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Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [D05|0800]

CHAPTER 01: BLOOD FOR BLOOD [ DAY 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

“Security Log. Stardate 57553.5. As of this hour, the USS Allegiant has departed on a mission to find the Borg. Alpha shift has begun here on the Cayuga, and the officers still under my command - after the losses we suffered against the Borg and the Asurians - will in the majority aid Lieutenant Jeen and the Chief Engineer on the Theurgy. In the assault of the Asurians, the entirety of both the Warp-Trail Lounge and Sickbay were destroyed, along with the entire deck in-between. If they had progressed any further, the Asurians would have destroyed the Cayuga and themselves along with her.

Indeed, it seems they operate on a death-wish to avenge those they lost at Starbase 84, where the Theurgy - allegedly - betrayed them by retreating from the battle, making the Asurian fleet perish at the hands of Task Force Archeron and Admiral Sankolov. Apparently, Captain Ives had found allies in the Asurians, but because of the fallout at the starbase, their diplomatic relations have soured... to put it mildly. I have gathered that the Asurians - as a species - are few in numbers, and since they can regenerate from injuries and have a long life-span, they take the deaths of their kin seriously. More so than others species... Alternatively, they just operate by some code of honour, and never forget a slight. Perhaps its both. Either way, I have made sure the ten survivors from the four saucers are well-guarded, since there is no trusting a species that is suicidal in its hate for everything Starfleet.

With most systems on the Cayuga powered down, the stand-alone power source for the holding cells in the brig is still online, and we keep a close eye on them, so that the other Departments can get the Cayuga space-worthy again. I would have prefered to move them off to the Theurgy, but evidently, that Vector has no brig. As for the officers from the Theurgy... I'd rather not have them aboard personally, but my orders are clear in how I must cooperate with these traitors... or untrustworthy allies.”
― Lieutenant Winter Bannin, Chief of Security, the USS Cayuga

[ Lieutenant Winter Bannin | Security Center | Brig | USS Cayuga ]
[Show/Hide]
After she finished her log, Winter left her office and stepped out into the eerily dark security center, seeing the figures of some of her officers working at their consoles. Aside from some emergency lighting along the edges of the bulkheads, only the LCARS screen lit their faces. The first patrols have already left the centre, and Winter was about to schedule a meeting with Captain Ziegler, but she wanted to make her own rounds first. Almost like a Medical officer, she meant to check on those under her care... only hers were no patients. They could even heal on their own.

She stepped into the Brig, and greeted Chief Petty Officer Nilsson - the blond woman turning to her before she spoke. The story between her and Nina was... not according to regulations. It was a new development because of the Cayuga being adrift, and the Scandinavian woman had been a welcome distraction. Perhaps more than a distraction, given the talks they'd shared long into the nights. "Anything to report?" she asked with a small smile, folding her hands behind her back and stepping out in front of the four holding cells.

"No, Ma'am," said Nina Nilsson, a stickler to protocol whilst on duty, a smile barely seen since they weren't alone. She had her pulse phase pistol at her hip as she stepped away from her duty station. "They have been as noisy and unsavoury as before. If we had more holding cells, I would have liked to separate them entirely, since some of them have been... very open with how they passed the time. They are not very modest, Ma'am."

Nor were you last night, Winter decided against saying openly, and shook her head slowly. This, earning her a few leers from the prisoners, some of them whipping their tails and one of them actually striking his horns against the forcefield. It was as if the noise echoed, strangely enough, and Winter turned her frown towards the door from which she had come from. Did that come from the outside?

"But besides that, it seems like they have resigned to their captivity for the time being," continued Nina, folding her arms below her chest, "Any new orders on what we should do with them, Lieutenant Bannin?"

"No..." said Winter quietly, still listening for that noise she'd heard, "but I will try to meet with the Captain before noon, to sug-"

Then, the lights flickered, and there was a loud sound from the deckhead - the shut-down noise of the single-purpose energy cells clearly heard. Winter's eyes widened, and she turned to Nina, to tell her to keep the Asurians in check. The forcefields were down, and Nina drew her pistol, raising it against the prisoners. Nina clearly had her wits about her, so Winter tapped her combadge instead. "Winter t-"

Then, it was as if someone had struck all the air out of her lungs. She couldn't get a word out. She looked down towards her combadge, but saw something protruding from her abdomen instead. It was a long, silvery arc of metal. It took her a few seconds to feel the pain, long after she heard the bloodcurdling cry from Nina. "No! Winter!"

When the blade was yanked out of her torso, Winter lost her balance, and once she'd fallen to the deck, she saw another Asurian standing above her. That she was one of them was unmistakable, given the size of her horns. Besides the arm-blade she had stabbed her with, the Asurian woman was armed with a strange rifle. By this time, the other Asurians had leapt upon Nina, disarming her and shoving her down face-first into the deck plating. Winter tried to speak, but she could just gape like a fish. She could still move, which might mean she'd live. But the Asurian above her raised her blade anew...

"No!" cried Nina, horror in her eyes. "Don't kill her! Kill me instead! I'll do anything!"

This, made the Asurian stall her strike, and she turned her horns and her steely eyes towards the blonde woman on the deck.

"Is that so?" she said quietly, and the Asurian's seeing an opportunity sounded like another blade being drawn.

Breathing rapidly, Winter Bannin shook her head where she laid, her regrets about the breach and her affair with Nina mounting by the moment. Worst of all, the Cayuga was in no condition to handle a breakout from the brig.

[ Chief Marshall Akri Sitaio | Security Center | Brig | Deck 04 | USS Cayuga ]
[Show/Hide]
Since she had killed the few cravens in the area around the prison cells, Akri Sitaio could easily make it her own. The ten Asurians had, with aid from the oh, so helpful Human with the flaxen hair, already re-acquired their weapons from storage. Armed with graviton rifles and sindt blades strapped to their arms, along with Starfleet weapons they scavenged, it was time to deal orders.

Akri did so whilst standing above the two humans on the deck, them having been dragged out into the main area of the security center - both cut and tied. The redhaired one was evidently high in rank and even to be held for ransom, if it came to that.

"And so, the hunt for the craven... begins," she said, baring her teeth in a smile. This earned grins and laughter, some clanging their rifles and blades together. Akri continued. "You two, stay with me, the rest, hunt in pairs. Iege and Drara, you head for the bridge of this ship. Jisa and Ora-Sedra, you go to Engineering. Ramor and San-Teeg, you two find where the key officers live. Odo-Gah and Vara, you head for their shuttle bay, see what's available. All of you, kill quickly, quietly, and you'll get to kill more. Scout ahead, sabotage when you can, take key hostages if you get the opportunity, and bring them back here. Soon, we will extend our hunting grounds to the Theurgy itself, and claim their debt to us all in full... For Asuria!

"For Asuria!"


OOC: There! Seven days of posting time in response to the above begins today! At this given point in time, 0800 hrs., let's have all PC characters on the Stallion aboard the Cayuga, helping out with the repairs. Exceptions would be anyone too injured to help out, and either Ejek or Stark. This, depending on preference, but if needed, I will decide between them. As for the conditions, the Cayuga have very, very limited power, most systems offline. Emergency lightening everywhere. Comm systems work most of the time, but internal sensors are offline along with any means to raise force-fields in the corridors. All such reserve power is devoted to the structural integrity fields that cover the gaping hull breaches around the ship, including the bridge.

Moreover, now we have an opening for Supplemental threads in Chapter 03, spanning from 1200 hrs. on Day 04 (directly after the battle) to 0800 hrs. on Day 05, where Chief Marshall Akri Sitaio releases her captured Asurians on the unsuspecting Cayuga. Which, incidentally, is also time the USS Allegiant disembark on its mission to find the Borg. The naming convention for such threads that belonging to Chapter 03 is still: CH03: S [DXX|YYYY] Insert Title. As for the mission on the Allegiant itself, it has its own thread, posted here.

Here are those present on the Cayuga: [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #1 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Transporter Room One | Deck 04 | USS Cayuga ]

Meanwhile, not far away in Transporter Room One on the same deck, Chief Petty Officer Benjamin Dover watched Chief Petty Officer M’our operate the transporter console.  Although both of their uniforms had gold collars, Dover was member of the Security department unlike the M’our who was assigned to Operations.  And he really didn’t keep an eye on the Caitian transporter chief so much as keep an eye on the transporter pad where a tall male Terran with dirty blond hair and a wide square face appeared in a shower of sparks. 

“Howdy, y’all, Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert O’Connell, requestin’ permission tuh come aboard,” the newcomer drawled as the hand that wasn’t clutching a tool kit rose in a friendly wave.  

“Granted,” Chief Dover smiled grimly.

O’Connell broke out into a grin as he stepped off the transporter and shook the Security Chief’s hand.  “Well what do you know, Ben Dover!  Ah ain’t seen yew since you passed the Chief’s exam!  Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes!  Ah’m sorry muh team’s late; they wuz up all night helpin’ th’ shipfitters patch up th’ hull…”

“Cut the ‘aw shucks’ routine Master Chief,” Chief Dover warned him.  “What the rut?”

“What the rut, what the rut?” O’Connell retorted.  “Could yuh be uh mite more specific there Chief?”

“I mean, where do you get off joining a ship full of traitors that have defected to the Romulans, O’Connell?” Dover asked.  “We all know what you did at Starbase 84.”

“Yeah we sent uh broadcast informin’ ever’ one with access tuh subspace communication thet Starfleet Command hez bin taken over by uh bunch uh intelligent parasites from another dimension,” O’Connell insisted.

“Have you actually seen that broadcast?” Chief Dover shook his head.  “That’s not what I saw.  I saw your captain declare himself an ally of the Romulan Empire.”

“Whut?  Are you pullin’ mah leg?” Billy Bob shook his head.  “That ain’t whut we broadcast, not by a long shot!”

“Are you sure Captain Ives hasn’t deceived you?” Dover asked.  “I was wondering how he could get an entire starship to defect; are you sure he didn’t just make up a story about Starfleet Command going bad?”

“Well iffin he did, he shore didn’t do it tuh join no Romulans!” O’Connell insisted.  “We stopped them Romulans from takin’ Black Opal!  The Romulans want tuh kill us jest ez much ez ever’ body else, Ah guarantee it!”

“Or maybe the deal went bad,” Dover shrugged.  “In any case, it sounds like you’re making friends all over.  Is your captain the reason why these Asurians attacked us?”

“Truth be told, Ah ain’t got no idea why they’re attackin’ us,” Billy Bob admitted.  “Ah jest cal’culated thet since everybody else is tryin’ tuh kill us they thought they’d jump tuh th’ front ah th’ line.  If yuh ask me Ah think it’s because th’ Savi don’t want no one known they exist since they revealed themselves tuh abduct our people fur Gawd knows whut.  O’ course Ah could, Ah say Ah just could be wrong…”

“And you’re probably wrong about Starfleet,” Dover informed him before stepping over to the door and gesturing for Billy Bob to follow.  The door hissed open and he went out into the corridor.  “Ever think of that?”

“Not hardly.  Hey Ben, where we goin’?” O’Connell asked as he caught up to him.  “The lift’s over thataway.  Where are yuh fixin’ on takin’ me?”

“To main security,” Dover replied as they went down the corridor.  “We’ve got to register that sidearm you’ve got hidden on your person if you want to keep it.  You know there are regs that state that sidearms are only to be passed out to non-security enlisted men during times of war.”

O’Connell blushed.  It was impossible to keep anything hidden from your doctor or your transporter operator.  “Well fur th’ last six months we’ve bin at war,” O’Connell retorted.  “Level with me Dover.  Yew ain’t jest takin’ me t’ th’ brig are yuh?”

“Not until you fix the EPS conduit,” Dover smiled.  “Not much use locking you up until then.  But you need to take your phaser to security if you want it reactivated.”

“What the?  Reactivated?” Billy Bob protested as they passed the doors to the holodeck.  “Now why in Sam Hill would Ah need muh phaser reactivated?” he asked as he extracted a small handheld device that looked more like an electronic razor than a particle beam weapon from a hidden pocket in back of his uniform.

“You’re sailing a pirate ship,” Dover shrugged.  “When M’our detected a powered phaser on your person I had him disable it before rematerializing you.”

“If Ah wanted tuh sabotage yer ship you know Ah got plenty o’ tools in this here toolkit don’t ‘cha?” Billy Bob snorted.  “What in blazes, Ah say what in blazes am Ah supposed t’ do iffen we git another Asurian boarding party?  Ah swear yore as fidgety as a bubble dancer with a slow leak!”

“Well you don’t have to worry about the last ones,” Dover assured him.  “We got them locked up tight and as long as they don’t send a rescue party...”

They turned a corner and saw the entrance the security center and froze in place as they saw pairs of heavily armed Asurians emerge from the doorway clutching their graviton rifles as if they were performing a combat drill.

“My God; they took the armory!” Dover gasped.

“Run you fool!”  Billy Bob cried.  “They's seen us!” 

They turned the corner just as the Asurians discharged their weapons.

“Activate the security forcefields!”  Billy Bob ordered as the legged it down the corridor.

“We can’t!” Dover exclaimed.   “They’re inoperative!  They won’t go back online until you repair the EPS conduit!”

“Why ain’t the alarms goin’ off?”  Billy asked as they ran past the holodeck doors.  “They discharged their energy weapons didn’t they?” 

“Internal sensors are down on at least six decks!” Dover informed him.  “They won’t go back online until…”

“…Ah repair the EPS conduit!” Billy finished.  “Ah got it!  Thanks.  Please tell me that internal communications ain’t out!” he begged as they entered the transporter room.

“What is going on?” asked the Caitan transporter chief.

Billy Bob pushed him aside and operated the controls.  “We got Asurians comin’ tuh kill us so yuh better git yer tail on that transporter pad if yuh ain’t fixin’ tuh git kilt!”

“I’ll hold them off!” Dover shouted from the doorway.  He fired out into the hall and ducked back inside as they fired back.

“Okay, let’s go!” O’Connell shouted as he left the console and ran up to the transporter pad where M’our was already standing.  “Come on Ben!  We gotta git th’ hell outta Dodge!”

Ben Dover was hit by a shot that pulled him out of the doorway and into the hall.  All that was left in view was the pistol shaped phaser the security chief had been using to hold them back.

“Ben!” O’Connell cried as his vision was filled with sparks and the quiet hum of the transporter grew louder.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #2 –
[ Captain Anya Ziegler | Ready Room | Deck 01 | USS Cayuga ] @Brutus @Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow , Anyone else 
[Show/Hide]

Anya Ziegler watched from the viewport in her ready room. Carefully, she studied Theurgy with a small frown crinkling her brow. Waiting. That was all she ever seemed to do these days – wait. With a hand holding her balance against the frame, she brought her face close to the transparent aluminium in the vain hope that would help her see. For the last five minutes she had stood in silence, watching and waiting, until she finally saw it. Slowly moving out from the underside of Theurgy herself; A small black blob against the blue of the azure nebula. The Allegiant.

It was very likely she had ordered half of her senior staff to their death. The burden of command, she reminded herself. Still, watching the small scout ship prepare to depart left a bitter taste in her mouth. Anya had lost so many already. Should she have left Stark to man the manta-class solely from Theurgy? The omnipresent doubts plagued her mind and Anya knew she needed to cast aside those niggles or else they would multiple endlessly. First though, she needed to say goodbye.

“Glückliche Reise.” Ziegler said quietly. She wanted to say more, a makeshift prayer to guide them home safely, but she knew doing so would betray herself. The captain had never been religious and now, to call upon some form of mystical force or deity to protect her crewmen seemed disloyal to her very self.

Carefully, Anya stepped back and took a deep breath, squaring her shoulder and resting her face. By the time she breathed out the doubts were cast back into the shadows from which they came. The decision was made. Time to deal with the consequences.

The ready room was a mess. It had been untidy before, with trinkets and various things knocked over from the battle with the Borg but now it was definitely a mess. The room itself had temporarily been a lounge for those who needed to refresh themselves while on bridge duty. It was useful, especially since it was the only replicator on the deck that worked following Bannin’s repairs.

Now though, the space took on its former guise. There was no need for it to be a recreational space as, along with most of the repairs that had been undertaken, the replicator was no longer in working condition. Ziegler was disappointed when she returned from Theurgy to find that, once again, it appeared raktajino was off the menu. The problem with luxury, she knew, was that you can become too accustomed to it. Too safe and reliant.

Turning away from the viewport, to avoid running the risk of just watching and waiting for the Allegiant to return, Anya looked back across the room. The damage, it seemed, was not limited to just the replicator but also the various books and knick-knacks that usually adorned her shelves. Everything was in disarray, books were toppled, and many items were either knocked over or missing.

“Just perfect.” She sighed, moving closer to the wall. The first things in her sights was standing her books again. Carefully, she stretched out her hand for one of her favourites – The Shadow of The Wind.

Like all good books, it brought back memories. She had found her first copy of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s great work in a dusty second-hand bookshop, just off the main shopping district in her home town of Schaffhausen. Anya remembered so many things about that time. The smell of the store. The feeling of sitting up last into the night, hiding away in the bay window of her parent’s house, listening to the rain fall and falling in love with the words. Since then she had owned many copies and the latest was a hard-bound issue. The book had been acquired in Barcelona, on a vacation just before leaving for Starfleet Academy. For a joke, Anya had left her hotel on a knowingly fruitless attempt to find the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and instead found one of the finer parts of her collection.

Reaching out to set the leather-clad novel straight, Anya stepped forward and felt the crush of glass underfoot. Lifting her boot away, she discovered the shattered remnants of a photo frame. The completely clear frame was smashed beyond repair. Using the tip of her shoe, she brushed aside the broken pieces and with due care pulled the image from the wreckage. It was a young yellow collared Ensign Ziegler, fresh faced from the academy and keen to get to work. One of her colleagues had taken the photo, from inside a Jeffries tube junction service room. Ziegler had poked her head through the ceiling so that it looked as if she was climbing into the room via the ladder upside down. A long braid of dark hair hung behind her as the ensign beamed widely. Every time she saw the image, Anya couldn’t help but smile. Simpler times.

As much as Anya wanted to, she knew she couldn’t spend too long putting her ready room back together. Cayuga was still adrift and under emergency power. It was all hands for repairs and the captain wasn’t going to sit around and be idle, not when she could help. She had promised Jeen that she would look into a couple of items from the long list of repairs that were needed. Placing the photograph down onto the cool metal of her desk, Anya picked up a waiting toolkit and stepped out onto the bridge.

[ Captain Anya Ziegler | Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Cayuga ]

The bridge itself was a small hub of activity. Various officers, both of Cayuga and Theurgy worked at different stations, co-ordinating or conducting repairs. One such engineer was currently scanning a large spool of illuminated cable resting on the captain’s chair. The length of coil circled the command seat numerous times before rising vertically into an open panel in the ceiling. Upon seeing the captain enter the bridge, the officer began to hastily pull the cabling aside.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Ziegler called with a smirk. “There’s a broken power convertor in the briefing room with my name on it.”

The unit itself was one of many that had blown when the EPS grid had overloaded. Ideally the plan was to replace all the converters before reactivating the conduit, assuming supplies held out, or Theurgy had spare.

Ziegler walked across the bridge in an effort not only to get out of the way, but to cause less distractions. Just as she was about to reach the doors to the conference facility, she heard a voice shout for her.

“Captain!” Called Commander West from the security station. “We’re detecting an unscheduled transport.”

Turning back, Ziegler assessed her first officer with a raised eyebrow. That was odd. Power aboard the ship was limited and as such, things had to happen to a tightly controlled timetable. It had been a logistical nightmare to organise. Certain parts of the ship were unpowered to allow repairs on others and everyone knew that doing something out of turn could overload the system. “Do we know where they’ve beamed to?”

“Internal sensors are still down, but I can tell you that they beamed out from transporter room one to somewhere else aboard Cayuga.” West frowned as he pushed a few more controls on his console. “I’m sorry captain, that’s all I can tell you.”

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #3 –
[Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark, Captain | Sickbay| Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ]Attn: @Arista @Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow  
[Show/Hide]


The other officers trailed out of the medical office - Even Captain Ziegler, for whom the meeting had been held there, in the CMO's office suite. Anya and Natalie shared a passing nod, everything that had been said, before the meeting still hanging in the air between them. Nat had to repress the urge to reach out and squeeze the other womans' arm. She may have been the Captain of the Stallion but Anya Ziegler still out ranked her. In front of other officers, from both ships, it would be entirely too inappropriate a gesture. The nod would have to suffice.

She turned herself to face Ejek, to pose a question to her XO, but then the other remaining member of the Theurgy's crew still in the room, Ensign Six, spoke up. Listening to the girls question, Natalie had to remind herself that Six was, after all, a very recent transfer to her ship. She had only had so much time to adjust. None of them really knew each other well (at least in that room - plenty of the officers on the ship had served together, either on the Theurgy proper, the old Harbinger, or the Resolve. Together, not so much). The Operations Chief and Commanding Officer pushed aside the dark thoughts of how many crews had been forced together, and the loss of life over the past few months, and instead focused on Ens. Six's predicament - and the clear desire of Ejek to speak up.

Seeing that her first officer had an opinion on the subject, Natalie gave a small nod to indicate that the counselor should take the lead. She crossed her arms under her bust as she listened, nodding where she felt appropriate. And while Natalie might have been perhaps slightly more sympathetic in tone, she didn't disagree with Ejek's assessment. Adding on, after the woman in teal finished, Natalie said softly,

"This mission's success comes down heavily on your shoulders, Ensign. It is an opportunity to rise to the occasion, but it is also a burden to bear. We are counting on you, and you must remember, you must internalize that you must remain constantly vigilant." Where she had not before placed a hand on Anya's shoulder, Natalie did so now, reaching out and squeezing Six's shoulder gently - repressing her own urge to shy away at the sight of the Borg implants that decorated the former drone's body. Not her fault she silently reminded herself. "I know you can meet this challenge, and I have faith that you will keep a calm head." It was what she would want to hear, if she were in the other woman's shoes.

[THE NEXT MORNING | DAY 05 | 0800 hrs.]

A new cup of freshly replicated coffee sat in front of Natalie Stark, on a small side table that was placed between the Captains and First Officer's chairs, on the 'battle bridge' of the Stallion. The empty first officers chair - which was one of the reasons Natalie was on the bridge, instead of the crammed Ready room that was provided to her. 

On the screen before her, the CO saw the floating hulk of the USS Cayuga, drifting gently in the swirls that was the Azure Nebula. It really does live up to its name she thought quietly. If this were any other situation....if the ship in front of me wasn't a wreck. If there weren't Borg in the nebula - Borg that I've just sent good people to investigate, and possibly ordered to their deaths. If we weren't being hunted down. If there wasn't a rendezvous to make...

That line of thinking was going to do her no good. Heavy was the head that wore the crown of command, heavy indeed. So sip your damn coffee and at least look like you know what you're doing. They all need that from you, Nat. Would it have helped her to know that, as the Allegiant slid away from view, that her thoughts mirrored Cpt. Ziegler's, on the sister ship floating in the murk?

Putting action to her thoughts, she picked up the mug and took a long sip. The aroma, as much as the flavor, helped relax her nerves. She took pleasure in the ritual, wishing only that she had access to the stock of personal beans she'd stashed away in her quarters on the other Vector. Though that was dwindling as well, and in truth she had not touched the sacred containers in weeks. Right now though, she would have dearly loved a cup from her private stock, freshly ground, and hand brewed.

Setting the cup down (again) she picked up a PADD and scrolled through the data, listening to the quiet hum of the  bridge around her. If she were being honest with herself, moments like this - the beeping of the consoles and the soft whisperes of the bridge crew - left her with a smile teasing her lips. She liked it. When, she wondered, had that happened? Was she getting a taste for this? For Command? For all the panic and anxiety that it caused her, she was enjoying this feeling, of leading, and guiding.

What got replicated into that coffee? she asked herself, chuckling very softly. The data no the PADD wasn't funny though. It was a listing of damage reports from MCP O'Connell, on the status of the Stallion as well as a write up from Lt. Jeen that had been forwarded to her from the Cayuga. Lastly, there was an appended file from Lt. Ejek, her XO, with whom she had spoken briefly over breakfast. The Cardassian had forwarded a list of personnel that had been assigned to assist in repairs on the Cayuga, including the temporary executive officer herself. That had been a struggle of command duties for Natalie. She was an Ops officer by training and choice, and the desire to go over there, to help Cpt. Ziegler and her crew repair the wounded vessel was a strong one.

Not for the first time however, she thought back to Carrigan Trent, and the command course training he'd been assigning her. He'd taken an interest in developing the young Operations Chiefs leadership and command skill set, and that had come in handy during this trial by fire the brunette had been subjected to. She was still startled, days later, that he and Captain Ives had thought as highly of her as to leave her in command of a whole Vector. It hadn't crossed her mind that, of original Theurgy crew, she and Winn Cenn were the only officers of appreciable rank left. They'd not had enough time to properly assimilate the members from the Resolve into something approaching command status and a familiarity that would be acceptable to the whole crew, and there had been no surviving members of the Harbinger of truly suitable rank and expertise.

In that moment of longing, to get her hands dirty once more, her mind flashed back to when Cmdr. Trent had lectured her on the need to delegate, and allow her subordinates to do their job, while she did hers. In respect to running the Operations Department, that was to instruct and teach, but not micromanage. She needed to let her people do the work themselves, instead of doing it for them. She'd had mixed results - not too bad with A'vura, her new ACOps, but less so with Nator, the recently revived and abrasive Hermat under her command. Neither of the officers in question were with her on the Stallion at that current moment, and despite their differences, she wished them all well. Her responsibilities had blossomed greatly in the past few days, and as such, she just couldn't justify going over herself. Her collar might still be yellow, but for the moment, she was the Commanding Officer, the Captain of this Vector, this vessel.

She belonged on her ship, in command. It was what Trent would have done. And she was determined to live up to the trust he and Captain Ives had placed in her.


OOC: I wanted to do more with Nat from the bridge of the Stallion but there hasn't been anything from the Cayuga that I can tell, that would tip them off that something had gone wrong. Feel free to correct me if I've missed something that Conway would have picked up from the Ops station, @Auctor Lucan  and I'll update accordingly.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #4 –
[ Acting XO Lt. Zelosa Ejek | Bridge| U.S.S. Cayuga ] Attn: @Juzzie

Zelosa Ejek, acting XO of the Theurgy’s third vector, and the head counselor of the counseling department, a woman with great skill and finesse in handling the wounds a bio-bed couldn’t heal, a woman whose talents with people had earned her certain recognitions, was now leaned over a massive coil on the Cayuga’s bridge, peering into the horrid guts of the beastly starship, and wondering how in the entire galaxy did anyone expect her to be able to identify what was wrong with it. She could clearly see that it was a coil, but that was it, and she certainly could not start plugging things in and unplugging them without an engineer’s guidance. She also couldn’t admit that she could not do this, though. Everyone had to help with repairs. The mountain of work that had to be done was...monstrous. She narrowed her eyes at the mess of coil around the seat. Was this the mythical punishment of Sisyphus? Would she be condemned to cycling through every position on a starship except her own?

Truthfully, she had been of help aboard the ship. Her time management and scheduling went a long ways in the planning phase. Everyone had a place to be, a thing to do, and someone to report to. Perfect, organized, and efficient, the way she liked it.

But you couldn’t plan a starship back to full health. No amount of itineraries, rosters, and schedules would fill holes in the hull or repair broken conduits. Neither could she spend her whole day counseling the Cayuga’s crew, though she had many such appointments in her daily schedule. So Ejek also had to spend some of her day getting her hands dirty, doing things that were so far out of her expertise that they might as well put a targ in her position and it’d perform just as well.

Thankfully, her PADD’s alarm went off. She had a meeting to get to and could not spend any longer on the bridge, trying to help the team repair power converters.

To say this would be a ‘meeting’ would be a bit of an overstatement. Meetings took place in privacy, peace and quiet. There was no peace and quiet on the Cayuga and there wouldn’t be for quite a long time. In reality, this ‘meeting’ was more like a walk through the hallways with one Lieutenant Rhys Williams, and doubled as Ejek’s lunch break.

So she gathered herself up, smoothed out her skirt and hair, and began out the bridge towards counseling, where she would expect to find this Lieutanant Williams.


[ Acting XO Lt. Zelosa Ejek | Counseling Department| U.S.S. Cayuga ]

The walk from the bridge to counseling wasn’t long, per se, but it included a number of detours and climbing over things. When she finally arrived, she had to fix her hair and her clothes once more. She couldn’t stand a strand out of place or a wrinkle in her clothes, especially not before meeting someone new.

Even though she had no clue who this man—or woman-- was like, she would welcome the break from engineering work. They were to meet here and walk, because, as was immediately apparent, counseling had a few new windows and doors, courtesy of the Asurians. Or maybe the Borg. While she waited, she tried to guess who made which pile of destruction...

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #5 –
Lt Kaylon Jeen | Main Engineering | USS Cayuga

Kaylon ran his hand over his face and across the back of his neck, trying to either ease the tension, or wake up, or both.  For the last several hours, his eyes had started glazing over from status reports, and system readouts.  He sighed.  Even while building ships at the UP shipyards, he didn't recall there being this many.  But, he wasn't in charge of engineering then, and he hadn't been trying to RE-build a ship.  Everything was from scratch, neat, relatively clean, and there were all the resources that they needed. 

At least they had the replicator in his office back online.  The entire engineering department, and half the other crewers on that deck were dropping by regularly for coffee refills.  He'd had 4 cups in the past 5 hours himself.  He made a quick mental note to have someone make sure the lavatory facilities were kept in good working order.

More importantly, the report he'd just read stated that the industrial replicator was back online, so those status reports he was yet to receive would start looking better.  Not great probably, but better.

Tapping his combadge, he shared the news. "Engineering to Bridge.  We finally have some good news down here.  The industrial replicator is back online, so repairs should start progressing at a better pace now."

His attention diverted to a nearby panel, his eyebrows going up.  "Has anybody started working on rebuilding the port plasma injector yet?" he called out  "I'm seeing an energy flow here, that shouldn't be there otherwise!"

Sighing again, he headed that direction.  "Guess I'll be needing another cup of coffee" he muttered.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #6 –
[Lt. Rhys Williams|Counselling Department| U.S.S Cayuga] attn: @FollowTomorrow

Since returning from the Aerowing shuttle, Rhys felt like he had spent most of his time repairing things than actually doing his job. Repair teams were at full stretch, even with the additional help from the Theurgy things continued to drag on. So rather than exploring people’s problems he had been exploring Jeffries tubes, repairing a conduit, a manifold or a circuit. Before becoming a Counsellor Rhys had briefly been an operations officer, so he could certainly handle some of the low priority repairs himself. It was one less thing the repair crews had to do, and it meant he could try and get his department back in working order.

Though, ‘department’ was a slightly grandiose term, Rhys currently had one assistant a rather shell shocked Ensign named Shona. She was competent but at the moment was totally traumatised, so he had relieved her of duty for a few hours. There was nothing really she could do anyway, most of the crew were working ludicrous shifts as it was to get the Cayuga back to health so they had little time to pop in for Counselling sessions. Rhys had had to relieve a few crew who had been over working themselves, which had not exactly  won him many friends on the repair crews, but there was little else he could do. Counselling sessions were impromptu in what ever free space he could find.

Rhys crawled out of what felt like the hundredth time that day. He pressed a few controls on a near by wall panel, and the light circuits came on line illuminating his office. It was sad on sorry sight, many of his possessions and other items he had kept in here were gone. A huge metal beam was hanging down form the ceiling held up and made safe by some clamps until this part of the ship could be properly repaired. Much of the furniture was smashed or missing, and on the far side of the room was the culprit, a giant hole looking out into space like some awful gateway. However, he looked up at the lights at least they weren’t flickering and giving him a headache any more, you had to hold on to little victories sometimes.

He nodded to himself, now he would have enough time hopefully to get a shower and meet the counsellor from the other ship. He retrieved his PADD from the floor where he left it and saw the time. His smile retreated from his face and he went white. In his haste, to organise his time, he had forgotten to set  a reminder for the time of they were supposed to meet. In fact she was probably already outside in the corridor. He looked down at himself, he had removed his uniform jacket and stood looking rather grimy and sweaty. His treacherous mind conjured all sorts of scenarios, torturing him with images of this officer he head not met, looking at him with contempt. Complaints to the Captain, he had only just made senior grade Lieutenant and now in his minds eye he saw it all come crumbling down.

It of course never occurred to him that he was being ridiculous. This was just how Rhys though about things and himself. So it was this Rhys that confronted Ejek as he emerged from his shattered office. A tall young man with reddy blonde hair, wearing a uniform that made him look like he had lost a few battles with some tools. Rhys himself, saw a well dressed neat and tidy Cardassian woman. All he could think was ‘oh dear, she is going to hate me I know it.’

Rhys shyly offered his hand. “Ship’s Counselor Lt. Rhys Williams. I am assuming your are counsellor of the Theurgy.”He spoke in the slightly sing song accent of a Welshman. Then he noticed his hand was hardly clean either, so he coughed awkwardly and held his hands behind his back.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #7 –
[Lt. Vanya|Science Lab| U.S.S Cayuga]

Vanya moved carefully around the wrecked laboratory.    During the attack, there was a fluctuation in the power distribution system, and the containment field around the emergency coolant had failed, condemning Ensign Hargreaves and Specialist Jacobs to an instant liquid death.  

She was used to death of course.   She had been trained in it in her old life, and had even come to terms when she had lost friends and associates in this one   But this was different   Vanya had been in command.   It was she who had agreed the rota, assigning Hargreaves and Jacobs to the science lab.    Her choice, even to keep the lab manned had condemned people to die   Jacobs father was a respected Admiral.   He would never see his son again because of Vanya.   Hargreaves was married to an up and coming writer.   She would never see her wife again because of the choices that Vanya had made.   Did she have the right?   Was analysing samples from the nebula really important at a time of red alert?   Could she not have recommended that they be beamed back?.  

She closed her eyes, she tried to let the logic of the situation come to the fore.   Nevertheless, these were her decisions   She tried to ignore the large holes that had been cut from the deck.   These had contained the last of their biomatter, the chemical reaction fusing a few grams of carbon to the deck that hadn’t been melted away. 

She looked at the damaged conduit.   In the absence of any meaningful remains, this was the symbol of her failure, the fact that she had let someone down.    She put her hand on the wrecked conduit, her hand wrapping around the burned casing.   An Engineering team would have normally methodically cut it out of the casing, and repaired the connectors, and installed a new one   Instead her fingers wrapped around the damaged cable, buckling it.   With a cry of rage she tugged it freeand threw it across the room  

Then the doors opened…

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #8 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 17 | USS Cayuga ]

In the meantime, down on the lowest deck of the USS Cayuga Lieutenant Kaylon Jeen was in main engineering heading to the port plasma injector when two figures appeared in a shower of sparks and an almost inaudible electronic hum indicating that a transporter had been used.  The two figures wore Starfleet uniforms with gold collars adorned with rank insignias that indicated they were enlisted men, but Kaylon didn’t need look at their rank insignias to know who they were.  The shorter slimmer figure was a feline headed humanoid whose spots indicated that his ancestors had come from the Southern continent of Cait and was none other than Chief Petty Officer M’oar, who was supposed to be on Deck Four manning the only transporter room on the ship that still had power to function. 

The second figure was a tall burly Terran whose sandy hair and pale skin indicated his ancestors had hailed from a continent that was far from his home world’s equator.  His square face and slightly flattened nose was easily recognizable as the USS Theurgy’s Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert O’Connell, who was acting chief engineer of the third stardrive vector of the Theurgy.  Kaylon had met briefly with the outlaw engineer the day before to discuss where the master chief’s people could be utilized and just how many of these renegades they were letting aboard.  O’Connell and his team were supposed to be working on the primary EPS conduit in order to restore full power to at least six decks of the USS Cayuga, but it is was plain to see that those repairs might have to wait.

If the master chief’s facial features wasn’t enough to provide recognition, there was no mistaking that voice.  Master Chief O’Connell’s accent was as distinctive as a musical tune and his voice as a loud and obnoxious as a marching band.

“Lieutenant!” O’Connell shouted.  “Call th’ bridge!”

“M’oar to Security,” the Caitan transporter chief purred as he tapped his combadge.

“Chief, there ain’t nobody fit’ tuh answer yuh in Security,” Billy Bob scolded.  “The Asurians done took Security.  They took over Security an’ now got access tuh ev’ry weapon in yore amory!  Fur all we know, all of yer security people’s dead!”

“Master Chief, the transporter…” M’oar interjected.

“It shore saved our bacon didn’t it?” O’Connell nodded.  “But thur ain’t no time tuh pat ourselves on the back raight now.” he turned back to Kaylon.  “Sir, yuh gotta call th’ bridge and alert ‘em…”

“Master Chief, the transporter,” M’oar interrupted, “When we beamed out, did you set the security override so that they couldn’t use it?”

“O’ course Ah didn’t!” O’Connell snorted.  “How could Ah?  It ain’t mah ship!”  Billy Bob blinked stupidly as he registered what M’oar was asking.  He turned to stare at Kaylon with an expression of surprise, guilt, and horror.

“Then it’s worse than we thought,” M’oar declared as he stepped past O’Connell to address Kaylon.  “Sir, not only do they have access to all of our small arms, they have access to the only functioning transporter on the ship!”

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #9 –
[ Ensign Cir'Cie | Science Labs | USS Cayuga ] @Veridian
[Show/Hide]
As a Botanist, Cir'Cie had been entirely out of her element when they had fought the Asurians, but since she knew of Captain Ziegler from the time before Commander Nerina, she had seen it prudent that the Cayuga was granted aid. Given their current predicament, gaining an ally was an efficient way of furthering the Theurgy's mission, despite how the ship was currently in perpetual MVAM mode until they made a rendezvous with the other Vectors.

As best as she might, she had taken on the role of Chief Science Officer on the Stallion, and in that capacity, she had hoped to aid the repairs of the Cayuga and the Theurgy both by having the few science officers that reported to her deployed to Lieutenant Kaylon Jeen and Master Chief O'Connell. Their basic knowledge in ship repairs, which she shared despite her primary field being botany, was prioritised over their knowledge in all their individual fields. Currently, äneither the Cayuga nor the Theurgy needed experts in biology, chemistry or robotics. They needed people who could use a hyperspanner and could follow instructions from present engineers.

Thus, with a hyperspanner in hand, she had worked diligently on the Cayuga the day before, but this morning, she had decided to seek out her counterpart on the Iroquois-class ship. She didn't know this highly unique officer, but since the day before, she had come to learn of her. A Romulan android, serving in Starfleet, and right then, even a Department Head. 'Unique' felt, to Cir'Cie, an inadequate word.

Having learned the location of Vanya, Ensign Cir'Cie stepped through the sliding doors of the science labs, and faced her.

This Android appeared perfectly Romulan, and there was plenty of emotion to her as well. The android seemed filled with rage, and if Cir'Cie wouldn't know the truth of it, she would have thought the other Chief Science Officer was of flesh and blood. "Pardon me. Are you Lieutenant Vanya?" she asked without emotional inflection to her syllables. "I am Ensign Cir'Cie of the Theurgy, acting as head of the Science department. Is there anything amiss?"

She had stepped into the ruined lab, but there seemed to be an echo to her steps. Frowning, Cir'Cie turned around...

...seeing two Asurians having followed her.

Despite the situation, Cir'Cie's eyes didn't widen, nor did she let out a scream. She faced the two Asurians, only backing away so that she was next to the android. The prisoners had escaped, spotted them, and now, they were trapped in a science lab together, barely having spoken before they were at the mercy of the two armed figures.

Then again, perhaps it was they who were at their mercy, since Cir'Cie didn't know Vanya's specifications...

OOC: More posts to come tomorrow! :)

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #10 –
[ Ramor & San-Teeg | Corridors | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow @Juzzie

Using the darkness to their advantage, Ramor and San-Teeg - two white and flaxen haired Asuian men - had used the Cayuga's transporter to their advantage. They now prowled the corridors of the Federation ship, moving quietly between the dimly lit intersections. They meant to reach what they believed to be the officers' quarters on the ship, to find hostages and bring them to the Chief Marshall. Of course, if they found more than they could conveniently bring to the holding cells, they would just have them slain, and hide their bodies. The darkness might help hide the blood.

They spotted two menial workers ahead, and as quietly as they might, they approached them. They were working on repairing a conduit in the wall, talking about the Theurgy coming to their rescue. Ramor and San-Teeg did not care. When they were close enough, they broke into a sprint. Their footfalls were heard, the workers turning around, but it was too late. The first one didn't even reach his combadge in time before Ramor's sindt opened him from shoulder to opposite hip. The second worker scrambled backwards, making animal mewls of fear, before San-Teeg rammed his arm-blade through her torso and lifted her clear from the deck plating. He looked into his prey's eyes whilst she hung suspended in the air, seeing the spark of life leaving her eyes with a small smile of contentment.

They pried the doors of a turbolift open, and deposited the bodies in the shaft before they moved on, the both of them festooned with human blood.

Before they could reach the area where they believed the officers had their habitat, they entered an area close to the destruction that their kinsmen had wrought upon the Cayuga. Adjacent to Sickbay was an office of some kind, and as they appeared in that corridor, they spotted two figures ahead of themselves. A humanoid that looked like a female snake... and another Human. Ramor and San-Teeg bared their teeth, approaching them as silently as they could, their eyes seeing the marks of rank upon their collars. These were not menial workers. Still, they might fight.

"I will claim the female lizard," said Ramor, and San-Teeg looked towards the flat-cheeked male with a grin.

The both of them rushed their prey as one - their tails whipping in their wake, and their horns about to slam into their quarries.

[ Jisa & Ora-Sedra | Engineering| USS Cayuga ] Attn: @Doc M. & @alphawiz

By the time the Chief Engineer of the Theurgy had finished speaking, Jisa and Ora-Sedra - two Asurian sisters with pale complexion - had beamed into the area adjacent to Engineering. They looked around, and Jisa smiled when she saw the corridor leading to the main area empty. She looked towards her sister. "You will enter through their maintenance tunnels, while I draw attention. Let the others take hostages. Here... we kill."

"For Asuria, sister," said Ora-Sedra, and raised her modified graviton rifle, complementary from the Savi but overclocked to her own preferences. She wore her sindt as well, but for this fight, she thought she might kill more cravens at a distance than in close quarters. "Let's make mother and father proud."

"Aye. We honour their memory today," said Jisa, and yanked a grate in the bulkhead open, quietly slipping into the tube that might lead her to a higher level. Behind her, Ora-Sedra powered up her rifle and strode through the main doors leading into Engineering, and she began firing immediately, a blood-curdling cry on her lips as her beams struck right through engineers in her sight.

She moved between covers after that bold entrance, for she meant to kill as many as possible before her sister appeared as well.

[ Iege & Drara | Bridge | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @Arista

Outside the Cayuga's bridge, Iege raked a hand through his short, white hair, and his light blue eyes sought Drara's, his lover since decades, and his companion in arms. She seemed joyful at the prospect of battle, smiling back at him, huddled as they were in the restroom close to the Bridge after their transport. Iege looked at Drara's body in her battle attire, bedecked with weapons, and he found himself wanting her.

"I know a way we can celebrate our kills," he told her.

"You always know how to celebrate, regardless the occasion," she answered with a mischievous smile.

"We celebrate well together," he said, raising his two graviton blasters where he sat crouched on the floor. "We always have."

"We always will," said Drara, her eyes as green as ever and her blonde braids reaching her waist. Her back-swept horns caught the light as she leaned in to kiss him. "For Asuria."

"For Asuria," said Iege, and rose to his full height. Side by side, they left the restroom, and found cravens guarding the bridge. Two of them, caught unawares, and Drara whipped the first one's head with her rifle, and the second one with her tail. Iege's two overhead strikes ended their lives, their blood spattering across the walls of the checkpoint. Drara checked the door leading to the bridge, and found it sealed. With a snarl, she raised her rifle, soon joined with Iege.

Together, they blasted the door with graviton beams until it collapsed. It took them ten seconds, no more, and then they were inside - the true battle beginning. Finally, they would avenge the death of their lost child. Yara-Tel had only been sixty years old when the cravens had her killed. In her memory, they cried out their rage - their sindts catching the light of their graviton beams.

OOC: There! Seven days of posting time in response to the above begins today! The current conditions: The Cayuga have very, very limited power, most systems offline. Emergency lightening everywhere. Comm systems work most of the time, but internal sensors are offline along with any means to raise force-fields in the corridors. All such reserve power is devoted to the structural integrity fields that cover the gaping hull breaches around the ship, including the bridge.

Again, we have an opening for Supplemental threads in Chapter 03, spanning from 1200 hrs. on Day 04 (directly after the battle) to 0800 hrs. on Day 05, where Chief Marshall Akri Sitaio releases her captured Asurians above. The naming convention for such threads that belong to Chapter 03 is still: CH03: S [DXX|YYYY]  Insert Title, and before the Asurians broke free, such threads can be made with members of the Scouting Mission too.

Here are those present on the Cayuga: [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #11 –
[ Acting XO Lt. Zelosa Ejek | Counseling Department| U.S.S. Cayuga ] @Juzzie

Lt. Rhys Williams was a young man, with features that the Cardassian did not find remarkable. That did not mean he was not a competent counselor, however, and she clung to the hope he would be at least her equal.
“I am the chief counselor and the acting executive officer of the Theurgy.” She responded, but did not shake his hand. It was messy. She didn’t like messy, but he couldn’t help it. No one could. She did not regard him with contempt or disgust. Her face was hard to read, and she was being polite and pleasant.
“I see your office is in poor condition.” She commented, with no particular venom in her voice. It was a statement of fact. “If you had renovations in mind, now’s an excellent time to submit them.” She allowed herself...a smile, and she gestured for him to walk with her. This would serve as a good way to take stock of the ship so far, and at the end of their walk they’d be in engineering, which was exactly where she had to be next. “I trust you’re enjoying counseling the EPS conduits back to functioning.” She teased, “If not, not to worry. I’m told the warp core needs some help as well. Perhaps we can medicate it back to health?” She used humor to put the man at ease--she didn't need to look at him to know he was stressed. Everyone was stressed. It would also give her a better idea of what kind of conversational partner he was...

“In all seriousness, counselor, how has your work been? I can only imagine how busy you are.” After all, they had just gone through a disaster. She was of the understanding that Lieutenant Rhys needed to speak to her on matters concerning counseling. That someone from the Cayuga trusted a Theurgy counselor enough to request her presence meant that maybe she could make a strategic ally out of him...

And then she was knocked to the ground, the wind knocked out of her lungs as some great force rammed into her back at full velocity. Her hand scrambled for her phaser, but Theurgy crew were not not to carry phasers around casually. There was nothing there for her to grab, and no way to run fast enough to get away from--Asurians, she saw, as she turned herself over to look.

Uh oh.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #12 –
[ PO 2nd class Kythalie Benmual | Corridors | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow  @Juzzie @Auctor Lucan 

The head of the Betazoid petty officer throbbed as she grunted lightly, perhaps it was too soon to leave sickbay like the medical officer had told her, yet she looked and functioned properly on his tests. Which was reason enough for Kythalie to get herself discharged out of Sickbay after toying with the man's head a little. A very not so fair way to leave Sickbay, yet there were more injured people that needed attending.

Kythalie had managed to slip in a fresh security uniform though it proved to be a skirted version of the outfit. Not that she really minded as it did offer more flexibility near the groin and at the legs, plus the constricting feeling of the Starfleet pants was no longer an issue for her at this time. She had been delivered across the two ships by shuttle as it was transporting materials in order to aid on the repairs for Cayuga.

After returning on the ship she had been shocked by the damage Cayuga had taken by the initial Asurian assault. Parts of the ship that were fine before were damaged now and occasionally she'd find destroyed or fried conduits and panels in the corridors. The encounter with the unknown creatures being a feisty one as she remembered how a piece of deck plating had shifted and caused her to lose balance with her patrol partner. Her partner had broken his leg during the incident and as Kythalie had tried to help him, an overhanging panel had come lose and crashed down upon her head. All in all she was lucky that she didn't fracture her skull or neck because of it. A heavy concussion and some cuts and scrapes was all she suffered though she did lose consciousness which granted her a ride on the derelict Starfleet ship.

It all felt a bit weird to be honest as she was making her way to the security center. Lihting not properly working as there was trails of blood to be seen. It wasn't dry blood, which made her a bit suspicious yet not overly. In the meantime her thoughts went to the people on the Theurgy vector as they called it, all of them seemed kind and proper to Starfleet standards and she couldn't get why the entire fleet was out to get them. She had heard things about an infestation and parasites, yet it all really didn't make any sense. Plus a throbbing head ache wasn't exactly beneficial to these conspiracies or theories. With a sigh she passed the ruined Sickbay center of Cayuga before she heard voices emanating from the hallway leading up to the counselor's office. Hushed voices before she heard the sound of whips?

She slowed her pace and stuck to the wall as she crept closer and peeked past the corner to see two Asurians stride into the office where she recognized Lt Williams, the counselor about her ship. The heartrate accelerated and the throbbing pain became a rather pesky nuisance as she knew she had to act. She swallowed hard as her eyes were trained on the Asurians. Slowly she crouched closer as they had surprised the two officers, she wanted to reach for her phaser, yet realized she didn't have any on her after her stay at Sickbay. Contacting the security center would take too long. Kythalie swallowed as her black eyes followed the moves of the Asurians.

She found two pipes on the floor which were badly damaged causing them create pointy ragged ends at both sides. They would do for now as she had to neutralize the threat for the two officers. She could however feel the burning rage from the two horned figures as she managed to sneak up to the door. The time was now...

With a quick run up she lashed out planting one of the pipes into the upper arm of the Asurian closest to the Cardassian, the second pipe she held was planted in the shoulder of the same target. The pipes had penetrated the skin and probably were planted into some muscle tissue as Kythalie grabbed onto the graviton rifle of her pounced target. With a snap it came lose from him and she positioned herself in front of the Cardassian, shielding her partly from the threat. The rifle felt a bit weird in her hands, the design rather old fashioned while it did seem powered up and ready to fire. He raised the sights towards the Asurian standing at Rhys. Her eyes glancing over injured Asurian before focusing on the other threat still standing close to her counselor "Hope I'm not interrupting anything special here?" she asked with a sly grin on her face "Figured you could use a hand."

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #13 –
[ Captain Anya Ziegler | Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Cayuga ] @Brutus @Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow @alphawiz @Juzzie  , Anyone else 
[Show/Hide]

“Ziegler to transporter room one.” The captain called, after pressing the combadge to her chest. When there was no reply, she repeated herself. “Transporter room one. Come in.”

Anya sighed loudly. Why was it that right at the moment you need it, the technology failed? The replicators, the sonic showers, the corridor lighting. All of it and more was on the blink, along with the internal communications system. Looking exasperated across to her close friend and confidant, Ziegler tried to understand what was going on. The only way they’d know for sure was to send someone down to find out. Before she could decide on who to send, there was another sharp trill alert tone from the security console.

“Captain, I’m reading at least three more unscheduled transports” Anders called out, hastily pressing controls trying to extract more information. “Again, they’re still within Cayuga but we don’t know where.”

By now the growing sense of dread had built into a noxious pain in the pit of her stomach. Something definitely wasn’t right. One person ahead of schedule could be understood, but multiple? No, there was more to this.

“Crewman, take security from outside and get to the transporter room.” She began, commanding the attention of the enlisted officer with their hands full of the illuminated cable hanging from the ceiling. Ziegler didn’t remember if they came from Theurgy or Cayuga, but it didn’t matter right now. She had to do something. “Your orders are to relieve the transport officer in charge. We can’t risk shorting out the system and losing all power.”

The crewman nodded and opened his mouth to reply but, before they could utter any words, the unmistakable sound of weapons fire came through muffled from the sealed door to the checkpoint.

“Arm yourselves!” West yelled, pushing himself back all the way against the wall. The door to the checkpoint was right next to the security console. Obviously, he intended he try to grapple the intruders when they finally broke through.

Elsewhere across the bridge, a moment of panic gathered amongst the crowd. Some officers froze in place, whereas others tried to hide behind what little cover there was. Ziegler moved, dropped the toolkit in her hands to the floor. Already her mind was moving father than she could keep up, but still, she moved to one of two weapons lockers on the bridge. They were built into the bulkheads, one either side. One by the Briefing room entrance, the other by the captain’s ready room. Hidden, but in plain sight. The panels wouldn’t open without a correct code being ended onto the slide doorbell like panel to the side.

Even with the captain’s command code entered, the panel was slow to respond. Rotating unhurriedly, inch by inch to reveal the type II phaser and type III rifle waiting for use. With no thought about catching her hand in the mechanism, Anya reached in to grab hand phaser and pulled it close. She knew she had hit the power buttons to raise the setting when pulling it free of its housing, but the captain didn’t really know the intensity she’d set. There was no more time to check as from behind, Ziegler could hear the sound of parting doors. In one action, she spun, twisting herself back towards to the relevant alcove and three short sharp shots hoping that, although basically blind firing, she would hit her mark.


OOC note:  Ziegler’s shot was on reflex and without really aiming. Lucan, I’ll let you decide if it hits and if so, the power setting she managed to get it to in the short timeframe.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #14 –
Lt Kaylon Jeen | Main Engineering| USS Cayuga | @Auctor Lucan @Doc M. anybody else

It only took a couple of seconds for Kaylon's mind to shift gears after the crewmembers from the Theurgy transported into the engine room.  Slapping his combadge he spoke quickly "Engineering to Bridge.  Locking down the transporter, now!" Quickly moving over to the primary subsystems panel, he pulled up the transporter controls, and engaged the proper security protocols, taking the transporter offline to prevent further abuse by the Asurians

Technically he should have waited for the order to be issued, but if the Captain decided she didn't want the transporter shut down, it would only take 2 seconds to reactivate them.  Somehow he doubted that order would come.  Pulling up the repair status screen, he looked, hoping his team had pulled another miracle out of their hats.  They had.  Tapping the panel, he brought the newly repaired internal sensor array online.   It wasn't at 100%, but it would at least give Security some intel.

"Thanks for the warning!" Kaylon said over his shoulder.  "Bridge, we now have partial internal sensors online."

=============
OOC: Sorry for delay in posting.  Been away for a few days.  Doc, thanks for the heads up or I might have missed it.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #15 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 17 | USS Cayuga ] Atten: @Auctor Lucan & @alphawiz

"Thanks for the warning!" the Cayuga’s chief engineering officer called over his shoulder.   "Bridge, we now have partial internal sensors online."

“Aww,” Master Chief Billy Bob O’Connell drawled.  “T’weren’t nuthin’.” He pulled out his tiny mark I hand phaser that was nicknamed ‘the cricket’ and wagged it at shoulder level.  “Now how to Ah git this here phaser reactivated?  Ah done left mah toolkit on Deck Four an’ they done deactivated it when Ah wuz beamed aboard.  With security out, Ah reckon thet will be havin’ company down here toot sweet.  Th’ last thing Ah want iz ta end up facin’ th’ Asurians with only whut Gawd gave me.”

At that moment the doors leading to the main corridor opened and a female Asurian screamed her battle cry as she shot at every engineer in sight.  “For Asuria!” Ora-Sedra cried as bolts of energy discharged from her rifle.  “Death to the cowards!”

M’oar was hit by the first blast of her rifle and his body was sent flying… flying right into Billy Bob that is.  Before he knew it O’Connell was over four meters away and lying on his back.  M’oar’s lifeless body was laying only a meter away.  Fortunately, the Asurian shrew was shooting at everyone standing.  She would no doubt get around to shooting folks on the deck later.  Grunting in frustration, he rolled behind a work station.  It should provide some cover before she hunted for survivors. 

Experience aboard the Theurgy told him how this little incident would go.  He glanced over his shoulder to see a second set of doors and a pair of legs belonging to a warp technician that was frozen speechless at the spectacle of the scene before him.

“Git down yuh idgit,” he hissed to the youngster, “or Ah guarantee you’ll be missin’ a head!”

From behind the technician, a hatch opened and a second female Asurian slipped out of a Jeffries tube to slash at his neck with a strange blade that looked like that of a scythe that was attached to the wrist instead of a pole.  “Death to the craven!” Jisa cried as the young man’s head fell to the deck, followed by his twitching body.  “You shall pay for your crimes!”

Billy Bob darted forward and seized her legs, sending her down to the deck and causing the mark II pistol shaped phaser to clatter about while the hand that wasn’t holding her ungainly melee weapon instinctively when out to stop her fall.  O’Connell leapfrogged onto her back to keep her from slashing at him with her blade and tried to use his two hundred pounds (90.7 kg) to keep her flat on the deck and unable to injure him.  His hand clamped her wrist and searched for a release mechanism that would open the bracelet and actually make it possible for her to drop the damn thing.

He hadn’t counted on the horns on her head that nearly put his eye out or her tail that knocked him in the testicles hard enough to make him see stars.  Choosing an alternative, he gripped her horns with both hands and slammed her face into the deck.   “Now cut that out!” he shouted.  “Dagnabbit, why yuh so set on killin’ us in th’ first place?”

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #16 –
Lt Kaylon Jeen | Main Engineering | USS Cayuga | Attn @Doc M. @Auctor Lucan

Kaylon was about to tell O'Connell that he just needed the phaser's id number and he could reactivate it when the doors slid open and the Asurian came in shooting.  He saw two of his engineers go down.  Damn!  As if we weren't already shorthanded enough.   Quickly, he hit the deck behind the console where he was standing drawing his phaser and peering around the edge of the console at near floor level.  He was probably in the worst possible location to be able to get a bead on the firing Asurian.  The upshot was that he would have plenty of cover.

Thus far, the Asurian was going for low hanging fruit, shooting anybody she could see.  Tapping his combadge he said quietly, "Engineering to Security - Intruder Alert in Engineering." so as to not draw her attention, and fired his phaser, unfortunately missing.  Nearby, he heard O'Connell.  "Dagnabbit, why yuh so set on killin' us in th' first place?" as he was bashing the head of a second ramhead into the deck. 

He fired again, missing again.  This was definitely not his day, but what did he expect?  He was pretty much firing blind.  At least the engineering crew, that remained had taken cover, and were starting to return fire.  Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of firing that could be done.  One stray shot hitting the warp core and....BOOM.  No more worrying about people tripping over umbilicals in the corridor. 

He may not have been in a good firing position, but he wasn't helpless.  Sensors were working again, so...  "Computer!  Scan for any Starfleet Mark I phasers in Engineering, and reactivate!  Emergency Containment - Seal off engine core!  Authorization Jeen Delta two seven!"   That would seal the doors between them and the warp core, hopefully protecting some of the engineering crew in the process.  It would also make it safer to have a fire fight. 

Using the cover afforded him by his not being in direct line of sight, Kaylon tried to find a better firing position.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #17 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 17 | USS Cayuga ] Atten: @Auctor Lucan & @alphawiz

“Dagnabbit, why yuh so set on killin’ us in th’ first place?”

“You abandoned us and left us to die!” Jisa hissed as she brought her arm up behind her and slashed at O’Connell with her sindt .

O’Connell was forced to roll off of her.  He had almost lost an eye to her horns but would have lost a lot more of his head if he didn’t.  He got to his feet and jumped with an agility he didn’t know he had when she slashed at his legs. 

“Do you know how many of my people died when you fled like cowardly snerts?” Jisa sneered as she rose to her feet.

“Lady what are yuh talkin’ about?” he protested as he ducked and rolled backwards to avoid a horizontal slash that would have cut him in two.  Fleeing like a cowardly snert seemed like a good idea right now.  He started running away from Jisa but shots from Ora-Sedra’s gravity rifle made him stop, wave his arms in a comical fashion to maintain his balance and head right back to Jisa again. 

Jisa grunted a battlecry and slashed at him again, forcing the master chief to dive flat on the deck to escape dismemberment. 

“Look Ah don’t know whut you’ve bin tol’ about us, but as far as Ah know none of us ain’t never even heard of yuh!” he exclaimed as he backed away on his elbows in order to remain prone and keep her in sight.  “Nobody tol’ me we had some kinda alliance!”

“I grow weary of your excuses, coward!” Jisa sneered.  “Prepare to meet your heathen gods!”

It was then that Billy Bob heard the Cayuga’s chief engineer call out.  "Computer!  Scan for any Starfleet Mark I phasers in Engineering, and reactivate!  Emergency Containment - Seal off engine core!  Authorization Jeen Delta two seven!"

Billy Bob fumbled with the hidden pocket in the back of his uniform and pulled out his ‘cricket’.  The tiny hand phaser shot a beam of nadion particles that hit Jisa in the abdomen and sent her backwards into the bulkhead.  When she bounced off the wall and hit the deck, she was like a marionette without its strings.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #18 –
[ Ramor & San-Teeg | Corridors | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow @Juzzie @Nolan

After they had successfully pummelled the two officers to the deck plating with their horns, Ramor and San-Teeg had raised their sindts as one, ready to cut them if they tried to draw weapons against them. Yet as they stood above their downed prey, they found them both unarmed. For San-Teeg, it was almost a disappointment, how easily they had managed to acquire these high-ranking officers as hostages for the Chief Marshall.

"Cravens, you are coming with us," said Ramor, but then paused, tilting his head as he looked upon the female lizard. San-Teeg had seen that kind of look in his friend's eyes before, and saw that Ramor found the female very... proportionate. Apparently, by the way he began to suck air through his nostrils, Ramor wanted to claim her, right there in the corridor. San-Teeg, however, knew better than to linger in the open. For his own part, he wouldn't mind sampling the male at his feet. Only later.

"Save it," he said, curling his upper lip. "I am sure Akri will let us ha-"

Then, an assailant suddenly attacked Ramor, and San-Teeg snarled, seeing how his fellow Asurian was injured by another female's makeshift melee weapons. With great noise, and an agitated snarl, Ramor went down, and before San-Teeg had got his aim fixed on her, the female had Ramor's rifle in her hands. She did not fire against him, perhaps because he had his own rifle raised against her, but her actions had told him one thing.

She was a warrior, unlike the two cravens at their feet.

She spoke to him, granting him time to assess. He could not pull the trigger and shoot the rifle, since disrupting a graviton rifle had side-effects he mightn't escape. Having made his decision, the primal instincts of survival guiding him, San-Teeg grinned at the female. "Starfleet rules, about unarmed men? I suppose I should be fortunate, since I merely need to put this down." He spread his hands, pointing his rifle away from her. "If you had been Asurian, I would be dead already."

Having said this, he turned away from her, to place his rifle on the deck, next to the prone male. As he slowly leaned down, he spoke anew. "Ramor will rise to his feet, female warrior, and he will be angry. You should shoot him now, while you have a chance."

Indeed, Ramor was back at his feet, next to her, and he rolled his shoulders, knowing how the bulk of his body might intimidate the inferior female, letting her know how small she was, and that she no longer had the element of surprise.

"Yet I know you wait..." said San-Teeg, and his fingers left the grip of his rifle, "because your are just as craven as the rest!" Having turned away from the woman when he put his rifle down, San-Teeg whipped at her stolen rifle with his tail. After he had lashed at her with his tail, he completed the turn of his body, and let out a loud cry as he sought to strike her from below with his sindt. He hoped to impale her and lift her to the deckhead. Such was the force he laid behind his attack.

Meanwhile, Ramor came at her from the side, his sindt coming across at the height of her neck, meaning to behead her, if San-Teeg hadn't already skewered her.

[ Jisa & Ora-Sedra | Engineering | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @Doc M. & @alphawiz

Diving from cover to cover, Ora-Sedra meant to kill as many engineers as she could together with her sister. Her pale skin was already decorated with craven blood, and her bistre eyes sought new targets while she moved, hunting prey below the glow of the warp core. Someone had managed to aquire a weapon, shooting after her, but so far, he hadn't manage to hit her. She prided herself in being a quick huntress, and step by step, she was making her way around the area - heading towards the elusive shooter.

Yet when Ora-Sedra saw that Jisa had fallen, her eyes went wide...

...and her rising cry struck the walls of engineering. "For Asuria!"

She moved out of cover, bolder in letting her voice strike fear in two engineers that covered behind a console. She leapt on top of it, and her serrated sindt slashed down at them. Their screams ended in gurgling noises. With her teeth bared, her eyes were not on the victims below, but upon the shooter in the distance. Her free hand had her rifle pointing towards him, and her aquamarine beams were decimating the cover he hid behind - cutting it down around his ears. She dared him to come out of cover, yet did not wait for him.

Ora-Sedra made another leap, landing next to another engineer, who cried out and tried to crawl away from her cover. Ora-Sedra lashed out with her arm, and grabbed the waistband of the woman's uniform skirt, and yanked her back to where she'd been. With a snarl, she slid the long blade of her sindt underneath her jaw, letting the sharp metal edge rest against her porcelain neck. "What's your name, craven?"

"P-Patricia... Patricia H-Hallquist," whimpered the woman, staining to try and keep her neck away from the blade - pinned to the floor as she was with Ora-Sedra sitting on her back. The Asurian wasn't even looking down at her - her glare directed towards the last remaining engineers aside from her hostage. There were only two men left - the one that had shot Jisa and the elusive shooter. The rest had fled the area.

"I will release Hall-Qist," she called to the males-in-hiding, "if you drop your weapons... and surrender your lives to me. If you don't, you will hear how I cut her apart - piece by piece. I will begin now."

"No!" called Patricia, her screams louder this time, while Ora-Sedra moved her sindt - slipping it below her right arm.

"Show yourselves!" snarled Ora-Sedra, about to saw off the limb.

[ Iege & Drara | Bridge | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @Arista

When they had breached the doors to the bridge, the two Asurian mates found themselves assailed, which had been expected.

A Human male leapt upon Drara, likely thinking he'd overpower her, perhaps even use her as hostage to make Iege stand down. What the man with the red collar hadn't expected was Drara using his forward momentum against him, pivoting on the balls of her feet and throwing him across the carpeted deck of the bridge. At the end of her turn, she raised her rifle in one hand, and let two graviton beams slam straight through his torso - even burrowing into the deck plating below him. She never stopped moving, however, going for another kill with her sindt.

Iege found himself fired at from afar, a woman with a hand-phaser challenging him. Two beams had struck the bulkhead next to him, and he managed to catch the third against his sindt, the blade turning red-hot and crooked. Iege answered her in kind, however, his two graviton blasters raised against her and striking the distance with gravitational shear - parting or piercing anything he hit.

Regardless of his success, he could not linger on one target alone, his blue eyes settling on two officers that had frozen in place, who only then meant to flee - trying to run out of the bridge. He riddled the first with beams, making her fall apart, and then snarled as he stepped in, making a full turn before he cut the running, male officer in two at the waist with his burning-hot sindt. The ichor and blood sizzled on the crooked steel afterwards, when Iege rounded on the shooter in the distance again, meaning to make sure he'd killed her.

In the meantime, Drara beheaded another officer, and at this point, the remaining repair crew and officers were in panic, and there was no shortage of running cravens to kill. It seemed an inferior compensation for the loss of their daughter, but they had just begun...

OOC: @Veridian , I will post with Cir'Cie as soon as you post with Vanya. @Juzzie , please make sure you post soon in the Corridor scene, but I won't set a posting order, so @Nolan and @FollowTomorrow , go right ahead and post within 7 days. Again, there's seven days of posting time in response to the above scenes.

Once more, we have an opening for Supplemental threads in Chapter 03, spanning from 1200 hrs. on Day 04 (directly after the battle) to 0800 hrs. on Day 05, where Chief Marshall Akri Sitaio released her captured Asurians. The naming convention for such threads that belong to Chapter 03 is still: CH03: S [DXX|YYYY] Insert Title, and before the Asurians broke free, such threads can be made with members of the Scouting Mission too.

Here are those present on the Cayuga: [Show/Hide]

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #19 –
[ Acting XO Lt. Zelosa Ejek | Corridors | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Juzzie @Nolan

They wanted hostages, not bodies. It was a blessing too—as a hostage Ejek had a better chance of living, maybe even talking her way out of the situation than she did as a dead body. The Asurian above her seemed to be...distracted to say the least, so there were a dozen very easy ways out of this situation that came up almost right away. Her mind was busy cooking up ideas…

When suddenly, she didn’t have to anymore. The male Asurian was off of her, so she jumped to her feet. She wanted to run, hide away. There was plenty of debris all over this hallway to do so with, but she couldn’t make herself do it. The PO versus two Asurians; she might not make it. How could she arm herself, if she didn’t know the codes to open any of the weapons lockers?

Someone else near her did though. She went to Rhys to pull him to his feet, none too gently.
“Lieutenant, open up one of the weapons lockers, now!” She shoved him off of her and thumped her combadge, praying that this time, communications would work.
“This is XO Ejek, I need a security presence outside counseling, deck 04! Two armed Asurians--” But her voice dropped when she saw both of them go after the PO, thinking that she would meet her end for sure.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #20 –
[Lt. Rhys Williams|Corridors|USS Cayuga] @FollowTomorrow, @Auctor Lucan @Nolan

The conversation between Rhys and Ejek had been a pretty one sided affair. She had talked and he had stood there being his usual self. That self, was a ball of nervous energy, with a mind filled with every possible way this conversation could go wrong.  In a strange way it had almost came as a relief when the awkwardness had been interrupted by something crashing into him. Almost being the important word. The feeling of relief did no last past the searing pain in his head.

Rhys was a fit, and tall young man so whatever had hit him, hit him with tremendous force. So much so that his head smashed into the floor.  He heard a ringing in his ears, and warmth slowly rolled down his forehead. The next few seconds passed in a blur as Rhys was barely conscious, his head ached and he felt nausea rolling over him in waves.

However shortly after ward, he felt the heavy weight leave him he could hear words being spoken but could not make sense of them in his confused state. He attempted to lift himself off the floor his arm moving to his side and finding the rifle that had been left there by his assailant. Next thing he knew he felt hands dragging him to his feet. It was Ejek barking an order at him, her lips moved and he heard her voice but he was having difficulty making sense of the words. She wanted him to do something it seemed urgent, and she had pushed him away.

Then he saw them two Asurians bearing down on a young familiar looking Petty Officer. With the unfamiliar  weapon in his hands, Rhys acted on instinct. He dove for the nearest Asurian and brought down the rifle on its head with all his strength. He gave an angry yell “Rhyddid aiff â hi!” The ancient Welsh words reverberating around the ruined corridor. Anyone who knew Rhys would have been shocked by the sight of, the normally timid and mild mannered counsellor with blood covering his face using an alien rifle to attempt to bludgeon an Asurian. There was fire and anger in his eyes, but also a far a way look that showed he was not exactly with it at that moment in time either.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #21 –
[ PO 2nd class Kythalie Benmual | Corridors | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @FollowTomorrow   @Juzzie  @Auctor Lucan

The Cardassian moved over to Rhys as the Asurians prepared their counter offensive seemingly. It pretty much vibed off their minds as one spoke. The action however of the Asurian she held at gun point spoke otherwise as he placed his rifle down on the floor, talking about Starfleet rules and unarmed foes. Kythalie's lips edged to a small grin as she nodded her head, keeping her weapon trained at the Asurian.

Her eyes followed the injured Asurian she had downed as it attempted to intimidate her. It partially worked as she took a step back and hissed "Don't you two move..." she warned, yet it was too late as the tail of the speaking Asurian lashed out to her rifle. yet years of training had taught her one thing. To never ever let your weapon go despite the force of it. She could feel her muscles and arms extend the impact as she held onto the graviton weapon. Her muscles already sore and probably more bruised now as the Asurians launched their assault. She could feel the anger and hate push up towards her as suddenly something weird happened.

The normal timid and often shy counselor of the Cayuga advanced forward with a war cry that Kythalie didn't understand. It almost sounded alien, as if the man was possessed by some sort of aggressive entity. He strode forward with the rifle San-Teeg had placed on the floor. Using it as a bludgeoning weapon instead of firing it, yet she couldn't really blame the man. Counselors weren't exactly expected to join mid fight with the discipline expected from security officers. His attack managed to give Kythalie the edge she needed to step back again and evade the attack of the sindt. Her attention turned to the already injured Asurian as he sought to strike her from the side, aiming for her neck.

Muscle training kicked in as she let herself drop down on her side, rifle aimed upwards as she could see the blade closing in. Her eyes switching to the target she lined her rifle up for before she squeezed the trigger. The weapon discharged as the graviton beam  spewed out of the weapon mound and connected to the Asurian. With a thud Kythalie fell on her side as she grunted, she looked over the hole she manufactured to Ramor. A hole in his neck as his flesh barely held his head on his torso, his sindt down on the floor as his forearm had been severed by the beam.

She rolled to her back and pushed herself into a seated position, taking an almost lotus position as she trained her weapon to San-Teeg's head "Enough!" she screamed "Stand down or have a hole in your fucking body that stretched from your head to your tail."

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #22 –
Lt Kaylon Jeen | Main Engineering | USS Cayuga |Attn : @Doc M.  @Auctor Lucan

The Asurian spoke. 

"I will release Hall-Qist, if you drop your weapons... and surrender your lives to me. If you don't, you will hear how I cut her apart - piece by piece. I will begin now."

Hallquist!  Damn.  I was hoping she'd be behind the containment door. Kaylon risked a quick check around the console.  There was no way he could get a clear shot.  Too many obstructions.  He was essentially helpless in this situation.

Unless...

Picking up his PADD, he pulled up the current status reports.  Scrolling down quickly he checked.  The security fields weren't repaired yet, neither were the other internal security measures in Engineering.  The priority was primary systems.  Well if they survived this, he'd have to talk to the captain about re-prioritizing.

He saw what he was looking for.  The secondary power coupling  was not repaired yet.  That was almost directly behind the Asurian.  A little to the left of her, actually.  If this worked, Hallquist could wind up with some plasma burns, but it beat being sliced to pieces and the Asurian should get the brunt of the explosion. 

Using his PADD, he interfaced with the main Engineering control system, and started to work.  Because everything was so crosswired right now, it would take about 30 seconds to re-reroute the power flow to it, and then about 15 seconds to build up enough to overload and explode.  Kaylon disabled the safety override, and activated the power flow transfer. 

Now, unless O'Connell had something up his sleeve, there would need to be about 45 seconds more than the brief time that she had given them before the blast hopefully took her out.  Kaylon needed to stall, somehow.

"How do we know you'll let her go?" he called out.

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #23 –
[ William Robert O’Connell | Main Engineering | Deck 17 | USS Cayuga ] Atten: @Auctor Lucan & @alphawiz

"I will release Hall-Qist if you drop your weapons... and surrender your lives to me. If you don't, you will hear how I cut her apart - piece by piece. I will begin now."

“No!”

"Show yourselves!"

Billy Bob retorted by laughing out loud.  Maybe all of the causalities he had witnessed had desensitized him.  Maybe it was the stress.  Maybe it was because he personally didn’t know Patricia Hallquist.  Or maybe he was trying to distract a homicidal manic that was standing on the corner of Nothing to Lose and Something to Prove.

“How do we know you'll let her go?” Lieutenant Jeen called out.  Glancing in his direction, O’Connell saw the Trill engineer crouched behind a console madly working on a PADD.  He was trying something clever and technical and needed time to get it done.  He had started a conversation just to play for time, but he needed to concentrate on what he was doing.  That was okay.  Distraction was the master chief’s specialty.  Back when the Federation and the Klingon Empire had that little spat about what to do about the Cardassian government Billy Bob had kept a Klingon talking so long that the two stellar nations made peace and forged a new treaty in the meantime.

“Let me think now… You say thet you’ll murder someone you were fixin’ on killin’ anyways if we don’t show ourselves an' let yuh kill us?” he called out as he checked his phaser to make sure it was on the stun setting in case he had to shoot through the hostage to hit the Asurian.  “WELL now... that’s a mighty temptin’ offer.  Ah reckon we’ll jest have tuh deliberate on it fur a spell.  Tell yah whut, if yore so brave an’ we’re such cowards, why don’t we jest keep our weapons or are yuh too yellah t' tangle with someone who kin fight back?” he shouted, changing gears as it became painfully clear that Kaylon needed more time.  “It seems t’ me the only real coward in this here room is the lily-livered goat who’s too chicken tuh face someone who kin provide a challenge!” 

To Billy Bob’s way of thinking, Patricia Hallquist was a done duck anyways, and had only been taken hostage because of the remaining Asurian’s frustration on not finding another easy kill.  But if he could get the crazy cow’s attention away from her hostage and get her angry enough to get stupid, poor Patty just might have a chance to get out of this intact.  So he goaded Ora-Sedra, gambling that she might get angry enough to ignore her hostage instead of killing her.  Of course, she might get so angry she’d kill Petty Officer Hallquist immediately but since she was going to kill her anyway, Billy Bob was committed to his bad decision.

“But yew satyrs don't really fancy uh challenge do yuh?” he mocked.  “Ah heard tell thet you Asurians are cowards, born cowards!  Ev’ry last one uh yuh!  Y'all surrendered yer rights n’ liberties tuh the Savi ‘cause yew yellow-bellies wuz all too scairt tuh stick up fur yerselves!  I’ve known Ferengi with more gumption!  Yer all brave when yuh outnumber us, find us all wounded, ‘r got ol’ Uncle Savi fur backup, but deep down yer all jest a bunch' a scared li’l girls ain’t yuh now?”  He punctuated his contempt by making loud and obnoxious chicken noises.  They were out of time.  It was time to move.  If Patty wasn’t dead she soon would be.  Still making his chicken noises, he looked at Kaylon, gave the lieutenant three determined nods, and rolled out of cover firing his tiny phaser. 

Re: Chapter 01: Blood For Blood [ Day 05 | 0800 hrs. ]

Reply #24 –
| Science officer Vanya | Sciene Labs| USS Cayuga ] attn. @Auctor Lucan

An eternity of plans went through Vanya’s minds  While she couldn’t see any sign of energy weapons on the assialants, there was nevertheless a risk that she could be permanently deactivated if she took a step that was too rash.  She closed her eyes and took a silent inventory of the room that they were in.  Playing her memory from a few seconds ago, she realised that the bracket that had one held the blown power coupling in place was now hanging limply off the wall.  There was also a hand held fire extinguishing unit in the wall. 

Appraising the Vulcan for a fraction of a second, Vanya realised that she may be out of her element in this fight.  She couldn’t afford to rely in her fully in the fight.  She grabbed the Vulcan, reahing for the fire extinguishing unit and forcing it into her hand.  “Use it if you need to” she said  It was entirely up to her.  She could use it defensively by discharging it in the eyes of one of their assailants, or offensively as a blunt force object.    That was up to her.  Vanya ripped the buckled bracket from the wall and began to weild it like a weapon. 

By now, the two Asurans were upon her.  Vanya hit the first one with her weapon, hitting her opponent in the jaw causing him to stagger back for a second  She attempting to do the same thing for the second, but he was quicker, hitting her elbow with a hard thrust from his palm.  Vanya wached in horror as her arm bent backwards and the weapon fell from her damaged arm uselessly. 

Neverthless, though the approximation of pain was severe, it was fleeting.  Whether this was in order to simulate adrenaline, or because some higher function of her brain detected danger, Vanya wasn’t sure.  Either way she took advantage of the situation.  She dropped to her backside, feigning agony.  She pivoted, wrapping her legs around the right leg of her assailant.  Holding her breath, she squeezed her legs together, feeling a small amount of satisfaction at both the crack and scream.  Her victory was short lived, as possibly through chance more than judgement, her opponent fell on top of her.  Yet as he didn’t attempt to move or hurt her further, Vanya guessed that he had passed out  Which was fortunate, as her opponent now pinned her good left arm to the floor, while her right one hung limply at her side. 

She was about to call for aid, when the lights of the science lab were eclipsed by the first assailant, his mouth a bloody mess, and a look of anger in his eyes… 
 
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