she and the rest had died on the prowl, like true wolves did. She wasn't sure she was ready to do it right then and there, when they were surrounded by her new squadron...

It would definitely put a damper on the current mood.

So, Angel smiled a little to Rawley and the rest, silently approaching Walton where she stood and spoke with Thomas Ravon. Ravon, who was the very reason why she had come aboard herself - why she had decided to follow Terror at Starbase 84. When there was a pause in their conversation, Angel cleared her throat a little, and looked at Walton. "I guess you want to know more, about what happened to the others," she said, her tone no longer light, and she glanced towards Ravon. "I can tell her, if you want. Perhaps it's best coming from me."

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]
@Auctor Lucan @patches

While conducting some small talk with Walton, Garcia had showed up and cleared her throat as she volunteered to inform Walton of what had happened to the rest of the Valravn fighter squadron. It was an offer Thomas didn't refuse as he gave a slight nod to her "Be my guest." He could understand why Alessia wanted to do so. She would be a more familiar face for Walton in comparison to Thomas. Of course Walton had trained him, yet Garcia would be the freshest face for her memory, perhaps even the most believable one too.

He looked further throughout the briefing room, Henshaw talking to the two pilots whom had come up to him before as the rest of them were having some conversation. Ravon excused himself from the two women with him as he made his way back to his office. He kept the door open in case anyone would still want a word with him. Yet he'd have bigger concerns on his hands now. To start with, the new squadron chart had to be made and he'd have to read through the files of every pilot after the reunion of the vectors. 

[ Ens. Cameron Henshaw (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Cameron_Henshaw) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan, @Multificionado, @Doc M., @Auctor Lucan, @Stegro88 & @Fife
[Show/Hide]Cam felt terrible delivering the horrible news followed by worse news to the newcomers, but she supposed it was better to let them know just what they were getting themselves into, and then let them sort out how to deal with all from there on out. She winced ever so slightly, hugging her PADD to her chest when Isel cussed, and the Yeoman couldn't help muttering to herself, “If I had a latinum for every time I heard that...”

At the mention of going to a nice sandy retreat somewhere, Cam again muttered under her breath, “Take me with you.”

She had been about to answer Evelyn, when Tessa came up and began firing off an excited series of questions, and the young woman strained to keep track of everything. Don't panic, Cam, don't panic! she thought to herself, “Well,” she started, “best as I can tell, the woman is Zyrao Natauna, I think she's an El-Aurian, and she'd been with the Klingons for some time, but circumstances and intel led her to join forces with us. The Klingons opened fire, provoked by Lieutenant Hi'Jak, who betrayed us to them. As for that mine, as I mentioned earlier, Heather McMillan, who's a member of a species colloquially known as the Radiants, shared a kind of ancestral connection to the civilization you and Bremmer had found together with her. From her own tricorder records and logs, it seemed that to protect her and ensure her survival, the Artificial Intelligence there had drawn the last of its power supply to fire a...superweapon, which destroyed anything that had been just outside of the mine, which was the Klingons. Our people within the structures were spared. This was in your own logs, Lance.”

She turned to Evelyn then, “As for your idea, while it certainly has merit, Captain Wenn didn't exactly have success in persuading the Chancellor to even receive telemetry from us which might prove our innocence. He had been warned by Task Force Archeron to jam our signals in anticipation of cyber attacks.”

Donna looked to be the leader of the troupe surrounding her, and she was ready to get into training already. Cam admired the woman's sturdiness and ready nature, “Of course,” said Cam, “Right this way, oh and Ensign Nix,” she turned to the Vulpinian, “As Rawley mentioned, if you fancy having a sip, the favoured lounge would be in the drink...uh...I mean the latrine...decks! I mean Below Decks! It's on deck twenty-eight, vector three, you can't miss it. Right! To the simulators!” She shook her head and her voice had risen in octave and pitch at the last part, followed by her promptly bustling off towards the turbolifts, not checking to see if Donna or the others were following her.

[Lieutenant JG Evelyn Rawley, callsign "Ghost" | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Nolan @Triage @Doc M. @Havenborn @Stegro88 @Fife @Vox @The Ostrich @Firefox013
[Show/Hide]

Rawley listened to Henshaw as she spoke. She blinked to hear about this Lieutenant Hi’Jak. And she thought it was bad enough to have one traitor aboard.

“Lieutenant Hi’Jak? Did he ever go by ‘Jack,’ perchance?” she said. “Jimmy Mariner mentioned he was a traitor, and I can see why noo. That poor drone lass, if she finds oot the details…I can relate to her, fucking someone who’s eventually a traitor…”

Her pang of pity on the drone lass surprised Rawley. Why was she taking pity…? Then again, she realized why: She can relate to having fucked someone who turned out to be a traitor, whether or not he knew what he was doing.

As for Martok…oh well, for all she knew, all sources of transmission went along with his lad.

Rawley nearly burst out a guffaw when she heard Henshaw calling the Below Decks Lounge a latrine. Perhaps Henshaw didn’t say it intentionally, but she couldn’t help herself. In point of fact, one of her favorite pubs back on Earth was called “The Latrine.” It was bloody ugly, owned, run, and kept up by an ugly lot and plenty of ugly clientele, and would’ve needed enough renovation just to attain the level of “dive,” and Rawley loved it.

She felt a pang of nostalgia; she realized she hadn’t been in “The Latrine” in years, not since flight school. Then again, for all she knew, “The Latrine” would’ve been demolished to make way for some league-high skyscraper.

As Henshaw left, Rawley said, “Aye, and dinnae forget to take a wee!”

And she nearly let out a laugh again. She couldn’t help it, but all Henshaw had to do was mention “latrine.”

She turned back at Goldeneye and said, “Soonds like yeh had quite a bonkers adventure, aye? Shame aboot Martok’s lad, but who knows? Maybe we might convince Martok otherwise the whole of the Theurgy saves his arse from the Borg.”

[Lt.JG Alessia Garcia – “Angel” (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Alessia_Garcia,_callsign_%22Angel%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]  Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Multificionado @Nolan @Firefox013 @Havenborn @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @The Ostrich @Vox

Turning her attention back to Walton after Ravon had given her permission to break the news she opted to start from the beginning, recapped the battle at the Starbase first naming all the Wolves she knew had fallen as well as those who had decided not to join them when they defected to the Theurgy. Although at least a few of them had learned the truth since then and had joined them now which was something.

Alessia then moved on to informing her about Khorin, Dev, Nathaniel, K'Ren and her own RIO Sehl th'Chilnes, all of whom had been abducted by the Savi. Pausing a moment to shake her head and give Walton time to process the names before she continued naming Strider, Flint,  Shinigami and Tide as more Wolves who had been killed in action.

Pausing again, she could hardly believe that she still had more people to add to the list of dead, the ones she'd listed so far had already been more than enough but sadly that wasn't the case. Starting with Husker she moved on adding Terror, Shocker, Sniper and Bear, Witch King and Aria then finally finishing with Catscratch and Vagabond to the list. 

Letting out a long sigh now that she was finally done all the Latina could do was shake her head sadly "I wish I had better news for you Ma'am or at least a shorter list but it's been a rough week."

[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tessa_May_Lance,_callsign_%22Goldeneye%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Briefing room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Nolan,  @Multificionado @Havenborn @Kinvarus @Doc M. @Stegro88 @patches @Fife @Firefox013 @The Ostrich @Vox

"Soonds like yeh had quite a bonkers adventure, aye? Shame aboot Martok's lad, but who knows? Maybe we might convince Martok otherwise the whole of the Theurgy saves his arse from the Borg."

“Yeah, I guess so…  It really was a bonkers adventure.  I should tell you about it sometime.  Didn’t I already tell you about it?  I could have sworn I already told you about it.  Do you want to hear about it?  Even if you’ve already heard the story I’m sure some of the new pilots would like to hear it.  Wait! Martok’s son was on that ship?  No wonder he came out here to get us personally!   I was kind of hoping that he was leading the Klingon forces against the Borg,” Tessa finished sadly. 

The sad truth was the Tessa was now that she really thought about it, she really didn’t know as much about their mission to the coreless moon as she thought she did.  All she had was bits and pieces.  

“I just wish I knew what Hi’jak told them,” she sighed.  “The Klingon High Command that is.  Why didn’t he tell them about the Big Scary Conspiracy and the alien parasites from… out there… that took over Starfleet and that we were the good guys?  Or maybe he did, and when the Klingon ships were destroyed everything changed.  Gosh, I can’t believe it; this is so frustrating.  I went along on the mission and I don’t know anything!  Anything useful that is!  I guess I better just forget it and concentrate on the Borg.” 

[ CWO3 Liliana "Meerkat" Walton | Fighter Assault Bay | Squadron Briefing Room | Deck 16 | Vector 2 ] @Kinvarus @The Ostrich @Firefox013

After Nolan told her about his thoughts on the Valravn, Walton chuckled, but their conversation was stopped when Angel approached.

"Angel," she said, smiling... but the smile would soon falter.

Alessia Garcia was a well known face to Lily, them having spent a long time flying at Luna Base together. Seeing her expression, however, was a confirmation that not everything was fine. The lack of other White Wolves present in the room, those that had defected at Starbase 84, was telling even before Alessia began to speak. It was, unfortunately, worse than she feared. She cleared her throat, swallowed, and folded her arms below her chest while she listened.

Dragon abducted, Shinigami and Karma dead at the hands of some kind of alien race Walton knew naught about. Strider and flint too. Then, facing Klingons because of some affront to the Chancellor, the rest had died - caught in the open just because they had been the second attack wave. She felt numb hearing it, and close to her, her Klingon RIO shifted uncomfortably. Harq had flown with the KDF earlier in his life, and hearing how Empire had turned against the Theurgy had to be difficult. More so, when so many white wolves had died. Terror, Sniper, Catscratch and Witch King, along with all of their RIOs, all dead in the encounter with the Rotarran. At the end of it, knowing that only Angel remained among those that had defected at Starbase 84, it seemed such a cruel twist of irony.

Did it cast their own defection into a new light? Would they have done differently, had they known?

Sometimes, things were not easier in hindsight.

"I..." said Lily, frowning, feeling benumbed by the magnitude of the losses that the Theurgy had suffered in such a short time. "I suggest we drink to their memory when we can, and hope that we'll get Devyrie back, eventually. Dragon might still be alive, and judging by what you've said... she's not alone."

Lily looked around, seeing if Wraith, Scylla and Blizzard had heard Angel too.

- FIN