Star Trek: Theurgy

Episode 04: Simulcast | Chapter 03 "Loyalty"

"If loyalty is, and always has been, perceived as obsolete, why do we continue to praise it? Because loyalty is essential to the most basic things that make life livable. Without loyalty there can be no love. Without loyalty there can be no family. Without loyalty there can be no friendship. Without loyalty there can be no commitment to community or country. And without those things, there can be no society."

[ USS Resolve | Briefing Room > Main Bridge ] Suggested PO: 1) Arista (Melissa and/or Parnak) 2) FollowTomorrow 3) Triage 4) Vystori 5) Kaligos

"Captain, you better come to the bridge!" called the Yeoman after emerging in the doorway to the briefing room, where the Resolve's Commanding Officer stood together with the dishevelled A'vura Zeshryr, the ex-Borg named Six and the engineer named Melissa Wright. The Yeoman waved and ran back to whence he'd come, and when they all stepped unto the Luna-class starship's bridge, it was plain what the concern entailed. Derik Veradin was seated at the helm of the ship, and the viewscreen's tactical data flashed the indicators plainly.

"The starbase is on Red Alert, and so is a starship outside the base. It is the Theurgy. The one all over the media channels and in the reports from Starfleet Command. That renegade ship that destroyed a lot of ships in the fleet during its escape. It's that traitor, Captain Ives, and it looks like he has come to attack the base!"

True to the Yeoman's word, there was a clear signature of the massive Theurgy-class starship glowing as a red image on the viewscreen, moving far outside the starbase's hull. Yet the Yeoman wasn't finished. "From the readings, it looks like the base is scrambling fighter crafts, but something is strange... The starships that are docked alongside ours, they have powered up, and some of them are even ready to take off, but it's like they can't. They seem to be stuck on their docking pylons, just like us!"

As the Yeoman said this, the Resolve's aerowing whisked by in front of the viewscreen - Drauc T'Laus drawing as much attention to him as possible. Little did they know that he was not alone either - Ensign K'Ren being aboard as well. Perhaps there was a chance that the aerowing and the Theurgy both would draw enough attention to let them manually release the docking clamps on the pylon. Yet at the same time, Suq had also revealed the truth about who had been behind the bombing on the base, and for framing them as the traitors. Captain Ian Hawthorne was the mysterious 'Aidoann'. Was there any point in trying to alert base security?

From the looks of it down on the Docking Pylon, however, Lieutenant Komial Dotnhil was getting new orders - the vid-feed from the situation also shown in the corner of the viewscreen.

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[ Starbase 84 | Docking Pylon to the USS Resolve ] Suggested PO: 1) Julia 2) Brutus 3) Havenborn or DocReno

After Lieutenant Dothnil had clarified her demands to Counselor Ejek and Lieutenant Havenborn, they'd had no time to answer before the aerowing suddenly decoupled from the Resolve - launching at break-neck speed into the docking bay inside the mushroom head of the base. After a barrel roll down into the depths of the docking bay, it soared back up again, and opened fire against a docking pylon just above the one leading to the Resolve. Orange phaser fire lit everyone on the docking arm through the transparent aluminium screens, and debris from the destroyed docking arm was set adrift in zero gravity - coming down like sediments sinking to the bottom of a glass.

The aerowing's course had been too close to the core of the docking bay, however, since its thruster engines had torn out the windows during the climb - setting sheets of glass drifting out as well. In the shredded side of the centre core, no people had been sucked out, but in one of the shattered frames, a bald, dark man was looking straight at the people on the Resolve's docking pylon - a structural integrity field between the man and the vast docking bay. Judging from the tilt of the distant man's head, he looked none too impressed, and it was almost plain how it was his voice that emanated from Lieutenant Dotnhil's combadge - dealing her harsh orders across the static of the link.

[Lieutenant Dotnhil, shut your mouth and listen! Captain Ives is here, and you will deal with any boarding parties from the Theurgy before they manage to sabotage our defences from within. Coordinate with your second-in-command, and keep the Resolve locked down for the time being. I repeat, keep her crew locked in. I am heading to the Command Centre, and if you fail me again... and we are still alive... you will be demoted to Ensign - stripped of your position for all your shortcomings today.] It seemed the Commanding Officer of the starbase did not care that the words were heard aloud in the Lieutenant's company. [Somehow, Captain Kendrick's crew has sabotaged our sensors, and let Ives through our defences. All under your watch. So, will you please get your damn house in order now? Hawthorne out.]

Then, the Captain stepped away from the broken window, never having reached the docking pylon before he left Komial to her duties.

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OOC: Aside from these two locations, SummerDawn in next to post with K'Ren inside the aerowing. Furthermore, Kaligos is next to post with Hi'Jak, dealing with the precarious situation in the jefferies tubes. Also, please delay on trying to communicate with the Theurgy at this early point, since we have to make the boarding parties get on the base in Chapter 02 "Crucible" before there can be any solid answer in this Chapter. I reckon the Resolve has enough on its hands as it is anyway. Very soon, however, communication might be established, but consider also how the Theurgy is - by all known accounts - and enemy to Starfleet.

[ Ens K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit ] Attn: All

Previously:
Finally, he claimed a valid target during his uncontrolled flying. Without hesitation, he opened fire at a docking pylon's arm that held no life-signs, just above the Resolve. As he did, he spoke, but merely because the Caitian might be willing to aid him. If nothing else, out of sheer self-preservation. After all, thruster engines were perhaps recommended for the close confines of the docking bay, but not exactly known for their high-velocity precision. "This would be a lot easier if this shuttle had a control stick instead of making all these manual commands..."

Current:
K'Ren watched this unknown man with a mix or amusement and fear as he maneuvered this craft. He wasn't from their crew or even Starfleet she guessed, his controls inputs, if you could call such rough control inputs maneuvering, as he herded the aerowing shuttle around with an almost ignorant abandon. Screaming around the ship, dodging workbee's, and scraping along the inside of the docking area. It was obvious to her very quickly that this man needed the help of a real pilot, someone who knew how to finess, coax, and tease such a lumbering craft through maneuvers it wasn't designed for. Why he hadn't asked her yet was a mystery, she was dressed in her exo suit and even had the helmet on, visor up so she could easily see. Maybe he thought this was how officers dressed for combat? It was but only fighter pilots.

K'Ren had already locked her suit into the chair, the special restraints built into her exosuit engaging the chair when this whole show started so when Drauc muttered something about maneuvering the craft, K'Ren jumped on it. "How about you leave the flying to a qualified combat pilot and man the weapons orr just watch Rromulan." K'Ren remarked, growling, rolling her rr's as she was wont to when stressed. She wasn't waiting for his answer as she engaged her controls, locking her chair in place as a small control stick lifted from the armrest beneath her hands. Dropping her helmet visor down, K'Ren looked through the display as the aerowing's vitals and sensor displayed across her helmet. Now she was in her element and could make a contribution to the whole mess they found themselves in, and if today was a good day to die, at least she'd go out the way she wanted, in a fireball of plasma and vacuum. And, she thought idly as she took control, if she survived this she was definitely going to hunt Liam down and show him just how much she enjoyed his body.

For now though, as her training took over, if the Captain wanted a decoy, she'd give this base one.

[ Melissa Wright | Briefing Lounge | U.S.S. Resolve ] Attn: Kaligos, Vystori, et al

"I am afraid that your date will have to be put on hold until such a time that I can return you to the starbase without my crew being arrested for war crimes they have not committed."

Melissa knew it was a long shot, but she couldn't help but visibly deflate. Christ, could the day get any worse? She prayed that Sera had not only managed to avoid the mess that Mel had found herself in the middle of, but also that she wouldn't just take off in Sabine and abandon her. The tall blonde refused to believe that her act of compassion in trying to save Six would really lose her a new life of adventure and, possibly, love. Who would have thought that Melissa Wright would be such a hopeless romantic? Certainly not herself. After a string of increasingly sour relationships through the Academy, Melissa had sworn off Chocolate hearts, roses and string quartets. The fact that there was something in the Câroon which allowed Melissa to lose herself was not to be ignored. Neither were those yellow eyes. Just thinking of them made her need to stifle a moan. Lost in thought, the meeting carried on without her, leaving Melissa standing in the corner chewing gently upon her lower lip.

It was only when Kendrick asked about zero gravity that she was brought back to reality. She hated spacewalking in those pressurised suits, they didn't tend to be made for woman above a certain height, forcing women like Melissa to have to resort to the more bulky male equivalent. Though perhaps if she were to help the crew here, they could resolve the situation, no pun intended, and she could get back to her original plan. It was at this moment, Melissa Wright decided she would do anything within her power to get this ship sorted, even that was keeping herself from throwing up while magnetised to the side of the ship. The conversation had moved on, but when a gap formed, Melissa interjected.

"Captain, I'm Zero-G rated. Lend me a EV suit and I'll get your ship detached." She smiled to the Captain, if only to keep the look of worry off her face, however that all changed when they all moved to the bridge. Reports of Theurgy had Melissa remembering the news stories from the FNN. The most powerful ship of the fleet, gone rogue, with a insane traitorous shape-shifter in command. Who at Starfleet Command had approved that? Melissa knew the Dominion War was long over, but she couldn't believe that the big-wigs had forgotten it already. Oh well, another reason she would be glad to strip from this uniform and leave her combadge behind once she was safe aboard Sabine

---

[ Dr. Silim Parnak | Main Sickbay | U.S.S. Resolve ] Attn: Kaligos et al

Silim stood proudly, looking across the bay as its malevolent make-shift ruler. He had saved the day but there was only one issue. There was no one to praise him. The Sickbay was eerily quiet following the exit of the Chief Medical Officer and her orderlies, off to inoculate Drauc and deliver the precious bio-canisters that Parnak had ingeniously thought of. All that was left for the Cardassian was to tidy up the mess that he had created. There wasn't much, usually there would be less as he was quite a meticulous person, however time had a been a factor. 

It had only taken a few minutes for Parnak to return the tools he had used back to their relative trays and any lingering containers were placed into the replicator to be recycled. Staring at the machine, Silim thought momentarily about relaxing with a nice cup of tea, but it wasn't the time. He was victorious, he was king. Where were his worshiping minions? Did they not realise the magic in which he had enacted in this lab? Sighing dramatically he sat down on an empty stool, which wasn't difficult for they were all empty. Parnak called to the computer for the time, which it retorted quickly. It was at that moment that Silim had a realisation. Of course! It was all so simple! Why would the Captain bother to come down to Parnak when he should go up to him? He was captain after all. Jubilant, Silim set off, out of the sickbay into the nearest turbolift, heading straight for the bridge. This was certainly rather exciting. Silim had never seen a Federation ship's bridge. In fact, he hadn't even stepped into a command centre since leaving the Cardassian Military. He knew he couldn't be promoted as he wasn't a member of Starfleet, but perhaps they'd replicated him a medal? Or Certificate? Even an invite to tea and cake at a later date would do.

As he stepped out, he looked across the circular room. The place for the captain was obvious, all the stations were placed so that they would all be within reach of the commanding officer. The part that was the most interesting was that one of the console seemed to be made from wood, and descended sharply to provide a barrier to the back of the bridge. Did Federation captains not turn their back on the viewscreens? Silim wasn't aware of this cultural point, but he wouldn't be surprised if he was right. Confident in his rightful place in this room, he took a few steps closer into the center.

"Right then, who's in need of another minor miracle?"

---

OOC: I used the bridge design by the original designer of the luna class vessels as influence for Resolve. Let me know if I'm incorrect and i'll update my description.
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[Lt Hi'Jak| Jefferies Tubes | Starbase 84] Attn: Auctor, & Rosaria

Hi'Jak had to admit that if he was going to be stuck behind someone at least it was someone who didn't mind the jokes about her ass. Thought that he might one day see it... well now wasn't really the best time for that kind of thinking. As much as he could have liked something to take away the pain of loosing his life's works. His position as a luteniant, all of the time and effort he had put into his life on various occasions. Or the fact that his sexist, racist pig of a boss was now dead... actually that last part made him smile and churn his gut a little.

All of his thoughts were blanked out on when a man dropped down from the above opening. When he felt the man try to strike him Hi'Jak moved backwards a little. Narrowly avoiding the hand that was clumsily aimed towards his face in the narrow corridor they didn't have too much room to move so his turning was slowed significantly and Hi'Jak saw the real danger to his person.

Seeing the Phaser caused him to move more then the actual security guard dropping down. His hand grabbed the side of the mans head, and the next thing he knew he was violently smashing the man against the wall by his hair. The half Klingon smashed him upside the head once but not sure if that was enough to eleminate the threat and in a panic did so again, and again. His hand gripped the side of the mans head in a violent panic he wasn't sure exactly how much strength he was using, just that he was crushing the other person. Bludgening him with the wall and brute force multiple times till the others body went slack and even then he gave him one or two good more hits across the head.

Jack wasn't a doctor, didn't really know how modern medicine worked, how much damage the Federation could repair, but when he dropped the other mans head he slumped and his head bloodily slid along the wall. Even if he was alive, which Jack was in too much of a panic to check for Jack had probably just inflicted damage to the man that wasn't going to be repaired. The thought turned his stomach, as he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do anymore.

[ Crewman Rigell | Starbase 84 | Jefferies Tubes ] Attn: 1) RosariaRosette 2) Kaligos

"Stavros!" called Rigell silently after his superior officer dropped down the chute they climbed, hearing the commotion coming from below when Stavros landed.

Rigell cursed and pulled out his hand phaser awkwardly, trying to climb down the maintenance ladder to where Stavros had vanished. Doing it with only one free hand was not the best of solutions, and Rigell thought about returning the weapon to he holster at his hip before going down. No, it would take too much time. He heard loud banging against the bulkhead below, but no phaser fire. Making a split decision, Rigell brushed some blonde hair out of his eyes with his sleeve and gripped his phaser tighter, quickly letting go of the ladder and landing on his feet in the tunnel below.

His heart was pounding in his ears, adrenaline in his blood, and in such dire moments, only training and experience kept his head cold. He had some training, less experience, but he kept his balance and threw his eyes about to ascertain the fugitives in the dim light. He did not see Stavros at first, his eyes falling on the woman first. He raised his phaser towards her, and he should have shot her. He really should have. Yet he was Starfleet, and wanted to do it right. "Cease and desist! Lay down your weapons!" he cried to the woman, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Stavros was okay.

That was when he saw his superior officer begin manhandled by the... the Klingon? The light from the bulkhead caught the ridges on the forehead, making the assailant look like a monster. "Stavros!" he called, forgetting to keep his eyes on the woman until he was, perhaps, too late. He whipped his gaze back, the lapse ended, blue eyes meeting golden yellow ones in the dark of the jefferies tubes. He pushed the button of his phaser, casting everything into bright light, but he had no time to take aim - fear for his and his superior officer's life making him act.

---

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: SummerDawn

When the Caitian introduced herself as a combat pilot, Drauc turned his eyes towards her - realising that she had to be one of Havenborn's officers. Glimpses gleaned from the man's mind had suggested the origin of the human's white collar, and Drauc fit the words 'Tactical' and 'CONN' together as one - failing to have seen the connection before. It seemed a lot had happened in the fleet since he left it, but in the current situation, he could be none the more gratified that someone had realised that the plan might be better off with an expert pilot on the aerowing. It was the kind of forethought he could respect, since it granted an advantage in the field of battle. He might not be fighting alone, as he often preferred since he lost his brother... but his new Captain would have a distraction lasting far longer than if he had piloted the aerowing on his own.

As rusty as he had been at flying a Starfleet vessel, Drauc did not mind the growling she made either - her opinion of his skills as a pilot righteous. Her mind intruded upon his own, scattered and quick thoughts a maelstrom of piloting instincts, and while he gleaned images of a human - of a lover that she initiated coitus with inside what looked like an engine - Drauc did not catch her own name. "Acquiring safe targets around the space-dock now. Powering phasers to open fire once we pass them. I recommend a circular route around the core, with shifting altitudes, so that I may hit them all."

As his hands worked - fingers sticking out of the sleeves of his threadbare cloak - he paused, unsure if further talking was needed. With the task at hand, he usually held his silence, yet if he was forced to enter battle with someone at his side again, he felt compelled to know whom he might die with. "I am Drauc T'Laus," he rasped, not looking at her since there was hardly any time for it. The lights from the spacedock ran across the curves of her exosuit while they whisked by docking pylons and scattering work bees, so he could see her gleaming outline in his peripheral vision anyway. "I hold little hope of survival, with no one waiting for me at some distant port. So, if it comes to it, you should know that I wouldn't hold it against you if you used the transporter to get off this shuttle before its destruction. This Liam Herrold that you hold dear... he would likely want to see you again too. Target acquired starboard, opening fire."

As he fired upon a pilot-less mule that had been parked above a Nova-class starship, Drauc did not consider how he might have used his abilities in a way to alarm the Caitian. There was hardly any time to explain his scarring anyway, the task at hand taking up his attention, but he did say one more thing as they passed above the debris of the mule. "I desire to know whom I might die with, if you would be so kind to tell me your name."

Sensors chirped at them, and again, and again, which drew Drauc's stare. Engines powering up, all across the bottom of the spacedock. A hundred. A hundred and fifty. More. No visual, but a premonition of what was to come one the bay doors down there opened. "The base will be launching all of is fighters soon. There might not be much more time... yet it is an honour to make your acquaintance, as brief as it might be."

[ Ens K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: Drauc

K'Ren nodded, seeing the targets Drauc was feeding her, her own sensor telemetry confirming the lack of life signs. "Plotting course," she remarked, aiming for the best trajectory for this hulking craft. She really wasn't thinking about it as her training kicked in the moment she took control of the craft but firing on her own, unmanned drones or not, would've given her pause if she'd been concerned. They were already outlaws in the eyes of their own people so what some hardware?

She was going to give her name to the man when he mentioned Liam Herrold, the man she'd gotten intimate with not an hour before, but ended up hissing in reaction when his name was mentioned. Nobody knew about that brief liaison, nobody, and she hated telepaths with a passion, those that could read her mind. Her mind was her own fertile playground and she didn't like others intruding. "You rread my mind telepath?" she hissed, now distracted. She tried to regaiun her composure, partly so, and continued to fly.

"My name does not matterr telepath. But you do not need to ask do you?" She remarked, growling a bit as she continued flying. Her training though slowly took control again and she was soon back in the zone. "K'Ren." she remarked, "And our acquaintance may be shorter then you can imagine if we end of tangling with those fighters. I can handle 3 to 1 odds, but 150 to 1 is a bit outside even my piloting skills."

[ Lt. Jg. Suq | Main Engineering | USS Resolve ]

The last thing to echo off the walls of this empty, familiar, terrible room was Captain Kendrick's voice through his comm. Suq's mind briefly brought up images and memories of past spacewalks, then dumped those memories immediately. Those were not happy memories. He's sure his skull is still dented from that time he got pelted with tiny chunks of frozen ice. All he really wanted was a good, long nap, maybe in his favorite Jeffries' tube. Maybe later though. He has something important to do. What was it again? Something about fighting their way out of this nightmare.
"You know what happens when I sleep? Not this." Suq spoke aloud, mostly to himself, but now he considered that maybe the Resolve has been bugged. He placed his PADD down, then remembered he'd need it and picked it back up again. He held it and stood still. That's right, it was time for a space walk. He groaned, then hit his comm to page the captain one more time.
"On my way."
"Guess I better go grab my suit." He spoke to himself again. He stepped forward, then backwards again to check that the jamming signal was still going strong (it was.) Perhaps he's being listened to. If he spoke enough, perhaps he could overwork the mysterious information analysts. Or he'd look crazy. He started to meander towards where he kept his personal suit, the one marked with both how many he's killed and how many times he's been smacked over the head by a tiny asteroid.
"Guess it's time to invest in some good old-fashioned tinfoil. Or Jumja sap. I hear if you smear it above your ears and in your armpits you're safe from telepathy. It's probably because no telepath is going to want to be near someone covered in smelly tree sap...Hey computer, where's Kendrick? Where am I going?"

---

[ Bridge ]

Not even a few more moments later, he found himself on the bridge, leaning by his favourite wooden console. He had only just stepped out of the turbolift and heard it swoosh awaywhen he heard another approaching. He stepped back and adjusted the heavy suit in his arms. He had lugged it all the way here purely to avoid having to put it on for a few more moments. He hopped that the Captain--obviously the one in the turbolift--wouldn't mind.

However this was not the Captain. This was a Cardassian, one he didn't immediately recognize at that. Further, this one just asked if someone would like a miracle. Suq's hand shot up into the air.
"Yeah. Unfuck things. Thank you." His hand went back down, but he added onto his first statement. "Actually, uh, if you can tell me what's going on, that'd be...that'd be pretty cool, you know."
Already, he felt shame creeping up his spine. This guy was Cardassian. Aren't they essentially the social skill geniuses of the known galaxy? Suq's social skills left a lot to be desired. Perhaps he was just making himself look stupid, like an ineffective leader, but he didn't know. All he could do was wait and hope he said the right thing in the right way.

[ Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Ship Environmental Systems | Engineering Deck | USS Resolve ] Attn: Tristan Kendrick, Melissa Wright, Parnak, Six and A'vura, Suq

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With that, there was only one other person Kendrick was going to contact. "Kendrick to Tancredi. I need an extra set of hands for some work are you free to go for a walk with me? I promise you will hate every step of it."

Tancredi was quick to respond the second she heard her beloved captain's voice over her comm, "Ah'm on mah way!"

She had been entertaining herself for a while with thoughts and plans for various things to do on board. She could go find Dr. Silim Parnak and keep her personal promises about what she was going to do to the Cardasian while her family and captain weren't surrounding him. Or she could look for Officer Useless and gloat at him. Nothing like rubbing it in the face of someone she didn't like, and that list was lightyears long. Alternatively she could go to the docking area and join Havenborn in annoying the security team, or just shoot stuff up to make things a little more exciting than they needed to be. Of course, the more responsible idea was to get back to the launch bay and get her turkey of a fighter up and running. There was shooting to do, and she would be damned if any of her Tribbles fired off more weapons in one engagement than she ever did. Plus she wanted to make one last check-in with her favourite gruff-growl, Randall, and make sure he was all right. Anybody outside of the Resolve wouldn't know it when they looked at them, but despite how he was to her, Tancredi loved and appreciated the man exactly for that reason. He was the big brother/uncle she wished she had back when she was living on Earth. What she had was an asshole who abused and tormented her along with his other siblings for nothing other than that she was easy pickings. So seeing him and ensuring he was alive was often one of her top priorities right after the Captain or ch'Rayya. Of course, all these ideas and plans came to nothing now that Kendrick was calling her.

A quick query of the ship's computers told her where to find the captain presently, and the redhead was darting into the bridge right behind Suq, just shy of barreling into him. Many wouldn't think the slender and lithe girl could possibly weigh enough to knock over a man twice her size, let alone anything at all, but Tancredi could break down solid oak if she wanted to. "Pardon meh!" She said carelessly as she sidestepped the man to take in the scene.

Her eyes widened when she saw what was happening, "Aw hell no..." she threw her hands in the air, "...ya ain't gonna tell meh on to' of it all, we got what Ah think Ah'm seein'? What is it? Motherfucker's Day?"

She muttered and growled all the way, unconsciously drifting closer towards Silim Parnak with one hand on her Klingon Disruptor, Flash, ready to be drawn, but she adjusted her hat and looked out over the screen, "Whaddaya need me ta do, boss?" She asked Kendrick, who knew the girl was hair-trigger and overanxious when it came to battle. The less thought or planning, the better, even more so when she was alone. A quick glance to the Cardassian, she nodded curtly at him, acknowledging him in some manner, then turned back to her Captain. The man who had been like another brother to her would have to word his instructions carefully and as simply as possible, lest he send her running off into the slaughter with the wrong idea in mind. She seldom cared either way, unless it involved the lives and safety of others besides her own, and most of the crew knew how reckless she could be if only her life was at stake. It was cheap, and expendable.

[Ensign Six (https://img14.deviantart.net/51cf/i/2015/255/0/5/six_01_by_auctor_lucan-d91bx0h.png) and Ensign A'vura Zeshryr (https://orig08.deviantart.net/ca09/f/2015/289/a/2/a_vura_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d9d9ngm.png) | Briefing Room/Bridge | Resolve] Attn:  Everyone!

Everything was happening too fast for A'vura to really keep up. In a few moments they were all storming down to the bridge to find the Theurgy just outside their doors so to speak, ready to attack. It could be either a blessing or a curse for the members of the Resolve depending on what the Theurgy had planned and intended. Turning to her captain she was ready to undock from the Starbase just as eagerly as he seemed to be. "As much as I'd like to help, if you're not going to be on the bridge, and others are to be that we don't know, it might be better if I stay here to hold down the fort more or less until you get back." 

Six nodded as well after seeing the Theurgy. She had heard many of these stories of the Theurgy from her own Captain, but as it turned out, her own Captain seemed to be the traitor they were after, and knowing that made her question the information she had been told about the Theurgy. "I too will assist where necessary. Just point me in the right direction and I'll do what I can. It's too bad I could not use my implants outside the ship. They could aide in unlatching the hull from the docking port. It is doubtful though that I will still have access to the Starbase computer, even with my implants."

Stepping over to one of the computers, she clicked a few specifications then translated the readings. "It seems the jamming fields are working well. No one will be able to scan the ship and pinpoint life signs. That jamming field seems to reach outside of the ship as well, so long as those going out remain somewhat close to the hull. Despite not being able to unlatch the ship via the computer, I can still help with the heavy lifting there will likely be. I am far stronger than many of you likely are."

Making her way back to the Captain she nodded her affirmation. "It seems that you, myself, and my companion here would be the best choices for now. A'vura is right that the bridge should not be left unattended. Seeing the state she is in, I can understand why she might wish to remain in one spot for now as opposed to having to maneuver around. Either way we should be on our way as quickly as possible. The sooner we can get your ship unlatched from the docking port, the better off we all will be."

[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | USS Resolve Docking Pylon]Atten: Hawthorne, Havenborn, Juila, Kendrick

She was struck dumb as debries fell around them, at the words coming from her combadge. It never even dawened on her that her troops could hear the threat the captain leveled - fix this or suffer demotion. That hurt. She understood, analytically, that he was mad, and that, as captain, he would have to demote her. Did he have to make the threat to drive it home? Perhaps not.

But her Ian had nearly been killed. She'd nearly lost him. In the so very short time since his confession in his quarters, since their coupling, him finishing in her and telling her he loved her - things had cascaded horribly. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right - and it was all these terrorists fault. Ives and Kendrick both, it seemed.

"Aye sir," her tone belayed none of the inner turmoil she felt - more so at nearly loosing her lover that at the threat of demotion. She understood, in the core of her being that he had to say what he had to say and that she was truly the one at fault. He was right to be mad at her, and she owed it to him to take whatever he met out. It was her duty to correct this. She had to prove herself, no matter the cost.

She would not fail.

"Dotnhil to Security Center. Mack, lock the starbase down, now. Get transport inhibitors up if you can. I want anti boarding parties deployed now. IF there is anyone not already at their post bust their asses down and get them there now."

The deep, calm tone of her assistant reassured her as she scrambled the troops. If there was one constant she could count on in all of this, Mack was just that person.

Turning back to her personnel and seeing looks of shame and discomfort and outright anger in their faces, she then realized that they had heard everything Ian had said to her, and that they felt it reflected upon them, as much as upon her. It left her speechless for just a moment, the looks of determination they felt on her behalf, as well as the embarrassment. All this she acknowledged with one stoic nod, before turning and marching towards the Resolve.

"Things have changed. New deal - surrender now, fully, or we'll open fire. We will not abide terrorism. The outlaw Captain Ives has shown up almost at exactly the same time you raise a scrambling field? How stupid do you think we are. You have 60 seconds to comply."

Komial was done playing gamess

[ Ensign Elroy Sherman | Docking Pylon to the USS Resolve ] Attn: Julia, Havenborn, DocReno, Brutus

"Wait, I..." exclaimed one of the security officers behind Lieutenant Dotnhil, almost as if calling for a cease-fire even though he was just blurting out what he just detected on the scanners that Junior Lieutenant Selnak left behind. The Ensign stepped up to it, seeing the images of all the wanted persons hovering around the readings of the aerowing. "Look at this! It's Kendrick. He is aboard that aerowing that almost killed Captain Hawthorne."

With his free hand, the other holding his hand phaser, the dark-skinned security guard turned the portable computer console around on the barricade to show Komial - drawing her attention away from the ones from the Resolve that had stepped out to meet then.

"That's our escapees too, A'vura Zeshryr and Drauc T'Laus. They are aboard with Kendrick on that aerowing. It... It looks like they have a hostage, though. They got Bradford aboard too, life-signs weak. No idea what they have done to him, but isn't that all of our eggs in one basket, so to speak?"

What Elroy wouldn't admit was that when facing the brave Counsellor from the Resolve, and realising that Komial was about to open fire against her... Elroy just couldn't have it go by without protest. He had no idea what compelled him to raise his voice, mentally grasping as he had for some manner of protest before he saw the readings from the aerowing. It was just something about her, and his heart going out to her in the least favourable time possible.

Unwittingly, he had provided the Resolve's crew just the kind of distraction that they needed...

---

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: SummerDawn

Realising, in the thick of battle, that he had offended the Caitian moved Drauc to interject an apology, but she had already introduced herself when she was finished speaking, and he was finished plotting more targets around the next section of the circular space-dock.

"Despite how our battle together may be brief," he rasped to her, turning his eye towards her in the cockpit, "I still offer my sincere apologies - one soldier to another. I meant no disrespect."

Alerts went off in the cockpit, informing them both that new weapon signatures were read ahead of their path. Drauc's gaze returned to the HUDs. The fighters had yet to launch, but it seemed that a small Defiant-class ship - the USS Chester - had powered up responded to the alerts of Starbase 84. For some reason, none of the starships docked within the spacedock were launching - as if they were stuck to their docking pylons. The Chester, however, acted as if it wouldn't let that deter her or her crew. No, it was powering up its aft phasers, opening fire towards them in response to whatever had been said to them about the aerowing.

"Incoming," Drauc said evenly, the orange light of the phasers directly in their trajectory.

As if that wasn't enough, however, Drauc noticed a shadow moving over the controls after he spoke. Then he felt the malign intent like a scent in the air. He whipped his head around and saw the source. The human led his assault with his fist - aiming towards Drauc's temple. If it was reflexes or experience that made him deflect the strike a bit, he did not know, but the next second, another one came in - the fist connecting with his cheek. Minute pain, lost in rising ire.

Next he knew, the offensive and determined Bradford - having exited his inactive stasis unit at some point - was grappling with him, swearing loudly as he tried to wrest Drauc out of his seat. And Drauc was responding to the violence against him - the red rage of battle claiming his conscious thought.

---

[ Lieutenant Mackenzie | Starbase 84 | Security Centre ] Attn: Kaligos & RosariaRosette

"Dotnhil to Security Center. Mack, lock the starbase down, now. Get transport inhibitors up if you can. I want anti-boarding parties deployed now. If there is anyone not already at their post bust their asses down and get them there now."

"Aye, Lieutenant!" said Mackenzie, and began to delegate the orders to the present officers in security. "Still no response from Stavros or Rigell? Try again! Get a hold of Selnak and have him converge on the base's command centre. Forget the lobby, just make sure Captain Hawthorne and his staff are protected, and scan the entire base again for new life-signs! Any new readings that weren't there before are likely from the Theurgy!"

As he said it, Mackenzie realised he had another duty, and that was not towards Dotnhil or the Captain, but towards all the civilians aboard the starbase. All the diplomats and the families, the representatives of trade and commerce that had come to do business in Federation space. Thousands of people, some who might already have learned about the arrival of the renegade ship and its murderous Captain - the ominous multi-vector dreadnought  looming outside the base. He stepped up to the centre console and activated the base's PA-system, hand trembling a bit as he lifted it to his lips.

"This is Starbase Security to all citizens on the base. Please remain calm. An attack on this base may be imminent, but please be advised, there is nothing to be gained by panicking, or trying to launch your vessels from the space-dock, for you will be exposing yourself and those closest to you to even greater danger. Instead, stay alert, stay calm and stay in your assigned accommodations. The safest place is there, out of the corridors. Stay until you are told it is safe to come out. Do not, in any circumstances, go back into the corridors once you have secured yourself inside your accommodations. All further information will be announced on this channel. I repeat..."

As expected, when he was done, all the monitors around him showed people of all species running down corridors, carrying children who could not keep up the pace. The Theurgy had come, and they all knew what it might mean. They had all seen the images of dead Starfleet officers and destroyed ships on the news, and now, the Theurgy had come to Starbase 84.

"I... I want the guards previously assigned to the Travel Core to aide the public in getting to safety. Tell them to prepare for crowd control, and to keep them from trampling each other in attempt to use the turbolifts."

Hopefully, Stavros and Rigell had managed to secure Hi'Jak and vers Aldnoah, but Mackenzie could not let the capture of two suspects jeopardize the all Federation citizens on the base as they tried to get out of harm's way.

[Captain Tristan Kendrick | Bridge | USS Resolve ]Atten:Auctor, Krystal, Melissa Wright, Parnak, Six and A'vura, Suq

A'vura brought up a good point; there was no one left to have command of the bridge except for helmsman Veradin, who was likely needed where he was. If no one had the command, coordinating an extraction would be much more difficult. They needed someone there as well as on the hull. Thankfully she was willing and capable of having that job. "You have the bridge A'vura, Keep her intact."

Kendrick looked over his team that was slowly falling in line, and when Six said she would join them to do the heavy lifting he was thankful for it. It seemed all of the new comers were ready and willing to help them, and for that he had to admit he was greatful. Any chance they had of de-escilating the situation was gone, so for now they had to do what they could to turn and run from Starbase 84. "Thank you Six, your help will be appreciated. i'm sure there will be a lot of lifting to deal with."

Once his team had assembled on the bridge Kendrick lead them towards the Airlock on deck one. Getting an EV suit and directing everyone to theirs he started getting ready as he began a mission briefing. He currently had to agree with Suq's comment about getting everything un-fucked. Krystal put it best though and with her accent he had to chuckle slightly at what she said.

"Okay listen up. Were going out onto the resolve to break the docking clamps. Hopefully it won't be that hard to get them off the ship, in all the chaos I don't think the Starbase has been able to change any pass codes or security holding them down so we should be able to release them manually."

As Kendrick finished what was probably the shortest briefing in his life he finished putting on the environmental suit and already felt an uneasy sickness in the pit of his stomach as he walked into the airlock. Pressurizing his suit as he waited for the others to do the same, and once they were ready one set of heavy doors closed, and another opened, and suddenly it was the deafness of space.

He hated that. The suit made it so that the only thing he could hear was the radio of his team and crew and his breathing. The weightlessness of space was held off by the magnetic boots, but they also made his feet heavy to move, he felt clumsy, and it didn't matter just how strong the environmental suites visor was, he always felt like it was a flimsy glass ready to break and suck his brains out through some tiny hole.

Out of everything the Federation did he had to admit that this was the worst job. Just standing out here in space was the worst and yet simultaneously most beautiful part of the job. "Lets get this done people."

[ Lt. JG. Ejek | Docking Pylon to the USS Resolve ] Attn: Havenborn, DocReno, Brutus, Auctor Lucan

Lt. Dotnihl gave them 30 seconds to comply. Lt. JG. Ejek did not even need the standard decisecond of a first impression to know that the Resolve's case was hereby lost. Up until Starbase Captain Hawthorne entered the scene, the Cardassian's mind was preocuppied with finding a way to turn this conversation around. They were all looking for the reason of current events around the Resolve, and even though the odds were against her crew, Ejek was positive to have interesting information for any impartial chief of security.

Impartial being the cue. Ejek did not need a raise of voice or obvious increase of body tension to understand the pressure her captain had just put Lt. Dotnihl under. Nor to interpret her change of heart from relatively loquacious to making threats as a direct result. The counsellor had no illusions concerning the Trill's mood or further patience for the homecoming crew's efforts to explain themselves. Deliberate or not - he had almost been killed by who was allegedly Ejek's captain, which made a resulting shock and knee-jerk reaction more than understandable - Captain Hawthorne pulled all of the security chief's triggers to render her useless for the Cardassian's plans.
In the light of recent happenings, deliberation would not come as a surprise. The Resolve was framed by a captain ranking officer from the base, and now its captain further aggravated the situation between the starbase's security team and its officers. It would not even surprise Ejek if the captain himself had taken care of the defected starship's arrival. She was Cardassian after all, there was very little in terms of far fetched political subterfuge that was able to surprise her.

Not that she had any time to contemplate that fact just about now!
Before her conscious mind had any chance to catch up on  her decision (take that, all you firm believers in the freedom of will!), Ejek's body had already turned around. Some precious Ensign finally took their bite and drew attention to the life-signs on board the aerowing. Maybe later she would feel sorry for him. Now she was just thankful for the welcome and desperately needed distraction.

"Retreat," she issued to her superior officer, Lt. Havenborn, who had kept in the background to let her do the talking. Her voice was firm, yet hoarse, and for some reason she was eager not to yell, nor to make any rash movements. Did she hope their escape would go unnoticed? Unlikely, yet still. She was the furthest into enemy terrain. Even the fraction of a second of indecisiveness by one security officer could turn the odds in her favour.

From her new position facing the air-lock doors, Ejek saw Lt. ch'Rayya and a few of the Resolve's security officers in the opening. Incredibly relieved, she let go of her composure and gave in to her panic. She ran.

[ Melissa Wright | USS Resolve | Hull] Attn: Kaligos, Triage, Vystori, FollowTomorrow, All Others

She hated this. 

As expected the EV suits on Resolve didn't cater for women of height, leaving her stuck in the male equivalent. The added bulk of the ill-fitting suit meant that instead of the usual feeling of having difficulty moving and prying your magnetised boots from the hull was only made worse. As she looked across the rest of the group she wondered if they were having as much difficulty? It wasn't helped by the way that the spacewalk in silence apart from the sound of her own breath. Did she always breathe this loud?

After a while she figured out that the constant internal question asking was mainly a distraction method trying to keep her from feeling sick. It wasn't the activity of a spacewalk that made her ill, it was more being stuck on a ship at an odd angle which made her stomach feel like it would do somersaults. While they walked across the top of the Saucer she'd be fine, if she needed to go on the underside or the side of the stardrive section, then she'd just have to concentrate on the hull plating. Speaking of which, if they wanted to get this ship loose as soon as possible, they'd have to work fast. Carefully, Melissa pressed the button for the radio.

"Sir, What's the plan here? Should we split up? It may be faster if we work on separate docking latches."

[ K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: Auctor Lucan

K'Ren nodded silently, focused on keeping the craft in one piece as the thing danced around the interior of the docking bay, trying to keep everyone guessing what was going on. She really didn't want to chat at it was distracting and right now with the number of enemies growing rapidly, she needed to concentrate.

So it was a bit of a shock when Draus told her one of the warships was arming their main weapons. She knew hitting a small craft like this was difficult at the best of times, which was fine in deep space as the energy would dissipate eventually but in spacedock there was only the inner hull of the station to absorb the energy, and she knew exactly how thick duranium plating was, and how much energy it could absorb.

So while she responded to the call of incoming as her training dictated, it came as a serious shock when the ship lashed out with it's phasers. K'Ren dodged the fire easily enough but at the energies required to cripple this vessel, any misses would wreak havoc on the station's interior, especially if it hit a habitable section and not the machinery spaces.

She didn't have time to dwell on such things, as much as it changed the odds against them for the worse, but instead staying frosty as the humans called it, for suddenly beside her, a scuffle of some sort arose between the mind reader and an unknown assailant. She was too focused on the flying to assist, as their lives right were dependent on her skills, as much as they were on his subduing whomever this was.

Moving towards a tighter area of the docking bay, K'Ren kept the craft moving, leaving disoriented workbee pilots scrambling, hoping the distraction would keep the defiant from targeting her while she caused a distraction. She also hoped, whatever the Captain had in mind, he'd do it fast so she could either dock, or at least beam off this flying target.

[ Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Hull | USS Resolve ] Attn: Tristan Kendrick, Melissa Wright, Parnak, Six, A'vura and Suq

[Show/Hide]

"Raht b'hind ya, boss!" said Tancredi. As she already had her Tactical CONN suit on, all she needed to do was flip off her hat, put on the helmet, secure it, and she was done. Her ready smile and seemingly eager movements made it seem to anyone else who didn't know her as if she lived for this kind of activity. The truth was she didn't like it, but she had very little complaints in general. She just went wherever Kendrick wanted her to be. Somehow she had her trusty sidearms, Flash and Burn respectively holstered and latched to her space-suit. She stuck close to Kendrick, moving as fast as she could on magnetized boots and zero gravity as she could. Her hat hung around her neck, floating behind her. She'd pulled the string on tighter so that it couldn't slip over her head and float away. No way she was leaving her hat, even in space.

When the woman with short golden-blonde hair spoke up, the girl twisted her torso to be able to look her in the eye and grinned. "Ah lahk yer thinkin'! That'd work fer me too. Mebbe 'n' Ah'll get ta shoot somethin' or 'nother!"

Her eyes quickly scanned their surroundings. There was trouble all around, she could feel it, and her breathing was excited, rapid.

[ Lt. Jg. Suq | Main Engineering | USS Resolve ] Attn: Triage, Kaligos, Artista, Vystori

Moments before, Suq was worried about his first impression on the new Cardassian. Now, Suq was worried about being splattered on the side of the Resolve. Both carried equal weight in his mind, but he could at least ignore the former worry until later. He stepped into his suit and took extra time and care putting it on. Suq did not like wearing his EV suit, it was slow and bulky, but so was every single EV suit aboard the ship. When his hearing narrowed down to only his breathing and the radio, and the only thing keeping him from death via vacuum was the suit, Suq made no complaints to his other team-members.

He had lead a small group on a space walk before. When he heard Melissa and Krystal speak he almost felt obligated to give an answer. Split up, one group here, another group there, watch each others' backs. This was Kendrick's carnival, though. He outranked Suq and was the one to call for a spacewalk in the first place. He could only suggest and endorse so far.
"Captain, if I may, splitting up is a good idea. We don't have the luxury of time. We can use our radios to walk each other through the unclamping process if we have to, but it's pretty easy. We could all meet back inside as soon as we're done."

[Ensign A'vura Zeshryr (https://orig08.deviantart.net/ca09/f/2015/289/a/2/a_vura_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d9d9ngm.png) | Resolve Bridge] Attn: Arista

A'vura nodded at the Captain as he turned and left with his team for the undocking process. Within minutes of him leaving she started giving orders to those on the bridge, including asking one ensign to procure her a fresh uniform to change into quickly. As the ensign left the bridge to do as commanded A'vura turned to Dr. Parnak and spoke to him directly. "Doctor if you would, please check the sensors here," she started, motioning to the computer console where an officer stood waiting to check any sensors he needed, "and help to make sure that your biomatter canisters really are showing up on the ship's sensors. We want to make sure that the away team, and myself, do actually appear to be on the Aerowing."


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


[Ensign Six (http://pre05.deviantart.net/5d9e/th/pre/i/2016/254/f/7/ensign_six___under_fire_by_auctor_lucan-d91bxn0.png) | Resolve Hull ] Attn: Triage, Kaligos, Arista, Follow Tomorrow

Six followed the Captain and the others to the airlock that would take them outside to the hull of the ship. While Kendrick gave his orders and began the briefing, she quickly changed into the provided EV suit. Within the span of a few minutes, the team was dressed, briefed, and ready to start out on their mission. And if they thought they were amidst chaos inside of the Resolve, the shit had hit the fan once they reached outside of the ship.

The Aerowing was zipping around inside of the docking bay, while phasers from the USS Chester were blasting holes into the docking bay bulkheads, sucking Starbase personnel into the vacuum of space before sensors picked up on the breach and put up force fields to stop the vacuum from pulling out more. It seemed as though the Chester was aiming for the Aerowing, but missing due to tactical maneuvers produced by those piloting the small shuttle craft. As a result phasers blasts were flying through the air at high speeds, hitting the bulkheads and other areas of the interior docking bay, debris and large pieces of metal showering the air around them.

What they had entered in the mere seconds it had taken them to transition from inside to outside the hull of the ship was a warzone, quite literally. "Captain we must be watchful. There are many phaser blasts around us, and along with your Aerowing things could get far nastier very quickly," she said over the comm in the suit. Carefully she walked on the magnetized surface, following orders quickly and efficiently as Kendrick gave them out, moving to wherever he needed her to be.

[Captain Tristan Kendrick | Bridge | USS Resolve ]Atten:Auctor, Krystal, Melissa Wright, Parnak, Six, and Suq

When Suq suggested everyone split up that made the most sense to him, and he had to agree that it would be good for everyone if they did just that. They had five targets, and there were five of them. He decided that he would take the longest walk, as much as he hated being out here he was also the one person that Security on this ship really wanted to protect/find so if he was outside the longest it wouldn't matter.

With the debris and the attacks going on Six had a point. "We do have the ships shields protecting us overhead but you should be careful. Regardless, space walks are always dangerous. Debris or not."

That said with the aerowing this place was looking more and more like an active warzone and they were going to need to focus and get some work done before they had any more trouble. "I'm going to head to the port fuel nacelle. Everyone else can divide up and choose which docking clamp they want to take. Melissa, I have a special task for you."

It was of course one of the more dangerous missions, but at this point everyone was in danger and no one was playing this game without some risk involved to their personal well being."The docking pylon will also need to be removed. Your an engineer from the starbase so I imagine you are familiar with how that is done manually from the outside?"

With that Kendrick started the long walk towards the back of the ship. Every step made him feel a little more queasy, and considering that the ship was several foot ball fields long from deck one to the fuel nacelle there was plenty of ground that made him queasy, walking along the side of the ship was especially disorienting. In space there was no up or down. Just whatever the person was attached too, and he tried his best to think about it like that.

When he did finally arrive at his location he was already starting to feel cold, EV suites still cut off circulation feeling like he was having to move cement in cumbersome gloves, not to mention the damage that it did to your nails. Bending down slowly to look at the clamp, he worked to remove the panel to reveal the magnetic locks underneath. Gripping the heavy magnetic lock he struggled to pull it up as best as he could. It took both hands to lift and twist, feeling the suction and shudder as the lock was released he gave the metal arm a heavy push as it floated away ever so slightly. Far enough that it wouldn't magnetise at least.

"Kendrick here. Clamp released."

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: SummerDawn

Meanwhile, on the aerowing, a brutal fight had ensued. It was able to last only because the inertial dampeners granted both the combatants footing. The craft might have pitched and turned, but their feet were level with the ground. At that point, Bradford was bleeding from the corner of his mouth, breathing laboured and yet undeterred. His shaved head was beaded with sweat. "Where the hell am I?" he demanded loudly, eyes flicking nervously towards the viewscreen at times.

Drauc T'Laus faced his former captor, this human that had been brought aboard as a hostage as the aerowing acted bait for base security. The security guard might've prevented him and K'Ren from being fired at, or at least so Drauc had thought before the USS Chester began to chase their trajectory with its phaser banks. The human, Drauc now reasoned, had failed to serve his purpose in the operation. Normally, he would have killed him... but that was not the righteous path, was it? As it were, both of them catching their breath, Drauc glared at him through the tresses of his red hair. He had his guard raised, his jaw aching from that first strike Bradford had landed, but his mind was focused - keen to read every fickle idea that Bradford betrayed ahead of time. He reached for his phaser, knowing it would provoke a reaction.

Indeed, Drauc foresaw Bradford's intent, knew he was coming at him even before Bradford closed the distance. Thus, he caught the man's fist before it gained momentum, and with his calloused and scarred fingers wrapping around the human's, he wrenched the whole arm around with his step. Bradford's face slammed into the deck plating, and he screamed against the metal. Not because he'd fallen, but because Drauc had broken the human's arm and twisted it so far up his back his fingers traced his shaved scalp.

"Be silent," rasped Drauc sharply, overriding the noise. He let go of the disjointed arm. It hardly helped the noise at all. Therefore, he reached down and lifted the human a bit with a grip on his collar... only to ram his fist unto his temple.

He missed. The aerowing was hit by a phaser beam, making the whole craft spin and turn.

[Shields at 43 %,] announced the computer dispassionately, a klaxon emphasising the distress instead.

Drauc ended up with his back against the bulkhead, and Bradford rolled across the floor before he got back on his feet. In the turmoil, Drauc had lost his phaser,  he knew so because it clattered across the deck between them. As much pain as Bradford was in, he spotted the phaser too, and went for it... and so did Drauc.

---

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Starbase 84 | Jefferies Tubes ] Attn: Kaligos

When the blonde security guard's phaser went off, the whole Jefferies tube was lit up by the discharge. Sera was nearly upon him when it happened, because she had opted not to fire at the risk of hitting her happenstance companion - her only ally in the whole mess she had gotten herself into. Well, the only ally except for Melissa, whom she hoped to see at the Sabine. She needed the half-Klingon, so she had raised her weapon to deliver an overhead strike against the new guard. Belatedly, she realised that she might not reach him in time.

For a moment, she thought she had been hit by the phaser beam, could almost feel it zing her clothes, but instead, the strike she had levelled again the guard hit, and the metal handle of her phaser struck the human out cold. Indeed, he dropped like a sack of sand sema fresh from the harvest, the blonde human completely unmoving afterwards. Her whole arm ached from the strike she had delivered, jarred by the impact against the guard's head, but it was a minor thing compared to the realisation that they had overcome the guards together.

"Hey! He is dead, let's move on before more of them finds us," she said after a glance towards the mess that had become of the first guard. Hi'Jak, as his name was, seemed taken aback by the development, so she half-crawled over to him and laid her tattooed hand on his shoulder, shaking him a little. "Hey, come on! It's not like it makes any difference. Your old Starfleeter friends were not going to trust a word we said anyway, and... I already killed the fat one. Neither of us have any options. We must get to my shuttle and get out of here."

She squeezed the shoulder of the halfbreed harder, and scooted closer, changing her tone to something that might break through his spell. "You said you liked the view, right? Listen, if you can help me get there, I'll be really, really grateful," she said, speaking deeper down in her throat, giving him rueful smile in the dim light, "and I show it to you. I'll-"

[Red Alert. Red Alert,] came the announcement on the intercom, echoing down the Jefferies tubes. A loud klaxon went off too, robbing her of any chance to give the male the incentive he might need. Or perhaps, the alarm managed to do the job better than she could. "Come on! I have no idea what's going on but its not like I am going to find out! Let's use the noise and the panicked crowd to get away!"

Indeed, through the bulkheads, they could hear people running and shouting, civilian and Starfleet. The base was in turmoil, and it might be the best chance they'd get to use the Travel Core.

[Lieutenant Keval ch'Rayya| Docking Gantry| Starbase 84] Attention: everyone in scene.

Keval heard the base security chief's demands followed by Ejek's reply and when she turned to face him and Jaffe-he saw the relief cross her face.

"SUPPRESION!!" Keval shouted as he moved to a standing position and started to move forward quickly as he laid down several bolts from his rifle to push back the now hostile deputies as he made his way to the cardassian woman.

As he drew up close to her, he noticed one deputy had gotten a clean shot on her at which point he switched hands with his rifle before gripping Ejek by her closest arm and spinning the two of them around as he pulled her in tightly against his taller frame right before the sicking feeling of a lower setting phaser blast slammed high into his right shoulder blade.

The hostile deputy did. Not have time to try it again as Jaffe quickly caught him in turn high in the chest with his own weapon as Keval made sure to help get his fellow out of the danger zone.

"SOMEBODY CLOSE THAT FUCKING PORTAL!!" The andorian shouted as he got Ejek to safely before he allowed himself a moment to feel the pain as he was more concerned with Ejek them himself."Are you okay?" He asked with concern on his face.

[ Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Hull | USS Resolve ] Attn: Tristan Kendrick, Melissa Wright, Six, A'vura and Suq

[Show/Hide]

"Ah got dibs on that clamp!" Tancredi declared, excitedly pointing at her intended target. Like Kendrick, the girl naturally took the longest journey, and the greater risk. A subconscious death-wish that she would never admit having but would be visible to any who paid enough attention. Out here, alone, her true face showed itself, where none might see. The smile was gone, the fear was all that she would show. The fear, and the anger. She wanted the enemies to see her, to come after her, and she would face them. Better her than others. She idly wondered whether she could finish with her clamp and go after Melissa to lend a hand. After all, she was familiar with engineering work herself.

She reached her destination and got to work. She worked fast, putting all she had into the effort, whilst also looking around in all directions frequently, out of habit, as if she were in her fighter. She watched as the clamp came away from the ship, and she shoved it away. Tapping her comlink, she said, "Tancredi here, Ah'm done!"

[Lt Hi'Jak| Travel Core| Starbase 84] Attn: Auctor, Brutus.

Considering the original plan had been to start up a red alert and then run away in the panic and confusion of it all, there was a common sense to getting to the travel core now when everything was chaos. Hi'Jak was snapped out of the confusion after a long moment when he felt Seras shake him. The fact that he had just killed a man with his own hands was a little startling he had always thought of himself as a scientist rather than a fighter he wasn't sure that he liked the idea that he was now a killer. He moved to check the mans pulse, and it was there, but faint. He paused for a moment knowing that they had scant few.

He Ripped the mans badge from his shirt and pressed it. "Lieutenant, Komial Dotnhil or any security team that is willing to hear me out. This is Hi'Jak I have just beaten two of your security guards to near death. If you move quickly you can save one of them. If you continue to pursue me than I can not garentee the safety of your security teams. You have larger fish to fry lieutenant, make a sound choice. You can pick your men up in the Jefferies tube at this location, I won't be there, and if you continue to hunt me, I won't give the same chance twice."

With that he dropped the comm's unit and hurried out of the bulkhead joining the crowd. Keeping his head down as Seras told him too do. He may be on the wrong side of the Federation law, but he wasn't a killer, not yet. He wasn't sure if the security guard would make it or not, or just how good the Federation was at fixing swelling brain damage.

But he wasn't a monster, and would not be held accountable on some idea that because he was part Klingon he was a monster. Joining in the panic it was so much easier to make it towards the travel core with everyone running and screaming. No longer was this a sixteen mile hike through tubes so cramped you had to crawl. No now it was a mad dash for the fastest and most direct rout.

[Location changed to travel core]

[ K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: Drauc, Bradford

K'Ren had no time to directly assist Drauc with his fight as she attempted to keep the runabout in one piece. The enemy ship's phaser was getting closer with every volley as the tactical officer narrowed down K'Ren's maneuvering with this craft. She needed solutions and she needed them fast otherwise the end for her and the mind reader were as a carbon smear on the side of some debris. A quick few taps on the console and the air in the cabin began to thin as the gravity plating increased the apparent gravity inside the confines of the aerowing. She could handle the excess G's as they practiced in the simulator for high G maneuvers, and her suit would compensate with extra oxygen as the air beyond her suit rarified. She could only hope that would give the vulcanoid an advantage in combat against the human.

A burst from the ship finally found it's mark and K'Ren's world spun as the craft was knocked spinning from the hit. Recovery was a painfull process as the controls were sluggish, more so then a moment ago. She needed Drauc and this battle had to end. Recovering she found a place outside the range of the enemy, giving her a moment to breathe. A quick glance at the floor told her both men were going for a phaser. Doing the unthinkable, K'Ren leapt from her seat knocking into Bradford, giving Drauc a chance to scramble for the phaser. Her armor slowed her reflexes badly but the armor would absorb any punches or even a phaser on low. She ended up on the bottom of the pile, Bradford on top and she only hoped Drauc could use the distraction to their mutual advantage.

[ Lt. Jg. Suq | Hull | USS Resolve ]Attn: Triage, Kaligos, Artista, Vystori

"I call dibs on port saucer. The closer one." These were the last few words Suq intended to speak out here. If he kept his mouth open, it's possible he could puke. The others seemed to be going out of their way to take the farther docking clamps. Maybe they actually liked being out here or maybe they're just trying to be big damn heroes. If he had an asthma attack out here, his suit had the ability to deliver medication to his helmet, but the intense feeling of drowning out of water was terrifying. That, and if he puked in his suit, he was wearing it back whether he liked it or not. Better to be smart than brave.

To quell his stomach and his fears, he thought about flowers all the way to his clamp. Tiny yellow ones that grow in the cracks of sidewalks on Earth and the larger blue ones that would grow in between the weeds on the roof of his home on Efros, and gigantic carnivorous alien plants that think he tastes pretty good with a dab of ketchup...

Before he knew it, he was standing outside the clamp. He unlatched the metal panel hiding the magnetic latch. The lock took a measure of strength to remove, but it came apart easily enough. He gave the arm a solid kick to move it away as he spoke over the radio again,
"Saucer clamp released."

[Ensign Six (http://pre05.deviantart.net/5d9e/th/pre/i/2016/254/f/7/ensign_six___under_fire_by_auctor_lucan-d91bxn0.png) | Resolve Hull/Docking Clamp ] Attn: Triage, Kaligos, Arista, Follow Tomorrow

The other members of their shared mission had already decided which clamps they were going after which left Six to work her way toward the last one. Above her, the shields did their work, but shimmered and shrieked as phasers and metal debris hit them left and right. To most people something like that might be frightening and distracting, but Six was collected as ever, and wasted no time getting to the releasing maglocks that held the docking clamp tightly in place. With little effort Six ripped the paneled covering from over the locking mechanism and then she lifted and twisted it to turn it off. She turned her head just in time to see the clamp lift a couple of inches, then falter as it stuck in place, not releasing completely.

"Shit," she whispered under her breath, turning the maglock again a couple more times to try and loosen the clamp. Each time the clamp lifted just a couple of inches, made a sort of crunched whirring sound, then faltered in the same place. The clamp was effectively stuck, and she was going to have to try and release it the rest of the way herself. Six was surely strong. Stronger than most of her counterparts. Even for a basically humanoid being she was stronger than most  of them, that borg technology still laced in her nervous system and muscles allowing her to do what others could not. But she wasn't sure she'd be /that/ strong. Strong enough to lift the clamp? She didn't know. All she could do was try.

As quickly as the magnetic suit and her strength would let her she made her way over to the clamp nearby and shimmied her fingers under it. Back straight, knees bent and locked, she got herself a good grip and lifted. Strained and grunting she lifted with all her might, pushing with her feet and legs at the same time. At first the clamp wouldn't budge, then crying out as she forced her muscles to work even harder she pulled and pushed again, harder this time, until she could hear that telltale sound of crunching metal, then a sudden jolt as the clamp seemed to get back on its track and lift the rest of the way on its own. It was enough to knock her back onto her bottom, and for a moment she just sat there staring at the finally released clamp in disbelief. Finally she pressed her comm button, obviously winded and breathless from her exertion. "Six, here, my clamp has been released."

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Resolve Airlock | USS Resolve ] Attn: DocReno, Julia, Brutus, anyone I missed in the airlock scene

Daniel quickly pulled his pistol from its holster and began to fire at the security guards, firing more to push them into cover than to actually hit anything.  Spending much of his formative years training with a rifle had made him a skilled marksman however going from a kinetic weapon to an energy weapon was a bit of a change but he it actually was easier since he didn't have to worry about recoil anymore.  During his time at the academy his phaser marksman scores were near perfect and he had even set a new record for highest cumulative score on the academy's phaser range.

As he covered Ejek as she fell back to the airlock he slowly kept his phaser pistol aimed downrange continuing to lay down covering fire.  He heard Keval shout for someone to close the hatch and decided he was the probably in the best position to do so.  He quickly glanced towards the hatch and made his way towards the console.

A few short seconds later and he made it to the hatch and accessed console to shut it.  Hopefully the Lieutenant and her security team would be more interested in defending the station from the Theurgy than coming after them.

[ Melissa Wright | USS Resolve | Hull] Attn: Kaligos, Triage, Vystori, FollowTomorrow, Auctor Lucan, All Others

Well, this was it. The walk to the docking pylon had been arduous. It could best be described as what it felt like when, as a child, you stole your parent's enormous shoes; Only then after you slipped them onto your delicate little feet, you tried to walk the stickiest floor known to man. By the time Mel had made it to the docking pylon, others had already called their task to completion, even those going a further distance.

In front of her as the small box of her desire. Much like a maglock, it was metal box with a corner cut off along one side to give access to a small LCARS panel, an access bay to Isolinear chips and a large round manual release she would need to pull and twist in case of computer failure. Staring a moment at the little rectangle which seems to control so much of her fate, she took a deep swallow and decided it was time. Better get on with it then. She depressed the radio she had muted so that the others wouldn't be subjected to her heavy breathing, swearing or retching. So far, she had only had the first two and Melissa was happy to say that, in this case, two out of three wasn't bad.

"Wright here. I'm beginning the decouple procedure." She tried to sound confident and professional, despite her obvious discomfort to anyone who had seen her in the suit. To see the screen in the correct orientation she would need to stand on top of the docking pylon rather than Resolve. As she moved from one surface to the other, she held her breath. As if leaving the ship to stand on the Starbase would doom them all. When she found that the pylon hadn't been electrified, nor did Resolve explode into debris, that she finally afforded herself a breath of relief.

Kneeling down, she tapped onto the LCARS panel to wake it. Dutifully the familiar operating system lit and Melissa started her work. First, she pulled up a status report on the pylon. 'ALL SYSTEMS OPERATING NORMALLY' read the readout. Good. Next, she slowly and carefully depressed the sequence to detach. That was when everything went wrong.

'SEQUENCE ABORTED. LIFESIGNS DETECTED WITHIN DOCKING PYLON.' Mel hadn't thought about those within the pylon when it released. She guessed that was what emergency forcefields were for. She just prayed that no one was standing on the threshold of the ship at the moment those blue lights shown. In fact, she had no idea if a forcefield would cut someone in half; she did however know that if they were in the way of the forcefield going up, then they couldn't be stopped from being blown into the vacuum of the Starbase docking area. She swallowed again, not because of copious saliva, but mainly as something to do. Turning, Mel had to take her eyes away from the small box in front of her. She couldn't use it. There was no way she could decompress and scatter those below her into the interior of the dock. Focusing her vision on anywhere else, that was when she saw it. A tiny metal speck, covered in blue light. Shuttlebay 17-C. Where she should be. It didn't take any real time to realise that that miniscule silver slither must be Sabine. That could only mean one thing, Sera was waiting for her. Melissa felt hope. She would completely this job, she would get out of this god-forsaken EV suit, she would get to that Câroon and they would start their adventure together. Feeling more sure of herself, she turned back to the matter at hand.

"Automatic release is non-functional. Moving to manual." Melissa gave the group an update to avoid swearing over the channel. Pressing the button, she lowered the protective hatch to the Isolinear guts of the mechanism. It took a few moments to pull and re-orientate the chips into the correct order. Eventually the LCARS panel changed to display the exact words that Mel wanted to see. MANUAL INPUT. LOCAL SUBSYSTEM ACCESS DENIED Without access to the rest of the Starbase, the override couldn't be halted by such things as people within the docking area. Grasping the handle, she pulled with all her might. It took all her effort and once it was out to its fullest position, Wright twisted and slid it across. With great success, she looked up at the seam where Starbase met Starship. For the briefest of seconds there was a visible rush of air, but that familiar blue glow set in and Melissa knew she hadn't had to space anyone. She was so overjoyed she could almost cry. That was indeed, until she realised she was in the wrong place.

The docking pylon was moving. The large metal apparatus was withdrawing back into its holding space. Now Melissa was in no real danger of getting crushed, but she knew she needed to move if she wanted to get back aboard Resolve. At the leisurely pace in which the pylon retracted, it would be a short jump, but still a jump. Wait. A jump! That was it! Melissa turned locking her vision back on Shuttlebay 17-C. She'd have to risk jumping back onto Kendrick's ship, so why not change direction and jump to Sabine? It'd only be a much much longer jump and she'd have to make sure she aimed correctly to hit such a small target. If she missed, Mel concluded, then she could just walk along the base until she got to 17-C, after all, it's not as if she hadn't walked across most of a Luna class vessel. Today had been so crazy, what did she have to lose? Plan formulated, she turned to position herself.

"Pylon is released, Captain. Resolve is free." At this point Mel took a deep breath. She was unsure of herself, but she knew she had to try. "Sir, I'd like to thank you for your hospitality..." She began, double checking her aim. "...But I'm going to have to borrow this EV Suit for just a little longer." It was going to be a long journey, she just hoped it was the right one to make. With nothing left to do, Melissa Wright powered down her magnetic boots and pushed off.

[ Dr. Silim Parnak | Bridge | U.S.S. Resolve ] Attn: Vystori, Mathis, et al

How dare he? After all that Silim had done, Kendrick didn't even have the gall to thank him once last time before he and the others had rushed out to leave him on the Bridge.

That was something at least. The Bridge. The Command Centre. The Keep. Here was the humming brain of Resolve and Parnak had not yet been asked to leave. He supposed he could give Kendrick his thanks for that little joy. Silim had not set foot aboard a Starfleet bridge in his entire life and now here he was, six foot away from the centre seat. The only question left, was what was he going to do with this proximity?

Looking across at the command centre, the choice was obvious. The center chair looked both formidable yet comfortable and Silim positioned himself accordingly. The question of which of the closest chairs either side to sit upon was difficult. What was that human phrase? Did you want to be someone's right or left hand? It didn't really matter anyway. Silim chose the chair left of the captain, looking at the viewscreen, and set in for the kill. Just as he was about to seal the deal, and settle in when the Orion called to him. It was a little disappointing that she wasn't the mistress of some dramatic relationship as Parnak had first thought, but she had seemingly taken the time to change. Something in which he could approve of. It wasn't becoming of an officer to be incorrectly dressed and in charge of a vessel. No matter how attractive they may or may not be.

She had asked the Cardassian doctor to check the sensors, which he dutifully did. Leaving his position by the captain's chair, he attended to the console in question. Silim wasn't exactly sure what his expertise was going to provide in this regard. There was a fully qualify sensor technician standing right next to the console after all.

"Sensors are showing the biomatter as their respective personas." Pressing a few buttons on the panel, he diverts a copy of the readouts to his chosen chair of choice and made his way back across the bridge. Actually managing to place himself to the cloth, he was surprised to find how comfortable the chair was. It took little to no time for the good doctor to make himself at home. Dismissing the locked counselling report from the console, he brought back up the sensor readings and verified everything once more. He turned back to the acting captain. "It was relatively easy, once I had the correct samples, to synthesise a sensor duplicate." He explained. "The important thing was the establish a correct baseline for the subject matter. At the point of introducing the particular genetic material in question, it didn't take long to mutate it to the correct genome. So easy in fact that it wouldn't have been difficult to make one, or one hundred Orion ensigns running around" The declaration was somewhere between ego-centric and educational.

Now that would be a thought, he concluded. How would they ever find them hidden in a sea of sensor duplicates? He made mental note to revisit the concept when he was settled into some quarters. It could perhaps make an interesting escape route for one of the heroes of the theatrical pieces he was working on.

Around Silim the mission continued on. He could vaguely hear the various members of the time giving updates to their respective missions. The Efrosian, who had made the humour rebuttal to his entrance to the Bridge. The Borg from the Starbase who had brought the evidence needed to continue. Princess. Even Kendrick himself. It was only as that tall blonde was giving her update did Silim realise.

"Automatic release is non-functional. Moving to manual."

Ejek. She was at docking latch delaying the Starbase security. He sat bolt upright, not that he was lazily reclining before mind, and looked around the bridge for assistance. He didn't try to look perturbed, but Silim's brow was obviously furrowed in concern. Eventually he settled on the Trill towards the viewscreen. If anyone was going to know whether the ship could fly yet would be the pilot.

"Helm, what is the status of our docking latches? If that woman removes the seal, will we be able to get underway?" Hidden meaning, will the crew at the latch be safe from being breached into the vacuum of the Starbase bay?

[ Ens Derik Veradin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Derik_Veradin) | Bridge | USS Resolve ] Attn: Bridge & Zero-G Team

The last 24 hours had definitely been eventful, and Derik saw no end in immediate sight. Their ship was still an unrepaired mess, a good amount of their family was trapped aboard the space station, and the Captain, Meony, Suq, and two random newcomers were literally going on a zero-g stroll on the outside of the ship to release The Resolve from its docking clamps manually. Oh, and Starbase security and Resolve crew just engaged in a shootout by the airlock. Part of him wished he'd missed the call to return while he was sleeping next to that guy he'd seduced earlier. What was his name again? Jason? Jackson? Jeremy? It was something like that. He was a nice enough guy. Derik hoped the poor guy wouldn't get caught up in the craziness that was engulfing the starbase. Derik was ultimately glad he'd made it back aboard. This was where he was supposed to be.

For his part since returning to the ship, Derik had more or less been manning the bridge with the Captain's Yeoman. He'd busied himself by assisting in some repairs. His console's damned display glitch was finally fixed and he was pretty happy about that. He'd wanted to help, but Kendrick had insisted he'd stay here in case everything went to hell. Derik assumed this was them entering that hell again. While he studied the various sensor readouts he had up on his station's display, he was still somehow calm. The Resolve had been through situations similar to this if nothing exactly like this. They were a tight-knit family because of it, and they would find a way through this and find a way to set everything right again.

When A'vura sat down in the Captain's chair and started giving commands, Derik glanced to one of the other crewmen on the bridge near him, "Oh stars, we might as well surrender now if they let A'vura take the CONN." He looked over his shoulder at her and winked so she'd know he was being playful. He'd still likely pay for it later. In truth, Derik was glad there was another officer to direct the rest of the bridge. That was a bit hard to do if he needed to focus on flying here soon. He imagined evasive maneuvers were in their near future.

He continued actively monitoring sensor and ship system readouts to see the progress of everything they were trying to accomplish. He watched as the images showed him the docking clamps being removed from Resolve one by one.

"Helm, what is the status of our docking latches? If that woman removes the seal, will we be able to get underway?" A voice called from behind him. He looked back from his station towards the unfamiliar voice and saw the Cardassian scientist that they'd also accidentally brought on board while rescuing some of the crew from Starbase Security. When all this was done, Derik would have to give Havenborn lots of ribbing for his poor transporter control skills. Also, why was the guy sitting in one of the central command chairs? He tossed it into the 'this is all too crazy to worry about right now,' part of his brain and turned back to his station, fingers moving deftly across the controls to bring up various ship readiness reports.

"Internal sensors show the Resolve's airlock door has been closed and secured. We can get underway without risk to our crew there. No promises for any Starbase crew still on the pylon itself, though. They're technically supposed to retract fully before starships leave undock. Although..." Something else crossed his mind and made him frown at his displays. "Fuck," he said under his breath. He tapped his combadge. "Veradin to Captain Kendrick and away team: The clamps and pylon releases are all finished or underway, I'd recommend coming back inside. Two problems, though. First, unless we get the main docking bay doors open, we're not going very far. Second, the XO and a good amount of Resolve crew are still trapped outside on the Starbase, some in custody. Stars know what they'll do to them if we leave."

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: SummerDawn

The rush of blood in his veins, it roared in Drauc's pointed ears. The instincts of battle had seized him completely, and with a leap, he had gone for the phaser. His hard fingers grasped the weapon, and he rolled with the landing - threadbare cloak flaring out as he rounded on the security officer - teeth bared as he aimed to shoot him. The sight that met Drauc, however, stilled his finger.

He had seen K'Ren moving from her seat, but only now did he see where she had ended up. She had kept the human from reaching the phaser before Drauc, and now the security guard was on top of her. Desperately, and with only one arm useful, Bradford had wrapped it around K'Ren's throat - keeping the Caitian between himself and Drauc while still lying on the floor. The irony did not escape Drauc, in how the supposed hostage tried to claim one of his own.

"Stay away!" called Bradford, a tremble to his voice, but Drauc was not fooled. He could respect the human for making the attempt, but with one arm not functioning properly, he had no true leverage in the situation. Otherwise, he might have tried to take the parsteel knife from K'Ren's hip otherwise, but now, he had only claimed a living shield. A living shield that was, despite the brawny human's frame, likely able to escape him in short order. There was, however, little time to wait for K'Ren to fight herself free on her own.

Therefore, Drauc closed the distance without pause, stepping around K'Ren so that he could deliver a brutal kick across Bradford's face. With his blood still pumping loudly in his ears, Drauc then reached down and seized his Starfleet uniform's collar, and he dragged the man away from K'Ren - the arm around her neck loosening. With a guttural sound deep down in his throat, Drauc heaved the injured human against the bulkhead at the back of the small bridge. Head first, Bradford rebounded against the metal, blood springing from his shaved hairline. The fight had been beaten out of him, and he sank down in a disjointed heap.

Earlier in his life, Drauc knew he would have kept striking the human until both skin and bone gave away. He would have neutralised the target with his bare hands, and he would have enjoyed it. He found, however, that over the course of the years, and with the minds of others saturating his own, it must have made him more sympathetic. The joy of the kill had left him. Instead, he took aim with the phaser again, and stunned the security guard with a fiery beam.

"Are you hurt?" he rasped as he came to assist K'Ren back to her feet, but perhaps she didn't need him to. Her strange suit - while close to her figure - might have impeded her movements with its weight, but as he came to her, his eyes caught the viewscreen. "Neither of the starships have disembarked, still secured to their docking pylon... All save for the Resolve."

It was odd, he found, as they returned to the seats, that they were still not pursued by the USS Chester. Frowning, he checked the readings. "The fighters are launching, going fast... but they still have not opened the docking bay doors. Something is wrong... They will all be trapped inside the spacedock, unable to fight that starship outside."

In short order, the entire spacedock was filled with Knight-class Interceptors (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=AC-347_Knight-class_Interceptor) - streaks of white and black hulls whisking by as they were forced to decelerate - circling the insides of the mushroom head of the starbase at alarming velocity. It was like a deadly, metallic blizzard. And soon, the collisions were a fact.

---

OOC: Attn: All! Check the link to see our newest craft in the story, one that has been mentioned in the production history of the Valkyries since we started out. Now, it is fully featured on our Wiki. :)

More posts to come shortly!

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Starbase 84 | Jefferies Tubes ] Attn: Kaligos

In the dim light of the Jefferies tube, Sera listened to Hi'Jak as he spoke to base security, warning them of any further pursuit, and that they could still save the people he left behind. She also noticed how he did not implicate her in any way, acting as if he had done it alone, and it perplexed her. Was he protecting her? Trying to take the blame upon himself and let her have none of it? Why?

There was hardly any chance to ask him, the opportunity otherwise lost. The din of the crowd in the corridors called for them to act, and to do swiftly. Without much delay, Sera and Hi'Jak joined the throng of people, all criss-crossing the open areas of the starbase, either leaving or heading for the Travel Core. Those who had heeded the one on the PA system headed for their assigned quarters, while others tried to reach their shuttles, being stopped on the way there. Sera was a bit intimidated by the mass psychosis behind it all, and having been raised in a desert, the number of moving people unnerved her. She could not wait to get to the Sabine, but seeing how people heading for the lower docking bays on the base were being stopped, she knew that there might be some trouble getting to the Sabine once they got up to the spacedock.

"I don't get it," she blurted out as they pushed they way forth through the crowd, keeping their phasers hidden and heads low, "what did you do? Why are they hunting you and why did you keep my involvement from them?"

If she was being pursued for something she'd done, she would not be so quick to dismiss the chance of laying the blame at the feet of another. It was how you survived out there, and while she knew her moral compass was a bit off at times, she would not have any such compunctions if the person in question actually had part of the blame. Since she killed that fat bastard, she had just been waiting for the Klingon halfbreed to turn her in for it so that he might gain favour, but instead... he did the complete opposite.

As she got the reply from Hi'Jak they had got aboard one of the lifts and soared towards the spacedock levels.

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

One by one the clamps were released and the ship ready to set adrift. Finally they could get under way, he wasn't sure exactly what they would do with the doors but his first priority was to get back inside the ship. He could figgure out how many torpedo's he would have to fire later. As he looked over the massive ship he started to make his way towards the nearest airlock, Not bothering to take the long route back that would have him stay outside of the ship longer than he was comfortable.

"Kendrick to Veradin," he said as his helmsman contacted him, "pull us anywhere safe, but if you can, go towards the doors. I'm heading inside and will be on the bridge as quickly as possible. I want a full tactical analysis ready for when I get there." He didn't comment on the people that were left on the Starbase. Maybe they could pull around and grab them in another daring jail break, but for now it wasn't seemingly possible. He had to get those that he could to safety.

Which of course brought him to Melissa. Part of him figured that she wouldn't last, with the aerowing being hunted within the spacedock. They couldn't beam her back on board, there was nothing they could really do to pull her back onto the ship. "Must be some date you have Melissa, I hope you get to it." He said shaking his head he almost wanted to be sarcastic about it, but she was making her choice. "The rest of you get back in the ship, were pulling out of here one way or another!"

Then, the interceptors slowly filled the spacedock, and he cussed a little. With the swarm of ships he could not see anything outside of the shields. Melissa was likely going to be torn to shreds, and there had been no way she would know that before she jumped. He could but hope she'd make it through. Soon, as he got to the airlock near the engineering deck, he was reassured when he felt space normalize around him and soon after that, he was back inside the Resolve, ready to get things underway. Stripping off the EV suit, he was more than happy to be rid of the thing.

---

[ Lt Hi'Jak | Travel Core | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Auctor

Hi'Jak waited until they were actually on the lift before he spoke up. He couldn't concentrate on the questions when he was worried that any and every face in the crowd might attack him or recognize him. He lets out a small groan for a moment as he walked with purpose thinking it over while still trying to suppress his own fear. Part of him just wanted to scream that he was a scientist not a terrorist.

When they were safely in the lift he pulled out the PADD he had her grab. "This is why they are after me. It's not my life's work, there is a file on this PADD, that we need to get off this station. It contains the voice of whoever detonated the bomb on this station. I brought it to the head of security and the Captain, and then not fifteen minutes later, they wanted to place me under arrest. The kicker is that the file is fucking useless because it's encrypted by a Captian's level of security. Meaning that there is only a handful of persons on this station who could have produced the voice, but only one could have ordered my arrest, because he is the only one who knew I had it."

When he took it out and actually explained it, there was almost a sense of relief to everything. The Captain of Starbase 84 was a traitor. There was no other reason to why he would be placed under arrest. "Somewhere outside of here, there is a ship that will listen to me, and I fully intend to find that ship and give them this thing."

Stowing the PADD at his side he held up his phaser. "As for why I covered up your involvement, that was mostly on accident. I can hardly think at this point. I'm a scientist not a freedom fighter, all I know, all I care about is the fact that you have a ship, and your not trying to kill me, those are like huge bonus points in your favor right now. I'm not shielding you out of some misguided sense of honor or chivalry. Trust me, my mother was a Klingon, I know the most honorable thing you can do for a woman is let them fight their own battles."

"But at the moment they are after me, not you and that's an advantage why tip our hands and tell them that I have a friend. Fuck, after today, why tell them anything at all? It's easier and makes more sense to just let them think they are only hunting one person so that when they do come at us we can ambush them."

[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | USS Resolve Docking Pylon]Atten: Hawthorne, Havenborn, Juila, Kendrick

The Trill nearly tore the poor Ensigns head off, but she managed to keep her cool despite the personal Hell she was going through, and her desire to vent it all on the crew of the Resolve. They were either all traitors or woefully incompetent at best, and she hated that - in others, and in herself. Given how she felt just then, it took ever ounce of will power - until she actually heard what Sherman had to say.

Blinking incestuously, she turned from the ensign to the security console, looking at the readings and letting out a rather vehement oath in her native tongue. Over the comm systems, the base wide announcement went in out Mack's voice, but Komial barely noticed. The anger was building now, and it had a target, a concrete target and she couldn't strike them down because Bradford...gods above and below he may be an idiot be he was one of her idiots. She had to save him and she had to punish Kendrick for nearly killing her Ian.

The truth was, Ensign Sherman had likely kept Lt. Dotnhil from committing an outright slaughter just then - but would he be able to keep it from happening in the future? "Dotnhil to control - Mack, have someone shoot down that damn shuttle. Don't blow it up, scans show our targets are on board." Almost immediately after she gave that order, she could see the flash of pulse fired phasers snapping out in the bay - apparently the USS Chester had the same idea as she did.

Shouts drew her attention back to the situation at hand as Ejek raced back into her ship. "STOP HER!" Komial shouted, at exactly the same time the voice of the Andorian Tactical officer cried out "SUPPRESSION" from somewhere out of Komial's sight. The bay erupted in phaser fire, with angry orange bolts lancing back and forth between the two groups. Her communicator chirped with the message from Hi'Jak, but she barely heard what the whelp said over the high pitched whine of phaser energy beams and the shouts when those beams hit home.

Three of her people up front dropped to the blasts, and then there was Komail, leaping over a barrier and snapping off shots of her own, bringing a phaser rifle up to rest in the crook of her shoulder. It pulsed in her grip, and the energy bursts splashed out against at least one of the Resolve's personnel in retaliation for the casualties her crew were taking.

The airlock doors slammed shut, and her next volley struck uselessly against the durainaum plating. Of course it was only the Resolve's door that shut. Something was going on with the base's pylons, and the doors on the starbase side were still wide open...for a brief moment, panic gripped Komial. She shouted out, but the words were lost in the sudden howl of atmosphere being vented into the emptiness of the docking bay. The Trill was lifted up, off of her feet, pulled towards the abyss -

- Only to slam back down to the durasteel floor as the structural integrity field snapped into place, cutting off the loss of atmosphere with a shimmering blue yellow haze. Her chin cracked against the ground and her lip split, and this time it was a torrent of profanity that spewed forth. "How in the HELL did they break free!!" She shouted as she struggled to her feet, hitting her combadge and blasting away at docking control.

One hapless security crewman carefully tapped her shoulder and quietly pointed - just barely visible on the hull of the ship were a few humanoids in EVA suits - and one seeming to drift off across the open vastness of the bay, before winking out of site behind the Luna-class starships nacelle.

"Son of a bitch," she whispered, and then louder, "SONOFABITCH!"

She looked around, eyes angry, her cool facade slipping more and more. Above, the Aerowing flashed by again, dodging the bursts of phaser fire from the USS Chester - she suddnely wondered just how much of those sensor scans were true.

"Fighter control," she said softly into her combadge, "Take out the Aerowing, its a distraction. Disable if possible, destroy if not. And someone surround the Resolve" bitterly, she knew what had to come next. Her hand snapped out and pointed to the few bodies laying about - her's, and a perhaps one or two from the enemy ship "Get them to med bay."

"Dotnhil to Hawthorne," she said, voice devoid of emotion, "Ship Aerowing shows life-signs of the escaped prisoners, plus Captain Kendrick and Mr. Bradford. I suspect it is a ruse, just as the negotiations at the pylon were a ruse. Resolve has slipped moorings due to personnel in EVA suits.  Fighters have been scrambled to intercept." And now she'd wait to see where the dice fell.

---

OOC: wasn't totally sure about the docking plyons and the airlock doors but i figure the sudden threat of being sucked out into the vacuum of the starbase interior could be fun.

[ K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: Drauc

From the moment she jumped him to Drauc's final stunning of the unknown assailant, time seemed to slow to an almost eerily slow pace. She felt the man wrap his arm around her, trying to use her as a shield before a foot came out of no where missing her face by mere inches before knocking Bradford off her. She leaped away, drawing her knife, ready to finish the man if Drauc didn't beat her to it. As she turned towards the fight, she heard the whine of a phaser and as the turn finished, she saw Drauc stun Bradford, ending the fight.

She was panting hard as Drauc came to her and she gratefully took the man's offered hand, catching her breath as she stood. "I am fine. The suit can withstand decompression and limited vacuum so it can withstand a scuffle." His remark about the ships though shook her back to the present and the runabout they were in.

Getting back in the seat she swore to herself. Looking over the tactical situation, the fighters were launching but no ships were moving to intercept the lone ship outside. "Why aren't the doors opening?" she asked out loud. The answer wasn't forthcoming but as the interceptors realised the same, the rush to escape becoming a sudden furball as interceptors swung wide at full throttle, missing the doors but unable to dodge each other. K'Ren could only watch on horrified, keeping the runabout as far from the storm as she could, as fighters collided, explosions rippling through the space, debris colliding with other fighters as chaos only continued.

A tear stung her face as the lives lost hit home, so many people lost and for what? Why were they being sacrificed in such a fashion instead of attacking the enemy outside? Why was her ship deemed the enemy? She looked to Drauc, unwilling to admit the emotions boiling through her.

[ Ens Derik Veradin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Derik_Veradin) | Bridge | USS Resolve ] Attn: All

"Aye, sir," came Derik's response. He hadn't waited for the Captain's reply and orders, anticipating what they would be. He would leave the full tactical report to A'vura or perhaps that damned Cardassian scientist guest of theirs. They would have a better handle on the external scans at this point than he would, focusing all of his attention now on getting the ship moving. Derik's fingers flew across the controls with the ease of experience, and the vibration of the ship's engines coming to life could be felt all over the ship.

A few orange alarms flashed on his screen signifying the systems that hadn't been fully repaired yet. Derik dismissed them and continued to prepare their departure. He watched the life signs of their zero-g away team, watching as they all made their way back to the ship. He frowned when sensors showed one of them launch themselves from the ship. His heart jumped before he realized it was one of their visitors. He wished her a silent good luck. Confident the others had made their way back into the access hatch, he felt comfortable going. "Here we go," he said to everyone on the bridge.

He couldn't keep himself from going through all the normal 'undocking' procedures and verbal announcements, years of training and protocol still etched in his head, but some of them just for sarcastic fun. He looked down on the side screens showing him their soft connection with the docking pylon where a number of Starbase Security personnel were still. "Clear all moorings," he said activated maneuvering thrusters to move them forward and away from the pylon. The resulting disconnection exposed that part of the station to the vacuum of the spacedock. The result was certainly mayhem for the security officers still down there. "Moorings cleared," he said with a wicked grin.

The Resolve cleared itself smoothly from its docking berth and began flying towards the docking bay doors. Derik tried to keep the ship as far as he could from the USS Chester, the ship that had already fired on their shuttle decoy a few times. Their course he'd plotted would leave them comfortably just outside the few fighters and shuttle by the bay doors but aligned to open those doors by force of torpedo if needed.

Derik's plan, not to mention relative calm, were interrupted on their way towards his intended position by the bay doors. The fighters that had launched, and were continuing to launch by the dozens, were almost all flying at breakneck speed for the bay doors. That is until the first few realized the doors weren't going to open. The fighters began banking, but they seemed more built for speed than maneuverability. They also seemed to lack a good method of decelerating. Explosions began lighting up the bay doors and the surrounding hull as fighters failed to bank soon enough, or banked into each other. Chaos erupted as fighters began veering in any direction they could to avoid crashing into the starbase, each other, or other surrounding ships. Fighters began flying out and around the launch point and the bay doors like a kicked hornet's nest, a hornet's nest that was growing in size and that the Resolve was flying straight towards.

Derik knew he had to change course immediately if they were going to avoid the mess and avoid being crashed into. He tapped his combadge before returning his hands to flying across the helm controls. "Veradin to all hands, hang on to something!" He put the resolve into a steep dive and corkscrew turn towards the bottom of the bay, trying to angle back away from the chaos. It was a move that the inertial dampeners would not be able to completely compensate for. It was all he could do to stay in his chair and remain at the controls. Fighters were veering towards them from all sides. Derik put the ship into a tight spin to avoid them and also to keep them from clipping a few docking pylons. He hoped everyone on board had been able to heed his warning.

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: SummerDawn

The sight of battle was one thing, where each warring faction raised arms in the name of their beliefs - in contention with those who opposed it. It was pure, at least in the sense it was meant to be. Watching the interceptors collide and spin through the spacedock, Drauc was reminded that there were no true battles any more. Lost was the purity, squandered and watered out by subterfuge and vile cunning. The initial detonations lit his eyes behind the tresses of his hair, and he closed a calloused fist within the sleeve of his threadbare cloak. He found himself sympathetic to the unjust plight of the unknowing pilots - all merely trying to do their honoured duty. The battle was taken from them, and Drauc bared his dry teeth at the display. For while they were the current opposition, they did not deserve such a poor death.

The singular mind in his presence beckoned to him, feeling a distress that mirrored his own, only he was beyond horror and grief. He could respect the Caitian for feeling that way, but it reminded him about how jaded his life had made him. He could not feel what she felt, but he could sympathise with her sentiment. He had lost his brother, and while it was not the same thing, it had been the kind of loss required that he'd be so affected by death. He turned his unblinking eyes K'Ren's way, his irises gleaming behind his hair, and he spoke in what he meant as consolation. "If I could, I would shed tears for them as well," he rasped, knowing that she did not know what his people had done to him, but saying it anyway because it was the cold truth. "I have fought on theirs and your side before, and I know that they were entitled to more than that."

He turned his eyes back to the interceptors that whisked by in front of their hiding place next to a docking wing, indicating the cloud of debris that rolled along the interior wall of the spacedock. "Theirs was a quick death. More so than some might get. Whatever fear and regret they felt, they feel it no more."

Still, his fist was clenched hard within his sleeve. He closed his eyes for a moment, and he was still fighting back-to-back with Kraun. Drauc could still feel the Jam'Hadar's spear through his on body, the memory still as sharp as the pain. He had not known that Kraun's spine had been severed by the same spear - thrust through the both of them. When he saw Kraun, he had killed the Jem'Hadar with his bare hands, and fought on in the battle until there were no more to kill. That was the last time he had cried, and it had been tears of hatred and loss unlike he had ever felt before. No, the sight of the pilots dying might not stir his benumbed heart, but he could respect what K'Ren felt.

"It is merely a matter of time before the rest of them find us," he rasped, changing the topic because they both had to, "and we have a two-person transporter. My suggestion is that you and him beam back to base. I can continue alone... and you might live." He said it without much of intonation, cold facts pointing towards how the both of them needn't join those pilots. The Resolve had its shields up, so she could not go back, but she might find some other way. As for himself... Frankly, he did miss his brother, and if it was his time to fall on the field of battle... he would welcome it.

---

OOC: Another one coming up with Sera vers Aldnoah.

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Travel Core > Shuttle Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos

Listening to Hi'Jak, Sera scouted ahead, looking around the next corner, and then looked back to whence they had come. The press of people had loosened, and only some random dock workers were running to wherever they needed to be. They were left largely unheard, and it sounded to Sera as if what Hi'Jak was saying could get them into more trouble then they were already in. She glanced at him when he stowed his PADD away and raised his phaser, compelling her to put a hand on the scientists' forearm and push it down again, a worried look around them telling her that no one had seen the Klingon armed.

The precaution made her stand close to Hi'Jak as he spoke, and her yellow eyes sought his as he continued to more or less tell her that she shouldn't flatter herself. So, she meant nothing more to him than what the Sabine might do in his endeavour to deliver that datapad of his? Well then burn him, she had no interest in staying in the same sector or the same quadrant as any Starfleet ship, so she would get the well flaming away from the base and drop him off at the closest planet. She only hoped Melissa Wright would be waiting for her at the Sabine like she'd said, and that she'd been able to get her weapons out of Security. Should she tell her that she killed the fat one? Perhaps she should, and then Melissa could decide if she still wanted to run away with her. They might lead a life as fugitives, but if the engineer felt anything like Melissa did... she looked forward to sharing the adventure with her.

There was, however, no point to tell the Klingon that he'd not get a lift very far. For all she knew, he might try to take the Sabine away from her just so that he could get that 'important' datapad somewhere. Better let him believe that getting to the Sabine was his best course of action, so that he could help her getting there too. Standing close to him, she gave him a rueful smile. "I prefer honesty over chivalry any day," she said and cocked her head a bit, "Thank you nonetheless, and good thinking about an ambush, should we need to make one. It's not far off now, and hopefully, I have a friend there that can unlock the doors to the shuttle bay. She was supposed to meet me there, and I hope this flaming alarm has not changed that. Anyway, I know the way from here, and if we make it through this, I'll help you with that urgent delivery of yours."

She put a hand on his chest, letting her smile get a bit warmer. "Oh, and I don't know how you celebrate victories in Starfleet, but if we can get away, I will show you how we did it in the sweat tents on Câroon." She said it with a wink before she darted off around the corner, leading the way towards the shuttle bays far down the corridors they travelled through. They were at 09-A, and there was some distance to go before 17-C. Running was their best option, and hoping that they did not run into any security guards.

[ K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: Auctor Lucan

K'Ren looked at Drauc, rare tears stinging her face, even as the carnage continued. She could feel the last three years of pain & loss welling to the surface, a forgotten witches brew of emotion and hurt. "Three years. Three years we suffered, Battle after battle. Losing people, freinds, coworkers ... family." She paused, "Only to be branded traitors, made outlaws in our own home by fabricated evidence." She looked out, "Quick death or no, what was the point? What did their death achieve?"

She found her mind slipping into the past, memories of her mate, of laughter, mirth. Joy at the news that their species were compatible so the offspring they both wanted so much was merely a matter of time. Memories of the times they'd fooled around, trying during her semi-annual heat. The memories soon replaced by the day she lost him, the final kiss as they climbed into their fighters, the cries over the comms as he was hit, the static as a fireball erupted in space.

She was shaken back to reality by Drauc's remark about the transporter. "Back to base? For what, to be arrested for treason, theft, and deities know what other trumped up charges? I would rather die free and go to be with my mate then remain rotting in a cell for the rest of my life." She looked at the unconscious officer, "Send him if you must, but my duty is to my ship and that duty is right here."

[ Lt. JG. Ejek | USS Resolve, Airlock ] Attn: Havenborn, DocReno, Brutus, Auctor Lucan

Saved! Ejek almost couldn't believe it. But she was looking up at Lt. ch'Rayya, so it had to be true. The storm of phaser fire ceased with the sealing of the docking gantry, and she was standing on the right side of the door. Inside the Resolve. Catching her breath.

"Thank you!"
Her saviour was calm and collected, she shaken, still struggling with shock. Not ready to let go of Lt. ch'Rayya, despite being back inside. She might not be able to support her own weight.

Or maybe she was, and just forgot to regain autonomy. There were more pressing thoughts on her mind than standing on her own. What did she make of what had just happened? Whom to report to first, and what? What was the USS Theurgy up to? Was the base in immediate danger, and the Resolve with it?

"The bridge," Ejek gasped, finally breaking away from her superior officer. "We should go there. I'll let you in on my thoughts on the way." How much of her conversation with Lt. Dotnhil could ch'Rayya possibly have witnessed? Cardassian ears were horrible compared to Vulcans', but how well was Andorian hearing?

"Besides." Still shaking, the Cardassian started out on her way towards the turbolift. "I'd appreciate it if you gave me access to all current security findings. I consider it my duty to help pinning down our enemy." A beat. "I'm talking about a perpetrator profile. I want to try to get as close as possible to who frames us, and why."

The Resolve was about to escape the base - at least that was what Ejek hoped, for the ship had just started to move -, but what then? First of all they needed a hiding place. But eventually they'd need proof of their innocence, or they'd stay hunted and unable to return to their families and friends.

Where should they go to, anyway? With the Federation on their heels, where could they go? Back into the hostility that was Romulan space? (Would their new, telepathic friend be of help there?) Ask the Klingons to hide them? (That was probable... Moving on.) Or Cardassian space? Her people, sadly, relied heavily on the Federation since the tragic Jem'Hadar attack at the end of the Dominion War. The Cardassian government was very unlikely to protect them just for the sake of one woman who clearly wore the wrong uniform. But maybe, with the help of Silim Parnak-

"Veradin to all hands, hang on to something!"

What?
Panic resurfacing in her eyes, Ejek looked for something - anything - to hold on to, expecting a very bumpy ride. The junctions in the ship's corridors were better than nothing, but the Cardassian's hand still reached out for support from her chief tactical officer. So much for standing on her own...

[ Lt Hi'Jak | Shuttle Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Auctor

It had been a long time since Hi'Jak had felt even the slightest bit of affection or attention from a woman. The hand on his chest and the way she spoke made the scientists mouth run dry for a moment. The way she spoke implied something he had been missing from his life for a very long time, and the truth was gods he wanted it. Still he had to focus on the situation on hand. If they couldn't get off the station there was nothing he could do, but honestly... he paused for a moment.

"You know.. If it wasn't for all the murder... I'd really like you." He said giving her a smile. He chuckled as he tried to crack a joke even under the stress of the situation he wanted to keep his sanity and had to crack a joke. "Maybe after all this is done, I could actually get to know you."

And with that he was back on duty, holding up his Rifle and following her lead. When she told him to run, he burst out sprinting. He was thankful for his third lung now more than ever. Even living a life as he had sitting at a desk for the majority of his life he had the natural Klingon endurance. Built up from running away from great predators and then long near endless battles. He had never been more grateful for his heritage than he actually was.

"Which one is your ship?" He held up his Rifle ready to attack any security guards that may have popped out from their run, making sure to keep the weapon set to stun just encase something goes wrong and he actually had to shoot someone.

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: SummerDawn

Because of what K'Ren had just told him, about the plights of the Resolve's crew, Drauc could respect her decision to stay on the aerowing. More so, he gleaned the loss of the said 'mate' through her memories, saw images of him in rapid succession that summed up their time together, not to mention the loss of him. They had wanted a child together, but they never managed conception before he was gone. While Drauc's heart was a cold and scarred thing, he was not without empathy. For how could he stay the way he had been made, when he could learn to feel through others? In some ways, despite it all, he might just have become more sympathetic to the plights of others than if his father hadn't handed over him and his brother to the training program. Their father had seen it convenient to dispose of them, unable to raise them himself. Sometimes, he wondered where their mother had gone. They had been five years of age, and he recalled her only by a fading face and a taken name. One through which they had been able to contact her before she vanished.

T'Mei.

In response to the Caitian pilot next to him, Drauc inclined his head. "My condolences," he rasped, for there were no words in his vocabulary to accurately express something in answer to her kind of grief. Nor could he tell her that he'd seen her happiness lost through her mind, because she hadn't responded well to his abilities when he'd deduced her name. He wanted to say that the Starfleet he had fought with in the Dominion War would never have let their officers make their own justice, the tenets of the Federation upholding a high moral standard. So much had changed since he had deserted. Instead, he looked out the viewscreen at the Interceptors, who had managed to avoid further losses by spreading the word about the bay doors. Instead, they circled the spacedock with thrusters alone. There were still some collisions, but not like when the first squadrons had launched.

"So we keep Officer Bradford aboard, so that they don't destroy us immediately." His husky, damaged voice set up the beginnings of a plan. "We both stay, together, and should this be our final battle, at least we have people waiting for us in the afterlife - whatever it might be." He said this and slowly turned his head, giving her a faint smile - this happenstance comrade-in-arms. "I say we target their nacelles, disable as many as we can, and keep moving. In here, they will be slow, navigating between themselves in the pursuit, but we will sweep through them like the wind, far more manoeuvrable, and we will give our Captain the time he needs to get those bay doors open. If he can't..."

Drauc started to plot the nacelles of the Interceptors as targets in a path for K'Ren, thinking for a second before he made an even more dire suggestion. "...we could land this vessel right where the doors meet, and detonate our warp core. Should it come to that... we'll decide then whether or not we stay aboard."

---

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Shuttle Bay Corridors > Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos

"The one at 17-C, just ahead!" she called back to Hi'Jak, wanting to stop and remove her boots so that she might run faster - the contraptions she had to wear forced upon her as per station decorum rather than her preference. Sera was Câroon, and she had always been barefoot. Burn her, she had learned to walk by hiking through the sand dunes, running and playing in the scorching air of her merciless home planet. Burn it all, she missed Câroon, but she hated it all the same, but considering what she had gotten herself into, perhaps she should have stayed at home - milking the goats and collecting water in the sandstone caves until her dying days.

Then again, if she had, she would never have gotten to spin the head on the Klingon running behind her, so easily charming him despite the fact that she had no intention of getting near another Starfleet ship again for the rest of her life. It was so sweet, how he said he wanted to 'get to know her', as if he was an innocent young man who had not known the attention of a woman in a long time. Surely he must have drawn the eyes of someone, flat-cheeked and chiselled as he was?

Her idle mid-run musings were interrupted at an intersection that was just a thirty yards shy of their destination. Two security guards stepped out in front of her, and she was going too fast to stop in time and take aim. One of them spotted her, eyebrows climbing, and moved to tap that Starfleet badge on his chest. She knew it to be a communicator. Instead of stopping, she acted on instinct, leaping instead. She cried out, meaning to shock them with her call, and crashed into the first one with both feet against his chest. He collided with the second one, and they both fell like rotten palm trees in a desert storm.

Sera, however, landed on her side - almost getting the wind knocked out of her with the impact. She rolled sideways to get back on her feet and take aim against the two guards before they got their hand phasers up. It would be too late. Shoot them! she wanted to call to Hi'Jak, but she had neither breath nor time for it.

[ Lt Hi'Jak | Shuttle Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Mathis, Auctor,

As the woman tackled down two security guards Jack found himself moderately impressed with her. Actually he found himself almost completely taken in by her, she was attractive and violent, two things that years living on Qo'noS told him were very valuable in women. That said he had left the Klingon empire basically because of those values, and while part of him wanted to be turned on, half of him was reminded that survival came first.

A golden lance of energy struck the first security guard to move as Hi'Jak closed the distance between himself and the guards. The man fell backwards stunned but not killed, and as the other reached for his weapon, Hi'Jak hit his head with the butt of his gun knocking him out.

"You okay?" Jack asked as he got closer to the woman, offering a hand to help her back to her feet. 17-C was a little further ahead, but he could actually see her ship. "Good tackle by the way."

The problem of course was the lock down between them. The Sabine was visible but there was a wall between them. If he had to guess it was probably transparent aluminum considering the Federation hadn't used actual glass in a very long time. The only way they were going to get through that wall was with their guns... and hopefully the two behind them wouldn't wake up before they were through.

He chuckled as he wanted to scratch the back of his neck, or blush or just feel awkward. His life hadn't been one filled with many women. Sure he was attractive or at least he thought he was, but at the same time one very prominent feature had made him stick out and stay sequestered in his office.

If he had chosen a posting closer to the Klingon Empire than perhaps his duel heritage would have been more of an advantage, but then he would also be closer to the empire and he wanted nothing to do with that can of worms. Instead he found he was nearly constantly passed over by the women on this station..

He smiled to Sera "They won't stay down forever, lets get through this thing... How high do we need to set a rifle to cut through a wall? I missed that day at the academy..."

The answer of course was rather simple as he thumbed up the power all the way. "you know there is probably a klingon proverb for this kind of day."

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Shuttle Bay Corridors outside Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos, Auctor Lucan

Hi'Jak continued to impress Sera as they went on. The way he dispatched of the two guards in quick succession, she looked up at him with a mix of appreciation, surprise, and a touch of arousal, if she was being honest. Sera caught her breath again as the scientist offered her a hand up. She took it, grateful for the help. His obvious Klingon-enhanced strength helped her up easily. "I'll be fine," she said, wincing at the gingerness of her side. "Glad it worked, but my pride is as bruised as my ribs are going to be, burn me." She grabbed both of the phaser pistols from the two guards, stowed one in the waist of her pants after putting the safety on, and held on to the other.

She took stock of their situation and ran to the door controls, seeing her newly repaired and shining Sabine just behind the transparent doors. The door controls were locked, showing "Red Alert" in big letters as if that should make it perfectly clear to her why the flaming doors wouldn't open. Where was Melissa? Sera was starting to worry about her. She would hate to leave without the golden-haired mechanic, but they couldn't just stick around and wait either. She could only hope Melissa would make it in time for them to leave. First, they had to figure out how to get past the locked doors.

She bit back a curse as she looked back to Hi'Jak who was turning the power up on his phaser rifle. She grinned at him, "I like the way you think. Your rifle will probably cut faster than these pistols." She gestured him towards the door as she took up a position where she could see down the corridors both ways and their two stunned security officers. "Get started on it. I'll watch these two and make sure we don't get any other uninvited guests."

[ Lt. Jg. Suq | Hull | USS Resolve ]

His magnetized boots kept his feet firmly attached to the hull of the Resolve and were probably the only things keeping Suq from flying away when the ship was finally freed of her manacles. He felt vibrations up his legs, he wobbled in an effort to stay standing. His left leg kept coming close enough to the hull to magnetize, and another tremor knocked it away again. He soon realized it wasn't just bad luck, his left boot's magnetization had fallen to somewhere near 60% of the required strength, possibly because the damned thing needed maintenance more often than it was actually used, and Suq neglected to maintain it. Visions of floating aimlessly in space for the rest of eternity clouded his thoughts and he reached for some sort of grip that he knew wasn't there. Once again, Suq found himself experiencing a moment of hell.

He fought hard for just a second of steady footing, anything that would allow him the chance to head to an airlock before he either fell off the hull or was shot off. What seemed to be a world-consuming struggle, complete with the rushing of blood and a heart pounding in his threat was actually completely silent, unseen by most. He was a flea on the back of a shaking dog, a shaking dog cornered in a sealed off docking bay with angry, buzzing ships flying around. But he found it, thank his spirit, he finally found his footing. He was this close to performing a split, his left leg slipping a little, but he was standing with both legs on the hull. He felt hot bile rise in his gut. He began to 'walk' to the airlock; really, it looked more like a limp from the outside.

He was wide awake now. Everything around him seemed so clear, and there was much going on around him. He saw, but did not hear, as the Resolve began to drift away from her docking pylons. There was no way out of the docking bay. The Resolve was surrounded by Interceptors buzzing about and the ship wobbling in an effort to avoid hitting them. Each wobble threw him around just a little, just enough to scare him into thinking he'd have to fight for his balance all over again. He saw they were drifting closer to the sealed bay doors, a little closer than he'd like, and he knew that within the minute that the Resolve's thrusters would automatically guide her away, if Derik did not instruct the ship otherwise, and he'd experience another jerk. With his failing boot-- 57% now, it'd be down to 41% then-- it was possible for him to be knocked off. Very possible. In fact, quite likely. "Please Derik, be gentle." He snickered, despite himself.

And so it was an agonizingly slow shuffle to the airlock. A slow-motion race against the forces of inertia and fate and he was toe to toe. 55%, 53%, 50%, 49%...Each percentage made his left leg feel more slippery, more useless. He began to measure time by how many percentage points he had left until the thrusters kicked on. 47%, 45%, 43%...

But he made it. He slipped inside the airlock, he felt gravity normalize again, he tore his suit off like it meant to kill him. He finally made it. He stood in the airlock as it pressurized, drenched in sweat, hands shaking, heart pounding so fast he thought it might jump right out of his chest.

It wasn't over yet, he thought. His crew was still out there.  and he ran into the Resolve, leaving his suit crumpled on the ground in the airlock.

[ Lt Hi'Jak | Shuttle Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Mathis, Auctor,

It only took a minute for Hi'Jak to realize that this wasn't actually going to work. Sealed walls were usually meant to keep people out, and so cutting through them with the most common weapon available while it was the mark two a more powerful rifle than the regular hand phaser it wasn't cutting anywhere near fast enough. Sure he might be able to burrow a large enough hole for one humanoid, but not in the time it would take for reinforcements to arrive and then they would be over run, and probably arrested. "This isn't working we need a plan c."

That meant they needed another faster way through the wall. Looking around Hi'Jak found a wall console, chances were good that his own access codes had been restricted at this point otherwise he could have override this wall with a code, but as he walked up to it, he shot the console. Watching as sparks flew out from the former controls. Prying it open to analyze the wiring inside he wasn't an engineer, but he could follow circuitry well enough. "Let's see the wall should be power locked, so if we cut that power what happens?"

There had to be an emergency way to unlock the and move the thing encase of a power outage, the Federation wouldn't let shuttles not be used in an evacuation so all he had to do was logically cut off enough power that this part of the station thought an evacuation was needed... So how much was that? Jack paused as he was counting circuitry and relay points trying to figure out how to break in just the right way. Turning to Sera he gestured her to join him. "Have you ever cut off power to a security wall before? I just realized I'm not an engineer, I mean I could pull wires all day, but I have just as much of a chance of breaking this thing correctly as I do... turning off the force-field on the other side of that wall and venting your ship into space. So while I do appreciate the sentiment of watching over my back, another set of hands is kind of appreciated."

[ Ensign K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit | Inside Spacedock ] Attn: Auctor Lucan

K'Ren wasn't sure if she'd said anything but the man was a mind reader so he'd no doubt intruded upon her memories as she sat there, and knew how Markus died. She nodded as he began to outline his plan. It was foolhardy and reckless, almost like he wanted to get them killed and sent to the afterlife, but right now doing something sounded better then sitting around and waiting for the inevitable.

"Thank you." she said at first, "Markus was a good mate. He died as he lived, doing what he loved." A slight tear formed in her eye, "My only regret is that I could not give him the offspring he wished before he died. Had he lived another month we most likely would have produced a child together. Now all I have is the memory of him."

She glanced at the stunned and unconscious officer, who wouldn't be awake till all this was over. "Somehow I doubt this man will keep us alive as if these people are willing to frame innocents, then the death of an innocent is no concern to them. He will be declared a hero or a traitor as the need requires." She grinned, "You realize we're stirring one hell of a hornet's nest if we target those fighters? Right now they're confused by the doors not opening. As long as they stay focused on each other, we remain ignored."

She watched over the tactical readout, watching the fighter's flight patterns, looking for the telltale sign of a fighter taking interest in them. She shrugged, "If it becomes necessary we will become the wedge." She looked at Drauc, "I do not wish to die but for my Captain and ship I will glady give my life."

[Ensign A'vura Zeshryr (https://orig08.deviantart.net/ca09/f/2015/289/a/2/a_vura_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d9d9ngm.png) | Resolve Bridge] Attn: Arista, Mathis

A'vura had watched the Cardassian take a seat eventually near her, wiggling into it as if he had been wanting to do such a thing for a long time. It actually wasn't all that unusual for someone to want to take a seat in one of the First officers or Captain's chairs, people typically snapping up the chance whenever they could get the opportunity. With a faint smile she nodded cordially at him as he spoke, then turned to Derik and laughed dryly at him and his remark. "If /you/ want to surrender you be my guest," she teased back, knowing full and well that surrender by this point was not an option. Then she heard Parnek's last remark and followed his train of thought. If those on the hull did not get back into the ship now they'd be torn from it and free floating outside of the Starbase. Hitting her combadge she asked for a report, comms coming back as each of the members of her crew, and one non-member called back saying they were inside. It seemed as though one of the other's though, had not come inside, and she tensed in her seat as she wondered what the hell was going on now.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


[Ensign Six (http://pre05.deviantart.net/5d9e/th/pre/i/2016/254/f/7/ensign_six___under_fire_by_auctor_lucan-d91bxn0.png) | Resolve Hull/Docking Clamp ] Attn: Triage, Kaligos, Arista, Follow Tomorrow

Wasting zero time Six scrambled back up to her feet, marching her way towards the nearest airlock. Shit had literally hit the fan overhead as interceptors began to fill the space above them, zipping around and firing phaser blasts in every direction. Thank god the shields were holding, or at least she would have thanked god if she had any belief in one, moving her ass like there was no tomorrow. By the time she reached the airlock she was sweating in her EV suit and panting. It was always work walking in those heavy suits and magnetic boots, but having to double time her efforts, something she could actually physically manage as a borg, left her winded and ready to take a momentary break. Once inside the ship she did just that, closing the seal and ripping the helmet off her head to breath in fresher, less stifling air. Only after a moment of steadying her breathing did she finally hit her comm to the captain. "Six here. I've made it back inside. Where do you need me now?"

[LT Keval ch'Rayya| Turbolift #2| USS Resolve]
Attn: Ejek then bridge crew

Keval slowly nodded at the cardassian's comments as his shoulder started to throb just a little bit from the phaser blast that he had taken but he ignored it when he saw that the younger officer was still trembling just a little bit but before he could reach out and try to calm her down when Derik's decree came through the ship's comm-system and he saw her try to reach out and grab onto something to support herself as the ship suddenly went into a very quick series of maneuvers.

Keval was at this point in his life an old hand but that didn't stop his first reaction as he quickly reached out and pulled Ejek close to him again as he basically forced his legs to lock solidly as he hung onto the cardassian woman.

At that moment a rather unusual thought crossed his mind and Keval looked down into Ejek's face until he caught her attention and when he locked his eyes onto her's, he could only think to say "You know that I've got you, Zelosa. I've got you." in a calm, collected and quiet tone before he brought a hand up to gently stroke the right side of her face for a second before his senses told him that it was safe to release her again which he did so slowly to ensure that she was still steady on her feet.

On the other hand, he was trying to figure out why his heart was now beating so damn hard against his ribs..was he actually excited to be back in the midst of conflict again...

...or was it something else?

A moment later the doors to the bridge opened up and Keval's face slowly became a mask of utter professionalism as he stepped onto the main bridge and went to his station. "Thank you for trying to keep it on the road, Mister Veradin." he said as he quickly started to bring his weapons systems online and studied the tactical plot of the surrounding area.

It only took him a few seconds to get a lay of the land so to speak. "Mister Veradin, try and keep us out of the principle broadside range of the other ship's phaser range for the time being until we can get the station doors open." Keval said as he quickly made a few adjustments to a couple of the Resolve's own phaser systems before activating the ship's own communications system. "Resolve Actual to Salvo and Meony, keep in close to us. I don't have much information on those birds coming out to counter you but needless to say I don't think the captain wants you all to play chicken with them in an enclosed space like this."

Keval then started to plot his own tactical solutions for the torpedoes as he wanted to use them as a last resort in case it came to it but he also had to plan out the math to ensure that he wouldn't cause too much undo damage to his fellow officers.

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Shuttle Bay Corridors outside Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos, Auctor

Sera cast a blank look over to Hi'Jak. This was not going well. She knew how to survive. She knew how to fight. This was maybe beyond her. However, she hated the idea that she'd have to admit to yet another person today how terrible she was at engineering. "Burn me. You're not an engineer, but you are a scientist. According to Melissa's assessment of my upkeep on the Sabine, you might as well be the inventor of the warp drive next to me." She got up from her vantage point where she was watching his back earlier and walked over to the now-fried console. "Although, I did see the mechanic of our freighter one time cross wires that looked like of like these..." She reached down past him, leaning in close to where their shoulders brushed each other. She didn't hate the warm feeling their contact gave her. She twisted two of the exposed wires together.

Sparks flew from the already trashed console, causing them both to flinch. She dropped the wires with a few colorful curses. "Well, that certainly didn't work," she said after she gained her composure again. She scanned around the corridor and looked out into the shuttle bay. She whispered almost under her breath, but Hi'Jak definitely would have been able to hear it. "Damn it, Melissa, where are you?"

She looked down at the weapons she was holding. "Hey, I have a crazy idea. Do you think the power cells in these phasers, if overloaded and then fired on, would create an explosion powerful enough to open the doors? Or at least crack them open, maybe damage them enough for your rifle to finish the job?" She was really just grasping at straws at this point. She was a scavenger. It had been true on Câroon and it was what she'd fallen into doing in space, selling junk she found on planets to pay someone else to fix up Sabine and get her moving again when it needed it. She wasn't a demolitions expert or an engineer.

[ Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Hull | USS Resolve ] Attn: Tristan Kendrick, Keval ch'Rayya, Havenborn

[Show/Hide]

What. The. FUCK!" said Tancredi as she did the strangest hand dance in open space when she felt the ship lurching under her feet. The Resolve was moving. Well, it was her idea to take the furthest pylon, better her than someone else, right? Well, now she had to haul it post-haste and get inside unless she felt like risking it all in the biggest and wildest ride of the century. Not that that wasn't an appealing notion, but Tancredi figured this wasn't one of her preferred ways of going if it was time. She began plucking her feet to move them in the fastest hull walk race. She wasn't too afraid of getting detached from the ship. Her suit's packs held enough for her to maneuver herself if it ever became necessary.

Each painstaking step showed her she was literally the last one left outside. At least as far as she was able to see. She didn't take note of the presence of anyone else, and the ship's movements were making her a little disoriented. If that wasn't enough, the sheer chaos of the base defenders had her frequently looking around. Debris and material were beginning to fly around, moving like deadly projectiles. Deflector shields would take care of them, but Tancredi wasn't about to depend on just that to keep her safe.

She would get to test this fact sooner than expected, when what looked like the husk of a interceptor was blazing towards her. "Oh shit!"

Taking little account into the consequences of her actions, Tancredi leapt clear of the path as the debris smashed and scraped the hull where she had been moments ago. The damage was inconsequential and non-existent, to the ship, but if the young woman had been there...well, she would be meeting the members of her family of the ship that had gone on ahead into the afterlife. Drawing her weapons, the pilot began firing off a few shots at more debris. The shots were also pushing her back a little, though not by much. "Ah'd love ta stay," said Tancredi, "but mah rahd's waitin'."

Turning her back, she punched her suit's thrusters, pushing herself at high speed to the airlock, slowing down only at the entrance, and reactivating her boots' magnets. Shooting into the airlock was fun, but not if one wanted to avoid breaking their necks and other things. The second she cleared, she was racing for the launch bays, clambering into her fighter shuttle. "All raht, sweetheart," said the cowgirl, "let's get ya fahrd up! Dance fer mama."

Her ship hummed to life, and she skipped most pre-flight checks. If Randall didn't do a great job, she'd be toast one way or another, so what did it matter? From what she had seen outside, Tribble Squadron looked like they would have the home field advantage for the time being. As long as those doors stayed closed, the interceptors would have a very limited amount of space, and so shooting around at top speed was out of the question. The fighter shuttles moved with the grace and speed of constipated rhinos, but they were as tough, if not tougher than rhinos too.

She opened a channel to her fellow Tribbles, "Ya'll ready and rarin' ta go?"

When ch'Rayya commed her, she triggered her response, "Aw come on! Ya sure lahk ta take da fun outta everythin'! Fahn, fahn, whatever. Ah got yer back."

She grinned and waited, looking around for Havenborn and his pilots. Though there was a mild touch of envy that he and his fellow pilots retained their Valkyries, those that had lost theirs gradually began to substitute for the shuttles, turning them into the most aggressive transporters the Federation would ever see. She ached to lift off already and get to doing what she was all but born to do. She keyed in a channel to Havenborn, "Darlin', are ya planning ta get going anytime dis millennium?" said Tancredi, then after a moment's thought, she added, "Look, cut meh and mah Tribbles loose first, we got fuckin' turkeys here, and move lahk sleepy hengras (http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Hengrauggi), but raht now? Dat's actually an advantage! Them 'ceptors cain't slow down fer nuts, and if dey trah gettin' fresh, well, we'll slap 'em, and ya can mop up."

After that, she quietly sent another message to ch'Rayya, "Hey, big blue? Be careful. Keep our captain, our family, safe."

"All raht, Tribbles! Ya wanna live forevah?!?" Tancredi received a chorus of negatives to that query, and she smiled. They were all nearly as crazy as she was. But hey, they were trained to be fighter pilots. Abruptly, she opened a comm to her squadron, and howled like a wolf, a throwback to her time as a Valkyrie, joined by her fellow Tribbles.

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

Kendrick was all too glad to be out of that god damned suit, and practically ran his way back to the nearest turbolift. asking it to take him to the bridge. He was all too aware of the danger that they were in at this point.  With the fighters launched it was only a matter of time before they were ripped apart. The only saving grace was the fact that it was tight quarters the fighters couldn't be as mobile as they wanted, but he had seen what felt like hundreds pouring out to attack this ship.

When he arrived on the bridge he looked around for a moment half expecting the room to be completely gone in his absence. Considering it wasn't he was more than happy to take his chair waiting for A'vura to surrender it before he sat down. "Veradin, where is my tactical report? how many fighters are out there, what do we have that can punch a hole through this station."

Kendrick tapped his com link when the former borg drone asked what she would do next. "Head down to engineering, help our teams get as much power flowing as we can so we don't end up falling apart." He figgured that the former Borg drone would have some expetize that she could use to pull as much power out of that warp core as possible.

"Get us to that door Veradin, and Keval  see if we can't give the aerowing some help and draw some fire. I'd very much like to keep that ship intact."

"Avura, you have Ops." Kendrick took back his chair, a concerned look following him, he was trying and failing to count the number of fighters out there, and at the same time wondering just how long it would take them to rip this ship to pieces.

---

[ Lt Hi'Jak | Bay 17-C  | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Mathis

"Well I do have two papers on temporal warp drives, but I highly doubt that my theories will lead to the creation of the time drive, it's really just some grounding mathematical work I did for my academy years. A few paradox studies, and mostly theoretical things. I'm only credited on like two practical works." Hi'Jak said partially in defense when she called him the creator of the warp drive. He was not nearly as smart as Zefram Cochrane. Mostly that was why he was out here, his work was considered low priority.

Looking over what she said however she was right, there was a lot of juice in the power-cell of a phaser, looking at the wiring he grabbed one of her two phaser weapons and worked to pull out the powercell never an easy task when one didn't have tools, but a little bit of leverage and he managed to crack it open at the cost of a nail. Working to attach as many loose wires to the power cell as possible he jury rigged the wall's conduit to the powercell.

"Okay so, I've either created a bomb, that when fired upon will explode and crack the hull, or if I did this correctly I've overclocked the consoles power output, and when you fire that weapon it will overcharge and go through the conduit burning out the entire emergency system for this place and with a black out, the powerlocks on that wall will disengage, and the wall will rise in accordance with evacuation. Till the computer compensates for the lack of power and locks it down again, but by that time we will be on the other side... or like i said... vented into space. It's an 80/20."

What he wasn't going to tell Sera was that the 80% chance was them cracking the hull and boiling alive or causing a massive fire. he would however silently cross his fingers, and subtly put himself behind Sera as she got ready to fire.

[ Ens Derik Veradin | Bridge | USS Resolve ] Attn: All

A bead of sweat ran down Derik's left temple, luckily not obscuring his vision, as he leveled the Resolve up from its dive towards the bottom of the docking bay. His focus was fixed solidly on finishing this first maneuver that would at least send them towards relative safety, looping around the bay in a wide circle. A docking pylon he hadn't noticed was coming awfully close to them so he rolled the ship to its side putting their belly towards the station walls to narrowly avoid it.

Derik was relieved to see Kendrick and ch'Rayya both return to the bridge. That meant they were hopefully one step closer to getting out of this crazy situation. When the captain asked him for the tactical report and how many fighters there were outside the ship, it took all of Derik's willpower not to answer with, 'A fuck ton, sir.' Distracted as he'd been by their sudden need to dodge dozens of now-suicide-prone fighters, he'd not been as ready as he'd like to report everything. "From what I can gather, an entire Air Group was launched sir. At least four squadrons in four wings, so around 200 give or take, depending on how many have already crashed. The debris and sheer number are making it hard to get an exact count on sensors."

Derik rolled the ship back to being level with the low floors of the bay, weaving a bit to avoid a few more fighters that had flown their way. "These fighters are built for speed, but not for maneuverability or stopping, so most of them are simply flying around crazy trying to slow down because the bay doors didn't open like they should have corresponding with their launch. As for the doors, a full spread of torpedoes from the inside should be enough to blow them open, but there are still dozens of fighters near the door, it would be one hell of a shot to get them to the actual door."

Derik grimaced as a few more fighters came within a hair's breadth of slamming into their port nacelle, "I currently have us in a wide loop to avoid the cluster of fighters at the door, but they are slowly clearing out. By the time I swing us back around to the door, we might have a better shot potential lined up, wouldn't you say Lieutenant?" Derik asked, looking over at Keval.

---

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Shuttle Bay Corridors outside Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos, Arista, Auctor

Sera waved a hand dismissively at his talk of paradoxes and papers, "Yes, yes, my point exactly, you are very smart. I know how to use tools well, not how to alter them or fix them." She watched him work nervously, casting glances up and down the corridor, hoping they remained uninterrupted. She thought it strange how more security forces had not yet responded. Maybe they'd taken his threat to heart, or maybe they had been distracted by something more important elsewhere.

When he was done connecting the power source to the console she listened intently to his description. Some of it went over her head, but she got the gist of it. She waited for Hi'Jak to get out of the way before raising her remaining phaser pistol and took careful aim at the power source. "Here we go," she whispered mostly to herself, and fired.

A few things all happened at once. The system did begin to short-circuit everything in the area and the lights began to flicker as the systems all began to shut down. However, the power source also went up in flames, rather large flames that started trailing up the connection to the wall console. Immediately after, a new klaxon began sounding as fire-suppression foam began spraying all around them, drenching Sera and Hi'Jak in it as well as putting out the fire.

Sera stood there speechless for a few seconds, sputtering foam away from her mouth when she did try to speak. "Pyeeh. Well... I think the door locks are at least disabled now..."

[ Lt Hi'Jak | Shuttle Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Mathis, Auctor,

Most people found it weird when he flaunted his intelligence. Who ever heard of a smart Klingon? One that took pride in his mind rather than his skill with a bat'leth. However Sera simply dismissed him, and called him smart, it was almost a complement, and for a moment it felt rather nice to have someone saying something like that. He closed his eyes as she fired on the power cell, and listened to what was supposed to be the end of the world.

Thankfully they struck a critical and it seemed like it was the 20% option as he opened his eyes. The lights were flickering the entire area was fluxing and.. Fire, oh shit that was a lot of fire. A moment later it became a lot of fire suppressant, so much so that the foam was covering the two of them, He rather sloppily wiped his face with the back of his hand, which really only seemed to spread the foam around as he spat and tried to get it out of his mouth.

"That worked?" He said completely unsure of why that worked. He was going to have to remember that solution, and how he had rigged it up. There was a moment of hesitation as he watched the wall start to rise up, no longer locked down thanks to black out and evacuation procedures. "It worked!"

He grabbed Sera, and in a moment of celebration he pulled her close to him, planting a kiss on her lips, pressing his body against hers as he hugged her, and then after realizing the complete violation of personal space he had just comitted he pulled himself away from her and simply looked guilty for his action. "I mean of course it worked why wouldn't it."

He coughed feeling his ears burn, his face redden slightly. "We should really be on that side of the wall encase it decides to come back down."

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Airlock > Hangar Bay | USS Resolve ] Attn: Triage, DocReno, Auctor

As the door to the airlock shut Daniel heard Derik's voice over the comm and he quickly grabbed the bulkhead to keep himself steady as the ship lurched.  Derik was a good pilot and Daniel had faith that he'd be able to get the Resolve out of the docking bays.  As the ship righted itself Daniel began to make his way towards the hangar bay.

He was about halfway to the hangar when he received Keval's communication.  "Understood Lieutenant ch'Rayya.  Do standard rules of engagement apply?"  He asked as he exited the turbolift, only a few more meters until he'd be outside of the hangar.  As long as the standard rules of engagement applied he'd have no problem with carrying out his duty, however he didn't want any surprises so he figured he'd find out now.

As he turned the corner he received another message from Ensign Tancredi and shook his head. "Denied Ensign Tancredi, your squadron will launch after the Valkyries."  He said.  He hated that she rarely called him by his rank, out in the field was one thing, callsigns worked better out there but they were still on the ship and he expected everyone under his command to follow Starfleet rules and regulations and give those above them in rank their due.  He'd have to remind her of that if they made it through this mess.  A moment later and he walked into the hangar bay and made his way towards his Valkyrie.

"Chief Randall are my fighters prepped and ready?"  He called out spying the Chief across the hangar bay as he stopped at his Valkyrie, placing a hand on the stylized double eagle artwork as he did before each combat sortie waiting for the Chief's response.  He could see his RIO; Lieutenant Ahern, callsign Knight; sitting in his seat waiting for takeoff.  He'd had his pilots double up as much as they could with the rest cross training with the Tribble Squadron.  They had started out with 36 pilots and after three year he was left with less than half that number.

[ Lt. JG. Ejek | USS Resolve, Bridge ] Attn: Arista, Mathis, DocReno, Vystori, FollowTomorrow

In the end Ejek didn't get the chance to brief Lt. ch'Rayya on her impression of security chief Dotnhil, after all. First they were too preoccupied with reaching the bridge - and quickly! - despite the rough flight maneuvres, then the situation on the bridge immediately got the Andorian's full attention. As it should be. They had to escape securely to even get the chance of putting further plans into action. Only the Cardassian counsellor had little to contribute to secure said escape; all she could do was contemplate future actions.

It wasn't before now, when Ejek was standing in relative abandonment near the bridge's entrance watching the scene, that she realised her saviour had gotten injured. Funny, she mused, how self-absorbed fear and survival instinct could turn you. Even now she had more pressing concerns in mind than suggesting for Lieutenant ch'Rayya to see a doctor. As long as he was able to function, he was best for manning his station in a crisis. If he was impaired enough to be a threat to the mission's success, she trusted he'd remove himself, anyway. Thus, voicing concern would only mean unnecessary distraction in a dire situation.

A situation in which Ejek had nothing much to contribute. She was a counsellor, not a pilot or tactical officer. Her station, aside from being occupied by Dr. Parnak's behind, was fundamentally useless at the moment. However, it was still not the time to answer that message in her inbox. Aside from her desire to keep an eye on what was going on, the bumpy ride hadn't ceased.

It was that bumpy ride, and the consequential need to support her stance, that eventually made her cling to the back of her occupied bridge chair.

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Spacedock | Starbase 84 ] Attn: SummerDawn

Hearing K'Ren, and seeing what she saw in her mind's eye, Drauc came to understand his companion on the aerowing a little bit better. The past three years had taken its toll on her, the same kind of shadow of weariness that he'd seen in the minds of other members of the Resolve's crew. Her weariness had a bitter undercurrent, and that was the loss of her dear Markus. Over the years, having felt the same kind of loss in others, Drauc could not help but feel it as a reflection of his own losses in the Dominion War.

It would be, however, disrespectful to say that her loss was akin to his own, because it would sound like he diminished her grief - as if he dismissed it. Knowing this, he said naught, merely nodding imperceptibly to the Caitian in silent verification of her feelings on the matter. After all, he was not keen on speaking of his brother, even if it might make her understand that he sympathised with the loss of her lover and the family they'd had.

When she spoke of Bradford, this vile human that had been his captor in the Brig since he was arrested, he looked his way, sharing her estimate on their situation. "We'll keep him for the time being," he rasped and looked back to her. "Likely or not, chances be that he will keep a few shots from being fired at us. Poor aid, but better than having nothing to bargain with."

K'Ren spoke of his suggestion to fire on the fighters' nacelles being quite bold, and it was the truth, but as she pointed out, they were not the current priority, so it was better to conserve themselves until they needed to become the wedge, as she so aptly put it.

"I do not wish to die but for my Captain and ship I will glady give my life.

This gave Drauc pause, looking at the spacedock being filled with interceptors and seeing the Resolve avoiding them, flying nimbly around the close quarters of the spacedock. Their helmsman knew what he was about, navigating such a situation. His words, however, were about his motivations. "Since I defected from Starfleet at the end of the Dominion War, I have regretted my life and my choices. Now, I seek redemption, and to do what is right. My people are diminished by their war, and I have learned that there is naught for me there, beyond the Netrual Zone. I have returned, and I see Captain Kendrick's cause as the most righteous one - his crew not stained by whatever has happened to the fleet of this day. If I can salvage what I squandered, I will tread a path in life that I can be proud of, and like you... I would also give my life... as long as I am walking in the right direction."

He reached out with his calloused hand, and plotted a new course for K'Ren, one to be used if the chance presented itself. "Should the doors open, we should get out of here. But until then, we bide our time, hidden here next to the docking wing. I am certain that the Resolve will contact us if the radio silence is rendered obsolete - our role as a decoy not needed any more."

---

[ Eric Randall | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Resolve ] Attn: Havenborn & Triage

Having been given an ample amount of time to ready both the Grey Wolves' Valkyries and the Tribble Squadron's shuttles, Eric Randall and Liam Herrold stood by the sidelines, watching and delegating the tasks to the deck hands. Liam was shouting for the last of them to get the equipment out of the way, and Eric was reviewing the PADD with the latest modification of the Tribble Squadron's shuttles - the one proposed by Meony. He noted that Tancredi's own shuttle was finished, but two of the other shuttles hadn't been finished in time. It was of little consequence. Whatever they were up against, regardless what the hell was going on, Eric knew they would be ready for it.

“Chief Randall, are my fighters prepped and ready?”

Eric raised his eyes from the PADD and acknowledged the SCO. Aside from K'Ren, Havenborn was the last pilot to arrive. Eric switched the page on the PADD to that of the Grey Wolves' status. "All five are ready, Lieutenant, but Ensign K'Ren is nowhere to be found aboard. I have tried to reach her with no results. With your permission, her RIO can fly her fighter alone. He is more than ready for it."

As he said this, Liam glanced towards Eric with a concerned frown, but he said nothing, focused on the launching preparations. Eric hardly noticed it as he walked up to Lieutenant Havenborn and his Valkyrie. "As for hard-points, we had little left to mount on them... Liam was able to set all five of you up with two Mk Q-IV quantum torpedoes and two EMP ones. Your micro torpedo magazines are fully stocked, but we have no more hellbores or cluster bombs, so you have to settle for the EMP ones we've mounted. Perhaps for the better, because judging by what little I can tell, it looks like we are going up against our own..."

It was just as much a statement as a question. Were they going up against Starfleet, after all these years Should they wait for the Captain to give the final say about launching, given the current situation?

---

[ Ian Hawthorne | EOC Command Centre | Starbase 84 ] Attn: All on the Resolve's Bridge

While Ian had made his way to the Command Centre, making a site-to-site transport to make up for time, he had been in contact with his kinsman on the USS Chester. The captain on the Defiant-class ship had quickly responded with action, Ian saw, as he stepped into the circular room of the base's central command centre. From there, he and his staff would oversee the destruction of the Theurgy. The Chester's captain had been tasked to take care of that aerowing fighter, but after that was done, Ian had faith that he'd prove resorceful when going up against the Theurgy-class ship.

An errant thought went to his daughter, Lisa Hawthorne, and whether or not she was still alive and on the Theurgy. It hardly mattered any more, since when he and kin were finished, her survival was moot. Curious was it, also, that the Harbinger wasn't present, even if Task Force Archeron had spotted the ship that Cameron Henshaw served on too. Perhaps it was for the better if both his daughters were already dead, so that he didn't have to tell them that he had killed their mother. The reaction would probably be inconvenient.

After Ian had entered the command centre, however, things had deteriorated rather quickly...

The Air Group was trapped inside the spacedock, neither the Chester nor all the other docked starships could launch. The Theurgy was deploying its fighters, and unprovoked, Captain Ives did not fire on the base. Ian narrowed his eyes at the mutivector dreadnought on the viewscreen, and while he knew the futility in the Chameloid's endeavour, he still had to address the threat he posed. When the Resolve managed to undock, hearing Komial's message about it and seeing it on one of the screens, it became clear thatas it was the single starship free of its docking pylon. Yet in a couple of seconds, standing in the middle of the command centre, Ian got his idea, and he turned to his staff, issuing orders to prepare for his plan to be brought to action. Reports of lost fighters came to the command staff's attention, but after hearing what Komial reported to him, Ian knew how to proceed. When he had given his orders, baffling some of his staff, he replied to Komial.

"Lieutenant Dotnihl, seek out any boarding teams and neutralise them before they do harm to our key areas. That is your top priority as of this moment. I will deal with the Resolve and its aerowing henceforth. Hawthorne out," he said to his pet lover, this skin-puppet that he had wrapped around his finger. He trusted her to try her best to get back in his good graces. She was irrelevant, so he soon focused on the task at hand.

"Hail the Resolve now. If they don't open a channel, relay this message," Ian said as he stepped up to the viewscreen. "This is Ian Hawthorne. I have ordered all fighters in the spacedock to refrain from firing upon the Resolve and its aerowing. Captain Kendrick, I do not know what you are up to, liberating prisoners and involving yourself with Romulans. Nor do I know why you oppose my security personnel and have your aerowing opening fire inside the spacedock, but unless you open this channel within thirty seconds, I have no choice but to consider you the traitors to the Federation that you seem to be, and give new orders to our fighters. Yet you will leave me no choice in eliminating the threat you pose in this dire hour, where the USS Theurgy has come to attack this base."

He paused there, before sweetening his threat with an offer the returned Captain couldn't refuse. He let his voice be filled with regret. "My gut feeling says you and your crew may be innocent, that this is some elaborate scheme to make a schism between you and I... So please, for sake of all the civilians on this base and what the Federation stands for, heed this call. Assert your innocence, and you will be able to prove your loyalty to Starfleet. As conflicted as your actions have made me, you and your crew may be our only hope."

And thus, he waited for the Resolve to respond, keeping the thing within from making him grin.

He had them. They had no choice but to take the olive branch he held out for them.

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Shuttle Bay Corridors outside Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos, Arista, Auctor

Sera had still been processing what had just happened with the fire, and the system shutdown, and the being covered in foam when Hi'Jak pulled her into him and kissed her. He had no problem doing so with his impressive strength, and her small yelp of surprise at being pulled in like that was covered up by their kiss. Before she even realized whether she liked it or not, he was pulling away, embarrassed, she noticed a tinge of red coloring his cheeks. He had not asked her consent, which threatened to spark into an angry fire... but then again she had openly flirted with him twice now, definitely intimating sex as a reward for his assistance. Her flirting had obviously worked. Plus, had she liked it? She would be lying if she said she hadn't. Hi'Jak was a bit of a puzzle to her. Smart and inventive, but also strong and fierce when pressed, qualities she valued.

She had grabbed his arms when she'd been pulled in, and one hand still remained on his arm, her thumb idly tracing the muscles apparent underneath the uniform... and the foam. She was feeling torn over this physical attraction to him and it warred with her connection with Melissa. She also still needed his help, they weren't out of this yet. Her grip on his arm tightened as her mind made itself, for now at least. "You did not ask my permission. I almost kneed you in the groin by reflex." Her free hand went to the back of his neck and pulled him in for another kiss, this one a little bit longer than their first before pulling away completely this time.

"There, we are even. Now, come and help me with getting Sabine ready to fly, we're not out of this firestorm yet." She turned on her heel and made her way towards her ship, expecting him to follow. Sabine was there waiting for them. Hopefully, Melissa would find them soon, they were running out of time, and despite her conflicted feelings, Sera didn't want to leave her behind.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Hangar Bay | USS Resolve ] Attn: Auctor, Triage

"All five are ready, Lieutenant, but Ensign K'Ren is nowhere to be found aboard. I have tried to reach her with no results. With your permission, her RIO can fly her fighter alone. He is more than ready for it."

He wasn't sure where Ensign K'Ren was, he'd told her to coordinate with security so maybe Lieutenant ch'Rayya had posted her somewhere.  Right now however it didn't matter, her RIO was a good enough pilot that he could handle it alone.  "Tell Ensign Jackson permission to fly solo is granted."  He said as he listened to the Chief list off the current available ordnance.  It wasn't much that's for sure and it was probably lucky that they had made it back to Federation space when they did.

"If that was true Chief, they wouldn't be shooting at us.  As soon as that first shot was fired they became our enemy."  Daniel said as he looked over his fighter, noting the ordnance before he climbed up the ladder and sat down in the pilot's seat.  "All callsigns report in."  He said as he opened a secure communications line to his pilots.

"Knight reporting in." His RIO said from behind him.

"Broadside reporting in." Lieutenant JG Sanders, said over the com. "Hammer ready."  Ensign Caryn, Broadside's RIO, reported in.

"Deadeye here, locked and loaded."  Lieutenant JG Daniels said.  "Clutch reporting in."  Ensign Xander, Deadeye's RIO, said over the com.

"Warhound ready."  Ensign Yurek said.  "Nymph reporting in." Ensign Rodriguez, Warhound's RIO, said.

"Merlin reporting in."  Ensign Jackson said.

Now he waited for Ensign Tancredi and her Tribble Squadron pilots to report in.  One they had he smiled to himself.  "All callsigns, standard rules of engagement apply.  If fired upon you have permission to fire back, check your targets and use your ordnance sparingly.  Launch on my mark."  He did a silent three second count to himself then spoke. "Mark."  He said as he pushed his throttle forward and felt the fighter's thrusters kick in and push his small fighter into the spacedock proper.  It was quite a sight to behold seeing the other starships docked in their berths.  As he maneuvered his fighter around he saw the fighter-interceptors that were coming towards them, only a matter of seconds now until combat began.

[Ensign A'vura Zeshryr (https://orig08.deviantart.net/ca09/f/2015/289/a/2/a_vura_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d9d9ngm.png) | Resolve Bridge] Attn: All on the Bridge

Clinging tightly to the Captain's chair, A'vura held on for dear life as Derik began making evasive maneuvers in the otherwise small space of the Starbase's dome. On screen they flew past debris and phaser blasts as well as an array of smaller vessels that zipped to and fro. She held her breath for a long pause, waiting, just waiting for the shields to drop significantly enough for the ship to start taking heavy damage, but when that didn't happen, she finally exhaled, her tension leaving slowly.

As the Captain made it back to the bridge, A'vura quickly stood from his chair and moved back to her post, giving full command back to him. Her feet stumbled beneath her as she made her way over to the computer, teetering each time the ship dipped and turned evasively to dodge another attack. When she did eventually reach her post though, she saw on the computer an incoming transmission. "Captain, there's an inbound communication from the Starbase. Give me a minute to pull it up." Pressing the computer in a few places, she brought up the transmission and played it. It was from Captain Hawthorn.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Ensign Six (http://pre05.deviantart.net/5d9e/th/pre/i/2016/254/f/7/ensign_six___under_fire_by_auctor_lucan-d91bxn0.png) | Resolve Engineering] Attn: All on the bridge and inside Engineering

Six acknowledged the Captain's request and quickly tore the EV suit from her body, quit happy to be out of it and just in her specialized uniform once more. The tight fabric was much more movable than the constricting suit she'd had to wear outside on the hull.

Making her way to the lift she requested engineering, and no sooner had the computer chimed to acknowledge her request did the ship tilt suddenly. Her hands reached out at either side of the rounded room of the lift, trying to catch herself as her feet moved and her knees bent, bracing and preventing a total fall. She knew the schematics of the Starbase, and if they were performing maneuvers inside of the dome still either they had a very stupid pilot, or a very skilled one. When they hadn't appeared to collide with anything by the time she made it to Engineering, she had decided on the latter.

Once the lift opened for her and she was where she needed to be, she quickly moved in place where they felt she was required the most. After several attempts to relay more power to the ship, she pursed her lips, then used her digit implants to link up to the computer more directly and started relaying power flow into more vital parts of the ships as best she could without causing damage or taking too much from other areas like life support. With one hand she flew her fingers across the computer screen, moving power in the places it was needed, and with the other hand, her thumb and index finger were locked into the computer's system, helping to divert the flow of that power more readily.

[ Melissa Wright | Starbase 84 | Inside Docking Area] Attn: Kaligos, Mathis, Auctor Lucan, Any Others

Inside her helmet, there was nothing but the constant stream of vulgar expletives while Melissa Wright floated free form slowly on her way to Shuttlebay 17-C. As with all unassisted space movement, there was no real way to correct one's trajectory besides the limited manoeuvring thrusters built into the suit. Mel knew she would have to wait until she was closer to the bay before using that finite supply; So she waited, feeling the sweat of her efforts on the hull of the Resolve cool while she rotated head over heels slowly edging ever closer. She'd turned off her radio as soon as she, quite literally, jumped ship. Now the isolation was beginning to get to her. Well, the isolation and the fact that the Starbase was launching interceptor after interceptor into the docking area.

Pushing aside her worries of becoming a proverbial bug on a windshield, Mel concentrated on the slowly moving Starbase in front of her. Obviously, she knew that the Starbase was in fact quite stationary and it was herself who was slowly doing somersaults but she had to keep her lunch down somehow. Soon the window of vision for 17-C came up. She stared closely into the bay. Luckily enough Sabine, in all her glory, still patiently waited. There was, however, still no sigh of Sera.

"Damnit..." She cursed, using gentler language than before. "Where the hell are you Sera?" Melissa prayed and hoped that her Câroon friend hadn't been caught in the same mess that she had. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, the shuttlebay once again came into view. Each time that blue shielded haven came into Wright's vision, the lack of activity within caused her stomach to sink. That itself wasn't particularly useful when you were spinning in zero gravity. She couldn't wait any longer. She needed to know. NOW. Raising her arm, she pressed the combadge controls on her forearm.

"Wright to... Aldnoah" She paused before saying the name. Did she say it right? Would the computer fail because of her bad pronunciation? "Sera... Can you hear me?" There was no response.

The lack of reply caused Melissa's blood to chill. No, she told herself. You're just saying her surname wrong, or all that commotion on the Starbase has caused her to accidently knock off her combadge. In fact, did she even ever wear one? Melissa pictured the Câroon's chest, trying to remember if she saw that sliver delta but all that caused was a flush of heat to rise up the back of neck and across her cheeks. For once, she was glad to be alone. Without a method to communicate directly with Sera, Melissa struggled to think of a way to let the Câroon know that she was on her way. After another full rotation, Wright once again stared into Shuttlebay 17-C. It was then that an idea clicked. Sabine. That was it. If Sera was laying low on the ship, then Melissa could leave a message and she would be able to get it. If she wasn't, well, Melissa could delete it when she got to the shuttlebay and then work out the plan to find her friend.

"Computer, establish link with SS Sabine." There was a small affirmative chirp to confirm contact was made. "Begin recording message. Mark for attention of Seras Vers Aldnoah." At this point, Melissa took a deep breath before asking herself quietly. "Right, where to begin?"

"Hi Sera, It's Melissa here. Melissa Wright." She started, awkwardly. "I don't know if you're going to get this message, or if I'm just going to delete it when I get to Sabine, but..." Melissa paused, sighing. "I'm going to keep recording, mainly as something to keep myself occupied."

As Melissa talked, more and more interceptors began to fill the docking area. The inside area of the docking area was huge, large enough for multiple galaxy class vessels, but the sheer fact that there were now so many moving parts was terrifying. That and Mel couldn't really control her movements to get out of the way if needed. Swallowing, she decided to voice her concerns. If nothing else, it was something to talk about.

"I'm scared, Sera. Currently I'm floating through the docking area of the Starbase having jumped, literally jumped, off of a moving Starship. And why? Why did I do it? To make sure I got back to you as soon as possible. I don't even really remember how I ended up in the situation. I was walking the security centre when a group of people were surrounding this woman. Next thing I know, I'm aboard another ship in the middle of this big conspiracy against Captain Hawthorne and they needed help with the docking clamps." Mel stopped for a big breath.

"Now you're probably thinking I'm crazy for jumping off of a moving ship, and in some regards, I'll agree with you. What I did was pretty stupid, but you know what? I don't really regret it. Well, I don't particularly like spinning out of control, but what I mean is that after all that's happened. Taking a literal leap of faith has become a defining moment. I don't know if you feel like I do, or if you even want to explore it but I hope you do." Melissa could feel her cheeks redden as the burning flush crept up across the back of her neck. "Even if you don't. At least we'll have something to talk about, I guess, after we are speeding away from this place. God I really hope that you haven't been arrested or killed and are just waiting for me to make it to Sabine before we escape. I wish I could have a sign. As if the fates aligned, Melissa could see a small explosion before two small figures started running across the shuttlebay. Squinting she could just make out the tiny shape of Sera Vers Aldnoah

"Hah!"   She found her laugh came out as a rush of air. A pure joyful moment upon seeing the Câroon move across the bay. "I can see you!" She exhaulted, pressing the activation controls on her suit. Immediately the automatic controls began to right the tall engineer and she began her slow decent to the bay.   "It's good to know you're alright. I guess after all you'll get to Sabine before me. Hopefully I can delete this embarrassing message before you listen to it. In the very least after all this we can finally get..." Out of the corner of her eye, Melissa caught a flash of white and black in the reflection of the glass of her helmet. "...Oh." She said simply, twisting to get a better view. There was no real emotion in her voice, she was too distracted by that sinking feeling creeping back into her stomach.
 
The sharp impact of the interceptor cracked the glass visor of her helmet. After that Melissa Wright didn't feel anything ever again.

[Lieutenant Keval ch'Rayya| Resolve Bridge]
Attn: All on the bridge & Havenborn

Keval picked up Krystal's comment and he opened up a private channel to her. "Krys, there is something wrong with this whole situation and it's got me concerned. You know that I love watching you work but right now my gut is telling me to play it safe and keep you and your's close..something just isn't adding up my dear."

He then looked over at his captain when he asked the Chief of the Helm to give him the tactical report to which Keval couldn't help but crack a smile and say "You know talk like that would make a man jealous there, Tristan."

But just as quickly, the Andorian's smile disappeared and his tone became more grave as he said "I'm already all over it, captain, but those pouncy buggers are flying something new..probably that interceptor series that they were talking about in that last report that I got before we went on our unexpected side trip."

He shifted gears long enough to double check his tactical feeds and opened a channel to Havenborn. "Resolve Actual to Salvo, keep your birds close but I want two covering the Aerowing..I believe that you're dealing with interceptors and they are used to the enclosed area we are currently in. Get Meony and her Tribbles out there to provide point guard defense to counter them."

He then opened a secondary channel and tied it into Meony's comm. "Meony, just like I told Salvo. I want the Tribbles to provide a point guard defense for fighter ops right now because like I informed Salvo, I believe that these are interceptors and we are playing in their playground..don't go teasing the bull when you're stuck in his corral with the fences too high I think would be the proper term to use in this situation?"

When A'vura played the message from the base's commander, something in the man's tone was only making his gut feeling feel worse as something in it was just..grating for the lack of a better word and while he just couldn't shake how incredibly worse this was feeling to him.

"Noyyj'ttat...don't be cruel..." Keval muttered darkly as his mind already started to work it's way around what the dark skinned human was saying but the former special operations officer eyes narrowed and his antenna drooped just a little bit as he focused on what was both being said and *NOT* being said to which there was a lot.

He took his left hand off of the consul and stroked his chin thoughtfully for a couple more seconds as the message ended. "You know for a man who's lied once to us today, captain. I'm actually surprised that he's doing it again." the andorian stated rather flatly and in an unimpressed tone but then he turned his gaze to look over at his captain. "However despite all of that, one can take away the simple fact that we might be able to use this against him..I believe an ambassador to Bajor was once quoted with "Never pay more for an acquisition than you have to." "

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

The situation was about as bleak as it could get. They would probably be picked apart before they ever reached the door. While the fighters didn't have the maneuverability inside the station than they'd have outside, the Resolve wouldn't be able to get the doors open while the fighters were covering it. They had the numbers and they would just need time to pick them apart like vultures.

So when the message from Ian came in he was both glad, and disturbed by it. There was no question about what they was going to happen if they didn't respond but this would potentially give them an out. He chewed his lip for a moment weighing the options, and with half his crew still on the Starbase, it didn't make sense not to at least attempt a conversation with the man.

Kendrick gave a nod towards Keval as he spoke taking a deep breath and weighing the options. Keval was right they couldn't really trust them, they were sending them out on a suicide mission in some ways... both fights were bad, but at least outside of the starbase they would have room to maneuver. "He likely doesn't know that we know he is a traitor, his offer  Keval genuine or a trap doesn't really matter in the long run, we have no tactical advantage over his fighters, so if we don't respond we will be picked clean. A'vura Open the channel, on screen."

He took a deep breath, and put on a pleasant diplomatic smile as the channel was opened. He wondered if Hawthorne would be shocked to see Kendrick on the bridge of the Resolve considering that all his sensors would tell the man that he was supposed to be in the aerowing. Not to mention A'vura at Ops. "Hello Captian Hawthorne," he said. "I agree there have been a number of coincidences that have made today a rather stressful one for us both. After this is all settled, I would be happy to sit down with a complete inquisition from Starfleet Command in hopes of clearing both the names of myself and my crew for the events that have transpired." He leaned back into his chair putting one leg over the other. Considering the evidence he had he actually had no idea how that hearing would go.

"Hawthorne, if your asking me to send my ship out those doors to fight the Theurgy, then so be it. I think it's hard to ignore the fact that they are right there, laying in wait as all of these things have played out today. Likely they are the ones behind at least some of the treachery today. But, I'll need my crew back. You still have a few of my crew, including my First Officer. I will drop red alert and my shields so that they can be beamed aboard. My aerowing will also return to it's place, attached to my ship. In good faith, we will return the one member of your crew who managed to sneak aboard my vessel. Once that is done, and the doors are open, my ship will proceed outside and we will fight."

At that he made the gesture to end the transmission. The viewscreen went dark and he turned his eyes to his bridge crew. "Stand down red alert, lower shields, and message the aerowing. Have them beam Bradford back to base, preferably into a brig cell but i'm not picky. Have them, and our fighters dock with us as quickly as possible, and open a ship-wide channel." The channel would reach the fighters just the same as they would the aerowing and the rest of the ship, but wouldn't go back to the starbase.

"This is Captain Kendrick. Hopefully, in a short while, our family will be reunited. This crew has accomplished amazing feats over the time I have had the pleasure to serve with you all. We have survived odds that no starship should have had to deal with, and in a few minutes I am about to ask a lot more of you. Our orders are to go outside of the starbase and attack a ship of traitors that is better armed and fully repaired, lest we be called traitors, and our names black marked by the Federation, likely forever.

"Some of you have not had the choice to choose which side you want to be on. You have from now until we raise the shields again to make that choice. Transporters will be made available for those of you who want to exit this ship. Starbase 84 may not be a good safe haven, but if you tell them that you wish to defect from a crazed captain they will have mercy on you. That said, I ask that you wait to testify against me after this ship has taken the following actions.

"We are going to disobey a direct order. When those doors open, and we are sent outside to fight the Theurgy, we will redirect as much power as possible to the core, and jump to warp as quickly as possible. This is the reason why Lieutenant Keval has relayed the orders for all fighter to dock again, along with the aerowing. This means, that we will be seen as traitors to the Federation and all of it's ideals. Ideals that every member of this crew have upheld a dozen times over. I couldn't be prouder of this ship and it's crew. I'm asking a lot, and to those of you who wish to leave... I give you my wishes for a better life. Those of you who wish to stay... it's once more unto the breach, dear friends. Kendrick out."

With that he cut the channel and closed his eyes, sitting back into his chair. Now, he just had to wait for Hawthorne to respond.

---

[ Lt. Hi'Jak | Shuttle Bay 17-C  | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Mathis Arista and Lucan

Hi'Jak almost moaned when she returned the second kiss. He wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen between them, he was a little terrified of the immediate future, but he pushed all of that aside and chuckled slightly when she said that she almost kneed him in the groin. Now all the two of them had to do was get the Sabine ready and launched, and looking outside.

Well, that was a lot of fighters. Jack approached the edge, looking in awe at the scene playing outside. He looked and saw what equated to chaos. He could just make out a space suit among the crowded ships. For a moment he had to wonder who exactly was crazy enough to actually jump out into space with everything that was happening. They were on a course for the shuttle bay, and Hi'Jak was almost about to tell Sera to wait, that someone was coming and the person would likely need help actually landing inside the bay.

...and then a fighter whipped their head. Hi'Jak felt a little sick, but he had seen a lot of murder that day. More dead had been collected from around him today than he had thought possible before. He turned to the Sabine and got inside. There was nothing he could do for that person, whoever they had been - the red cloud spreading where the limp body was floating. They were about as dead as a person could be.

Now Hi'Jak just had to figure out what he could do. Sitting down at the Sabine's controlls he chose tactical. He would let Sera drive. "Okay just to warn you, it has been a number of years since I have fired any kind of weapon or flown anything ship related."

Looking over the controls it didn't take him too long to get antiquated with all of the buttons. "Thankfully the academy drills this stuff deep into your core."

There was a message blinking on the dash, but he left it. It was Sera's ship not his, which meant it was Sera's voice mail. Probably private. Instead he focused on flight checklist and getting this thing off the ground. "There is a sea of fighters between us and a closed door... maybe we should hide for a little while... wait till they at least open the door?"

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Shuttle Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos


Out of the corner of her eyes, Sera could see the chaos that was the docking bay of Starbase 84. Fighters swirled around like a kicked hornet's nest with a Federation starship maneuvering between them. She kept her gaze focused on her task at hand, though, and she ran around Sabine making sure there weren't any obvious disabling or tracking devices on her before following Hi'Jak inside the ship. She sealed the door behind her and made her way through the ship, trying to ignore her mounting anxiety at their situation. It was building up in her chest but she kept it at bay because they had to be ready to go. Because of her focus on the ship, she didn't notice the figure struck by the fighter, which was a mercy from the universe even though she was ignorant of it.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Hi'Jak had actually dismissed the message notification for the both of them, so Sera didn't notice anything when she sat down in her seat. She tapped at the controls and began all of the normal startup sequences. "Do not worry. Hopefully, we won't need to do much shooting. Everything with the startup looks good here. We should be ready to go in a minute or two." She then heard him say that the doors were closed, which was odd. They had launched all of those fighters into the bay without opening the door? "Maybe the doors are malfunctioning?" she asked, mostly rhetorically.

Looking down at the sensors she got a better reading on the entire situation, and it didn't do anything for her nerves. She'd been hoping that reaching the ship meant that the hardest part was behind them. That appeared to not be the case. They might die still trying to escape, and she still had no sign of Melissa. "I think you're right. Computer: activate counter-scanning measures and monitor the bay doors. Notify us if they begin to power up." The computer acknowledged her request and the station's security teams would have a very hard time locating their life signs now.

She turned her head to look at Hi'Jak who was looking at the tactical console with a bit of anxiety himself. She made up her mind on how she wanted to pass the time. All of this pent-up chemistry between them combining with her worry for Melissa and the likelihood of their survival was all bubbling to the surface. She needed to release some of that energy, and she needed to do it now. She stood up and unzipped her leather flight jacket that was still a bit covered in the fire suppressant foam from earlier and dropped it to the floor.

She stood there in just her red bra and pants, staring intently at Hi'Jak. "I promised you a reward for helping me escape, but that outcome is doubtful." She stepped over to his seat and straddled him where he sat in the copilots seat. She pulled him in for another kiss, this one with much more fire and passion than the one she had given him in the corridor and she started unzipping and removing the upper part of his uniform. She broke the kiss momentarily and said, "Burn me if I know how this is going to end, but I know what I want right now," before continuing the kiss.

[ Lt. Hi'Jak | The Sabine  | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Mathis

Hi'Jak was doing his best to remember the training he had during the acadaemy thankfully with refits everything was kind of familiar to him as he looked over the system of sabine checking just how many weapons they had, the answer was a lot.

Jack was a little taken aback with the ship, this thing was gun crazy, micro torpedo launchers, four phazer arrays with two additional pulse fire cannons on the wings. This was like a military boys wet dream. He turned to Sera having some questions about where she came across all of this fire power only to notice she had taken off her coat.

He opened his mouth to talk and suddenly he was being straddled and kissed, and the legalities of this tiny gun ship went right out of his mind. His hands landed on her hips and his widened as she seemed to take him completely by surprise, when the kiss broke and she said she knew what she wanted he looked at her for a moment.

"You didn't ask permission... but the answer is yes." He was all too eager to take off his uniform. Forget the 'questionably' legal gun ship forget the husk turned to red mist outside, forget the fact that they had left a security team unconscious outside and that all of this was a really bad idea right now.

Sex...  it was on the menu, and Hi'Jak wasn't about to turn it down. "It's been a long time." He was glad that this was going to be a quicky because he honestly did not know how long his stamina was going to last. Not wanting to waist another second his hands were on her pants undoing the buckles and everything else as he sat their tanned skin and bare chested. "Oh this is such a bad idea... I'm... yes!"

[ K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit | Spacedock | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan

When she spoke of Bradford, this vile human that had been his captor in the Brig since he was arrested, he looked his way, sharing her estimate on their situation. "We'll keep him for the time being," he rasped and looked back to her. "Likely or not, chances be that he will keep a few shots from being fired at us. Poor aid, but better than having nothing to bargain with."

K'Ren sighed. With what little use he was to them as a bargaining chip, it was pity for the man that kept her from beaming him back to the station. Death in this durasteel was the most likely outcome so perhaps the pity was misplaced. But he was here and was going to share their face, no matter what transpired.

He reached out with his calloused hand, and plotted a new course for K'Ren, one to be used if the chance presented itself. "Should the doors open, we should get out of here. But until then, we bide our time, hidden here next to the docking wing. I am certain that the Resolve will contact us if the radio silence is rendered obsolete - our role as a decoy not needed any more."

K'Ren nodded, watching the tactical readout. Once the resolve got underway, her fighters launching, K'Ren frowned. "I think our way forward is clear now. The Resolve is underway and her fighters are launching. We are no longer needed as a distraction, but our firepower may be of some use. Or at the least, we can divert some of their fire." As she began to maneuver from the relative safety of their perch, she got a good view of the ship she'd called home these past few years. A memory of her mate flashed through her mind and she offered a small prayer to her goddess.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie "Grey Wolf-01" ] Attn: Auctor, Triage

Did he hear that order right, withdraw when the enemy was right in front of them?  Since when did Captain Kendrick doubt the abilities of him and his pilots to overcome the odds?  Sure they were outnumbered but that just meant it'd be harder to miss and besides they'd been outnumbered before it wasn't something that they weren't used to by now.  Part of him felt the urge to disobey the order before his training kicked in and told him to follow through.  "Understood Captain."  He said as he shook his head, he didn't quite agree with the Captain's decision but then he always preferred the straight fight.

"Tribble Squadron I want you to land first, Grey Wolves provide cover for them."  He said into the Squadron communications channel.

"Deadye, take my wing.  Broadside, Merlin, Warhound provide escort for the Tribbles, once they've landed get yourselves onboard."  He said into the Squadron comm channel again.

"Understood Salvo, I'm on your wing."  Lieutenant Daniels said from her fighter as it pulled up alongside his. A quick affirmative of replies came back and he watched as the neat echelon formation the fighters had been in broke up.

As the Tribble Squadron finished landing he watched as his fighters took their turn landing and when it came time for his turn, last as was his way, he considered for just a moment to turn and make an attack as he hated retreating but he followed his orders and docked with the Resolve.

As he landed his fighter and the cockpit opened he contacted the bridge.  "All squadrons back onboard Captain."  He said as slowly climbed out of his cockpit. "All pilots report to the squadron briefing room."  He said as he began walked there himself.  He was still frustrated for having to retreat but he decided to make the best of this and review their launch and landing footage to see if they could improve their times anymore.

[ Ian Hawthorne | EOC Command Centre | Starbase 84 ] Attn: All on the Resolve's Bridge

After Captain Kendrick ended his transmission, where he had demanded to have both his crew and his First Officer beamed aboard the Resolve, Ian Hawthorne's command staff were loud in their protests and counsel towards the opposite, despite his previous orders. Yet Ian stood there, unmoving, as if contemplating his next move in a game of Kal'toh.

It was mostly just for show, of course, since he had long ago decided what he meant to do.

"Thank you, everyone," he said, and he even looked around to meet the eyes of his closest staff - as if he had listened with great interest to what they suggested. "I think we must opt for a middle-ground in this, where we can still make sure that - traitors or not - they aid us against he Theurgy."

Behind his shoulder, at tactical command, four officers were operating the base's defences, already having opened fire against the multivector dreadnought. They were quite busy, with the Theurgy having utilised its MVAM capability and split into three ships, all three the average size of Sovereign-class heavy cruisers. Yet that was not all, the ship had deployed its fighters and its auxiliary ship too, the scoutship known as the Allegiant.

"Hail Kendrick again," said Ian and squared his shoulders, "and be prepared to follow through with the final offer I give him."

Soon enough, the viewscreen lit up, showing the Resolve's bridge again. Indeed, as Komial had predicted in her message, Kendrick and his Orion Ops officer were there on the bridge along with the majority of his bridge staff. There was one Cardassian that Ian did not recognise, but neither Ensign Six nor Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak were there, which was a good given what they had come to learn. He could not risk their findings to reach anyone. A'vura, the escaped Orion woman at the forefront on the viewscreen, remained a risk given how she had been present underneath the subspace acquisition grid when he detonated the bomb, but be that as it may, she had only heard one side of the conversation before the Romulan died. In any case, Ian hoped to hear from Komial soon, that she had both of Hi'Jak and Six apprehended or better yet.... neutralised.

"I have convened with my staff," he told them, making sure not to look at A'Vura. "We will beam over your crew so that you might aid in the battle against the Theurgy to the best of your ship's abilities - and prove to us that there is more to your actions than meets the eye. We will, however, keep your First Officer, as a reassurance." He said this without granting an opening for protest, despite any reactions he might see on the Resolve's bridge. "Given the circumstances, I think you understand how that precaution is merited."

Ian paused only to gesture to his Ops personnel to make good on his claim. As soon as the Resolve's shields came down, its remaining crew would be beamed over. The preparations for this had already been made before his first hail to Kendrick. Only the Resolve's XO would remain, as 'hostage', in lack of a more Starfleet-approved term for it.

"Lower your shields, get your crew back, and show Starfleet that you are still one of ours." Ian stepped closer to the viewscreen. "Captain Ives has beamed over boarding parties, infiltrating this base at key insertion-points that jeopardises our means of defence. Already, they have managed to lock all the docking pylons. As you've noticed, they have also sealed all the bay doors in the spacedock. Therefore, we want you to cooperate with Commander Salazar - the CAG for our fighters - and take up arms against the Theurgy. Your ship will be restocked with photon and quantum torpedoes in magazines Zero-Eight and Four-Seven. Your hull is a bit worse for wear, to say the least, but you should be able to generate shields. All we ask of you... is to hold the line together with Commander Salazar until the cavalry comes. In this battle... any time you can give this base and its population can make the difference."

Behind his stoic frown, Ian was smiling in contentment, because he had Kendrick exactly where he wanted him. If Kendrick refused, Commander Salazar would be given new orders, and the Resolve would never leave the spacedock - disabled before it got anywhere. If Kendrick complied, he would either leave his First Officer behind and desert the battlefield in disgrace, with all it entailed, or he would fight. Either way, Ian was still in control.

"So, our transport of your crew should take a minute at most, then you have permission to destroy the bay doors in order to get out there. Just be careful about it. There's a lot of officers out there in the the spacedock... all equally eager to give the Theurgy what's coming for her. Hawthorne out."

---

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Spacedock | Starbase 84 ] Attn: SummerDawn

Nodding when K'Ren saw the opening they needed to navigate closer to the bay doors, Drauc kept a cautious eye on the mass of interceptors below them. It was like watching a sea of filled with predators from above, crossing the treacherous waters. Perhaps they would need to fall back on their other tactic and open fire on the interceptors, so Drac made sure to lay in target data for the fighters he saw, but it was difficult when it was so many.

Odd, it struck him after a few seconds, that the interceptors hadn't reacted upon them. They had no kind of cloaking device...

The answer came when Captain Kendrick spoke with them both, his speech suggesting what came next, giving the order to dock with the Resolve. Drauc heard it all and he could not quite fit together what came next and what it meant for the Resolve, but he knew orders when he go them.

"I reckon a deal has been made, and this decoy operation has run its course," he said and turned his eye to K'Ren, waiting for her to dock the aerowing with the Resolve as according to Kendrick's instruction. "You may yet fly with your other pilots. As brief as this turned out to be... thank you for the company."

Having said this, Drauc rose from his seat and moved to beam Bradford back to the base, and while he couldn't beam the human into a holding cell, he opted to do so in close vicinity to the security centre on the base. Meanwhile he did this, he listened to K'Ren and had if Kendrick had any further instructions. It had been pleasant to just share company with one mind besides himself; K'Ren's presence having been agreeable.

As for the current situation, Drauc had ideas of his own... but he chose to not offer them so early on.

---

OOC: I had wanted more people to post on the bridge of the Resolve with the reaction to the development, but since it's been a while, I have decided to move on and post with Ian Hawthorne again. Kaligos, you can post with Kendrick and have him give the orders, but then I would like for other's characters to act on them, if that makes sense. :)

Oh, and it was super late when I finished this post so pardon any flaws in it. I will move to correct them on the morrow.

[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | USS Resolve Docking Pylon]Atten: Hawthorne

"Lieutenant Dotnihl, seek out any boarding teams and neutralize them before they do harm to our key areas. That is your top priority as of this moment. I will deal with the Resolve and its aerowing henceforth. Hawthorne out," the orders came across, and the winded Trill nodded, snapping off an, "Aye aye," as the channel died. She had orders that she could follow, orders that she could excel at. It was just like the Cardassian Dissidents, she thought. But this time it wouldn't be Ian saving her. It would be her saving herself, her reputation and rank, her station, and - most importantly - her worth in her lovers eyes.

Komial allowed herself a moment to suck in a slow breath, and turn her gaze back at the now empty docking ring, and the retreating hull of the Resolve. She was surprised at the pain that view caused her. They should have been heroes she thought again, scowling, before turning back to her people. "You heard the Captain. We have boarders to repel, get to it." To punctuate her words, she made a shoo'ing gesture with her free hand, before tapping her commbage.

"Dotnhil to Security center," she hailed Mac, trying to keep all her concerns out of her voice, the nagging worry, the need to now prove herself, and her desire - "Double personnel at all priority locations. I'm sure you know we have boarders - I need you to point me in the direction of the nearest batch of intruders."

[Lieutenant Keval ch'Rayya| Resolve Bridge]
Attn: All on the bridge & Resolve fighter elements

Keval's eyes narrowed for only the briefest of moments but after the captain was done talking to the base's commander, Keval opened a private channel to Havenborn after he made sure to scramble it in a way that the base's officers couldn't understand or break. "Salvo, this is Resolve-Actual. Confirm return order, all TaConn assets to return to the barn but keep everyone in their planes, I think the captain wants to do a Barnstorm launch."

After he was done, Keval kept the channel on ready as he turned to regard the view screen with a critical look when Hawthorne appeared on the screen again and the Chan studied the dark skinned human as his mind attempted to wrap it's self around what *WAS* being said as opposed to what *WASN'T* being said and that was difficult as apparently he was working much harder to hide something..

Keval's eyes narrowed just a little bit more as two very old sayings started from his grandshen started to creep into his forethought-the first one was about how one could have pieces to a puzzle but it did not mean it was the puzzle that one was working on actually.

The other saying..well that one was much more humbling the more that he thought about it and it made the already dark thoughts of the crafty andorian to think some rather interesting directions that made his gut feeling go even deeper into a dark, twisting nether and once the channel was closed with Hawthorne's face disappearing, Keval slowly turned to regard his captain once more.

"There is an old andorian saying which goes don't pus the pink-skins to the thin ice." Keval said in a reflective tone as he leaned back as he brought up the outside tactical plot onto the main view screen. "It's not eloquent but if you look at it from a different direction, it becomes quite..interesting."

The andorian's blue eyes tracked the various markers on the screen and what Hawthorne had told them about what was going on made the twisting nether in his stomach grow even more painful. "I believe your people, captain, have a saying created by a poet I believe.." Keval said as he highlighted the "hostile" elements of the Theurgy. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark?"

[ K'Ren | Aerowing Cockpit | Spacedock | Starbase 84 ] Attn: AuctorLucan

K'Ren nodded, "It would seem that way." She wasn't quite prepared to power down weapons yet in case things went sour without warning, but for now she stepped down the aerowing's attack posture. The flight back to the ship was mere tens of seconds, the docking procedures would take longer then the flight. Swinging in underneath the Resolve, K'Ren began the lateral and vertical translation into the docking port beneath the ship. The familiar whine of the transporter was brief while their hostage was beamed back to the starbase.

As the automates took over the last seconds of the docking, K'Ren turned to Drauc. "Such as it has been, I have enjoyed our brief acquaintance. Perhaps in time we shall meet under better circumstances telepath." She stood to leave, pausing as if in thought. The thought passed as quickly as it'd came and she cycled the docking port. She had a fighter to catch, her first love, 'her' fighter.

The Jog to the flight deck was mercifully brief and when she entered she could see the fighters landing, pilots disembarking their craft. This day was going from strange to bad to strange all over again. She'd heard the same orders her Captain had given the fighters so she knew the deal but it felt weird to be ordered to stand down in what was by any estimation a tense situation. But Kendrick was her captain and she'd follow his orders no matter the price.

Seeing Liam on the deck near her fighter she smiled and went over to the man, giving him a chaste peck on the cheek. "Long time no see," she remarked playfully.

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | Inside the Sabine, Shuttle Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos

Sera mostly ignored his minor ramblings, though they amused her, as she began kissing his neck, behind his ear, and working her way down to his chest. She got a wicked pleasure each time she found a sensitive spot, making his breath hitch or causing him to lose his train of thought in his speech. She took mental note of those spots, in case they survived and had more time for fun in the future. She also, on a thinking level, knew this was a very bad idea. Not only did they hardly know each other, they were in incredible danger. Her fiery passion had always trumped logic her entire life, and it was certainly doing so now.

The scientist had made quick work of the buckles on her pants so she stood and allowed them to fall to the floor. As she pulled her pants and boots off, leaving only her thin red underwear to match her bra, she kept her eyes locked on Hi'Jak, drinking in his surprisingly well-muscled chest and arms. She dropped to her knees in front of him and ran her hands up and down his arms, feeling the muscles there while she began to kiss and suck at his chest and nipples, working her way down slowly, tracing his abs with her tongue as she brought her hands down to his pants and undid them.

She leaned back and drew his pants and underwear down in one pull, freeing his erection in a satisfying motion, not bothering to remove his Starfleet boots and just letting the pants stay at his ankles. She took his cock in her hand and pumped it, feeling the impressive size in her hand and enjoying his reaction. She leaned in and teased the head with her tongue and licked the length a few times to wet it before finally taking it into her mouth. She moaned softly, taking pleasure in the pleasure she was giving him. She relaxed her mouth, and eventually her throat, to fully accomodate it. She'd been complimented before on her skills in this area, it was something she enjoyed, and she took him to the hilt before working him expertly up and down. Getting more aroused, she removed her underwear and bra with her free hand slowly and carefully as she sucked him.

Not wanting to make him arrive yet, she withdrew with a soft pop and stood up to straddle him again facing him, guiding his cock inside her as she slowly straddled his waist. Feeling him fill her slowly like that made her moan again. She kissed him deeply as his cock entered her fully. "Fuck me, Jack."

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Docked with the USS Resolve ] Attn: Vystori

When K'Ren turned towards Drauc and said good bye in turn, she was back-lit by the aerowing's opening airlock. She paused before she left, and he wondered what was left unsaid, but since Drauc truly had enjoyed the company of a single, pure mind for the duration of their decoy assignment, he felt his face animating in a faint smile. He was not sure she saw it before she left, but it did not matter. When she'd left, he was alone on the aerowing, and he looked down into his calloused hands. His tools, for which he had to find a new purpose.

"Drauc to Bridge," he rasped and rose from the chair, hands slowly dropping to his sides. "Aerowing docked."

Five short words, ending the operation. Since the Resolve had been granted the time needed, Silim Parnak's and his joint effort to distract starbase security had been a success. As it turned out, the situation had changed, and he was without further purpose. Yet he had come to learn things aboard the Resolve, hearing the recording that the Borg woman and the human in the yellow jumpsuit had brought. The traitor was still on the base, and the Resolve was about to go to warp once it cleared those locked bay doors. His new Captain would be rendered a fugitive. A renegade to the fleet that Drauc had deserted from in ire and grief over the loss of his brother. If the true traitor wouldn't be exposed, using that recording, then Kendrick and his crew would never have their names cleared. Drauc, if anyone, knew what it was like to be alone, with no allies and never knowing what he fought for. If he knew anything, he knew that Kendrick and his crew deserved better than his fate. He frowned as a thought came to him, an idea... What was the name of the Borg who had come aboard?

"Computer," he grated as he walked over to the weapons locker in the back of the aerowing. He opened it as he posed his request. "Locate the female Borg aboard this ship and raise a comm-link."

[Ensign Six is in Engineering. Link established.]

"This is Drauc T'Laus, for Ensign Six," he said quietly and picked up a Type III assault rifle, checking the power cell and placing additional cells in a pocket inside his threadbare cloak. "We met briefly in the conference lounge. Tell me, who was the speaker in the transmission? Were you able to establish whom the traitor is?"

---

[ Liam Herrold | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Resolve ] Attn: SummerDawn, Triage, Havenborn

No more had the Grey Wolves launched along with Tribble Squadron than the new orders came. Liam had looked towards Eric Randall when he learned that the Resolve was about to escape - jumping to warp as soon as they were clear from the bay doors. In the Fighter Assault Bay, they didn't learn as much about what was going on as the people on the bridge, but Kendrick's orders were clear, and soon enough, they saw the Tribble Squadron re-emerge through the bay doors to the hangar, followed by the Grey Wolves.

"All right, people, you heard the Captain," shouted Eric and waved for the deck hands to scurry forth to handle the landing operations on the flight deck - mainly directing the crafts as they taxied or hovered into their positions - but Liam's work was done for the time being. A fact made clear on his PADD as the systems told him the hard-points on the Valkyries were untouched - nothing launched. At least not yet. Who knew, perhaps Kendrick's plan would fall short? Perhaps the interceptors would come after the Resolve if they tried to jump to warp? Liam knew far too little about the Knight-class crafts that were commissioned to the starbase, far too little for comfort. Could they outrun the Resolve in her damaged current state? Oddly enough, as he had espied the starbase's interceptors when he had stepped off the Resolve that morning, he realised that they might not be the most advanced fighter crafts either. Since they had been away for over three years, what kind of crafts had Tactical CONN been equipped with in their absence?

His worried musings were brought up short when he heard the unmistakably familiar sound of a pilot in an exosuit running across the deck, heading towards him. He turned, PADD in hand, seeing K'Ren heading over to him. Relief flooded through his veins at the sight, having been so worried when Randall couldn't get a hold of her earlier. She had missed her launch, her RIO flying solo in her stead, and that was not like her. She had her helmet off, kissing his cheek, and as if the touch of her lips brought him to life, he put his hands on her shoulders.

"Neko! Where were you? I was so worried I... I thought you were caught on the base," he said, and just realised that he had grabbed her, which was something not entirely normal for them. For sake of appearances, he let go, clearing his throat. "Are you all right?"

---

[ Lieutenant Mackenzie | Starbase 84 | Security Centre ] Attn: Brutus

When the call came, Lieutenant Mackenzie replied without much delay. "Already done, Ma'am," he said, heart beating rapidly in his chest as he looked between the different video feeds from the surveillance system on the base, and in the middle of the center, the internal sensor readouts shown on a big holographic projection of Starbase 84. "Currently we have activity below the subspace acquisition grid and new life-signs detected outside the spacedock control room. No doubt it was the Theurgy that managed to lock all the docking pylons and seal the bay doors in the spacedock. More personnel are being deployed there already. So far, the EOC has not been compromised, but its hard to detect new life-signs since the surrounding recreational dome is still filled with civilians. Nonetheless, the EOC security checkpoint is getting more people as we speak."

Taking a deep breath, Mackenzie addressed the concern closest to Dotnhil. "Ma'am, with the Red Alert, I allocated a lot of available resources to helping the civilian population use the Travel Core. Ensign Six is nowhere to be found on the base, and I had to abort the search for Hi'Jak and the Câroon he was spotted with. Ma'am, he almost killed Rigell and Stavros in the Jefferies Tubes. I am not sure Stavros can be saved based on what medical told me. Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak even contacted us, telling us to stop pursuing him, and I think he used the moving crowd in order to use the Travel Core. We just got a lead on him, and you are the one closest to his location."

Mackenzie got a head-shake again from one of the operators in the security centre, having been tasked to get a hold of two other officers. "Ma'am, he might have killed Lang and Rodamko not long ago. They were ordered to make sure no civilians tried to get to their shuttles after we sealed access down there, and they are not responding any more. Their last known location was outside Shuttle Bay 17-C, and believe it or not... we are now reading a Klingon and Câroon life-sign in that bay. They've managed to get into the bay. Byt that's not all Ma'am..." he paused for emphasis, because Dotnhil needed to know what she'd be up against, "there is an experimental gunship - a botched prototype shuttle project sitting inside Shuttle Bay 17-C, and Hi'Jak has already powered it up. It is registered as the SS Sabine, and reading the specs... that things has more firepower than most superiority fighters in the fleet. If he launches that thing..."

He trailed off since he needn't say more. Whatever was going on with the Theurgy's arrival, they did not need a thing like the Sabine loose in the spacedock, sealed or not.

[ Ens K'Ren | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Resolve ] Attn: Auctor Lucan, Triage, Havenborn

Neko smiled, glad to be back where she belonged, and near Liam. She'd have leapt into his arms if it'd been a secluded space, or hugged him if she thought she could get away with it but now was not the time and place. She purred though as his hands held her shoulders before he awkwardly let go of her. "I was briefly reassigned to the Aerowing. Apparently, Captain Kendrick needed a diversion for our escape plans, which I guess are moot now that the game has changed." She still wasn't quite sure what the original mission plan had been for her craft but the task was done and she'd walked away alive, better then she could say for the poor souls in the interceptors in the vacuum of space dock.

"I am okay Liam." She said, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze with her paw. "Tho I suspect the battle is not over yet, this is just a temporary lull in the fighting." She leaned in close once more, pecking him on the cheek, "We make it through today alive, I'll make sure you get a good roll in the sheets with me, more than just a quick one in the engine bay. Promise." Smiling at him, leaving him with that thought, she winked and made her way to join the rest of the pilots in the squadron ready room, leaving Liam to think about the evening after they stood down.

[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | En-route to Shuttle Bay 17-C] Atten: Security Center

Komial let her mind process what Mac had just told her, balancing it against her orders from Ian. The boarders were her top priority, but at the same time, she was the closest security officer to Shuttle Bay 17-C; furthermore, that ship was a clear and present danger to the whole base. Add in that Hi'Jak had killed the Chief Science Officer, possibly two other pursuers, injured another two... and there was every chance that because of the half-breed buffoon (clearly not as much of one as she had thought) that the Theurgy was here now, pounding on their doorstep... Was it that much of a stretch to assume that the dark haired man was responsible for the boarding parties? That he had told them when to come, signaled them somehow? Or the Borg-bitch that was working with him? The bomb. The Resolve. The Theurgy. Infiltration of her starbase.

It all lead back to Hi'Jak.

Fury swept over her, boiling up from a dark place in her gut, threatening to spew forth in a torrent of profanity that she only barely managed to keep in check, her jaw clenched tightly. She ground her teeth audibly, as that fury sparked in her gaze, turning her in to a fearsome, beautiful avenging angel. "I'm on it." She said bluntly, "Lock onto my comm signal; Take myself and the 5 officers surrounding me," she got an nod from each, their weapons primed, "and beam us to the location of the ship. Scramble additional teams if able, to the infiltration points, and get us to that shuttle bay. As close to the ship as you can. We have to stop Hi'Jak from launching that ship." She took a steadying breath, checked the charge on her rifle, and nodded again. "Initiate site-to-site transport on my mark. 3... 2... 1... Mark!"

[Ensign A'vura Zeshryr (https://orig08.deviantart.net/ca09/f/2015/289/a/2/a_vura_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d9d9ngm.png) | Resolve Bridge] Attn: Everyone on the bridge.

Ensign A'vura listened to the back and forth between the two captains and opened her mouth a couple of times to protest but immediately shut it after. The Captain's plans of running once out the door seemed like it wouldn't work now that their First Officer was to be left behind. When the communications ceased, and the beginnings of the trade began, A'vura finally spoke up.

"Captain, we can't just leave him. I mean he's our First Officer! If we leave him behind and now follow through with your original plan to flee there's no telling what could become of him! At best he'd be court martialed and at worst he'd be killed on the spot! There has to be something else we can do?" she pleaded with him, not too sure of the answer to their conundrum on her own.

Everything that had been happening since they got to the Starbase was harrowing. They knew that Captain Hawthorn was the traitor on board the Starbase. And now they had another potential traitor to deal with outside. It was like the last three years all rolled up into a single day. She looked to her Captain for answers, answers she wasn't sure he had, tears starting to brim in her eyes as she swallowed hard at the lump forming in her throat. She hated that. Hated the tears. Hated how they made her look in the face of adversity. But at times she couldn't control them. Times like the present.


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


[Ensign Six (http://pre05.deviantart.net/5d9e/th/pre/i/2016/254/f/7/ensign_six___under_fire_by_auctor_lucan-d91bxn0.png) | Resolve Engineering ] Attn: Attention Lucan and anyone else.

Six continued to use her implants in tandem with the computer's systems to relay as much power as she could to the areas that the Captain had ordered. To the areas that needed it most. Her fingers flew fast as she went through all of the ship's systems one by one, taking from one place and adding to another, her implants helping to override any barriers along the way.

When she got the comm from Drauc she tapped her combadge to respond. "Six here. Drauc, yes, I remember you. We did indeed manage to clear up the transmission. It seems that my own Captain, Captain Hawthorn is behind all of this. As unfortunate as that may be." All the while her fingers never ceased in their work to relay power. Shields, weapons, life support, and Thrusters and Warp drive. Those were the main things she was focusing on for now.

Everything else was being taken from as much as possible without shutting down vital parts of the ship. By the time she'd finished she'd had power to all those areas nearly at maximum, despite the damages the ship had faced before coming to the Starbase, many of which had been repaired already before this all started.

What she couldn't wrap her head around though was why. Why was Captain Hawthorn doing all of this? It was logical that if he was indeed a traitor that he'd try to find a scapegoat. But why were they chosen? Were they just easy targets? And to what end was his plan? What was he trying to accomplish in all of this.  There had to be something for him to gain, but what, she couldn't quite put her finger on.

[ Dr Silim Parnak | Main Bridge | USS Resolve] Attn: Kaligos, Vystori, Julia, Mathis, DocReno, Auctor Lucan, Anyone else

Well that was just perfect! Not only had Silim lost his research project, but he had helped supposed terrorists enact a jail break of both crew and ship. And all for what? A fierce temper, a pair of pretty eyes and an alluring drawl. There were times Silim wondered if others were driven by the pull of their groin, then he often remembered the Klingons. Those sex and fight crazed brutes were ruled by their redundant heart or their crotch. Seemingly, the crotch was easier to find.

Now he sat on the bridge, directly to the captain's left. Silim knew he had been visible by the
commander of Starbase 84. That would now severely limit his options, he is grouped with suspected terrorists and traitors. And if Kendrick was enough of a fool to go 'guns-a-blazin' to return his first officer then Parnak could very well find himself without his life, let alone his research. Seemingly there was only real option. He would help Kendrick, either by ensuring Hawthorne believed the captain was true to Starfleet or by getting them away from this awful situation.  If nothing else, he was tied to the fate of this crew and that meant not only he was tied to that pilot, but also the beauty that stood behind him now. Chances are we would have helped them anyway, Cardassians would always help their countrymen, assuming it was for the great good. And certainly, nestling in her busom would be good. Like a Ferengi, he would play the odds of these two women. At his age, he had nothing left to lose. Besides, he could always emerge very lucky and win the jackpot.

One thing that was very different about Starfleet vessels was that it seemed that the large majority of decisions were done by consensus. What was the point in having a leader, if they weren't to lead? There was great discussion of their fate earlier, and now, the orion was voicing her concerns in front of the entire crew. This would not do on a proper Cardassian vessel.

"Captain, we can't just leave him. I mean he's our First Officer! If we leave him behind and now follow through with your original plan to flee there's no telling what could become of him! At best he'd be court martialed and at worst he'd be killed on the spot! There has to be something else we can do?"

"Actually, Captain, we can 'just' leave them behind and we should." Parnak interjected. At least in this style of command structure, Silim could join the debate. "So far, accepting Hawthorne's offer ensures a method of escape and a compliment of torpedoes. If nothing else the gift is good. Not only is leaving one officer behind sufficient to prove your innocence, but once we are free of this spacedock, then we can re-assess our plans. I don't think I need to remind you that your first duty is to this ship and its crew. Your Vulcan friends have a saying on this matter that I don't care to repeat."

"Fight or flight Captain." Silim boiled down Kendrick's options. "But with Theurgy and the actual traitor Ives here, we may find ourselves in a unique position to get the upperhand. Trust me on this. Have I let you down yet? Besides..." He said with a slight unintentional smirk. He drove home what was hopefully the nail in the coffin of Kendrick's decision making process. "...you are no traitor. I don't think a decorated Starfleet Captain such as yourself would be willing to risk letting thousands upon the Starbase perish, even with or without your first officer aboard."

[ Lt. Hi'Jak | The Sabine  | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Mathis


Hi'Jak was panting when she touched him, it had been a long time since he had done anything like this, and the way she had gone directly for his pants and, and taken his cock he was already hard well before she removed her red bra. He was panting when she licked him and inserted his cock into her mouth a moan escaping him as he tenatively ran a hand through her hair. It was clear that Sera was the one with the plan, and the one in control and for the moment Jack was fine with that.

It wasn't until she stradled him and kissed him that he started to explore her body, his hand landing on her waist as he quickly and eagerly returned her kiss. He had joked a long time ago in the jefferies tube that if it hadn't been for all the murder that Sera would be very attractive.

Turns out murder was not one of Hi'Jak's turn offs, because Sera was mindblowingly attractive, and with three words he went from passive observer to something very different.

Fuck me Jack

"Yes!" as Sera inserted him into herself and straddled his lap Jack was already moaning clearly he was a rather vocal male. His hands on her thighs moved to cup her ass and back and suddenly he lifted Sera as he stood up. She was surprisingly light though again that may have been the advantage of his klingon dna. At the moment though he was only focused on one thing, and when he laid them down on the ground he quickly went to town doing exactly what she instructed him to do.

The sound of flesh slapping against flesh became apparent as Jack started to thrust his hips against hers, a deep passionate kiss taking place as he pressed his lips against sera hungry to explore her mouth with his tongue. His nails on her back digging into her as he bit her lower lip his chest pressed against her breasts so that every bounce rubbed their nipples together. Jack had no idea how long they were entangled together, but knew when he was about to go overboard. He did everything he could to bring Sera to a climax, hoping that the two of them would go together as his hips became more wild a burning going up and down his spine as his cock slicked with her juices continued to pound inside of her.

---

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

Run and leave his first officer behind, or stay and lead his crew into a fight there was simply no hope of winning. Neither option was what Kendrick would have considered as good. His two bridge officers were fine to pitch in on the ordeal with Dr Silim even pitching in. In all honesty the Cardassian had a point and he was willing to hear him out perhaps more so because they had abducted the doctor and yet he had continued to offer support.

If they stayed and fought against the theaurgy then Six and the evidence that he had uncovered about Hawthorne would eventually come to light. He knew that was a risk and he wanted to get that information out to someone who could use it. Not only could he free the name of his crew and his ship but also shut down the very man who was tempting him with a suicide mission.

And it was a suicide mission, Kendrick could feel that. The Theurgy was not just one warship, it was 3 fully decked out battle cruisers, a wing of fighters, and potentially more. If the captain Ives had joined up with the romulans and betrayed the Federation they could be facing an entire armada and not even know it yet. Their one damaged vessel even resupplied would not stand a chance against that kind of fire power.

A'vura, was right he was making a hard choice his frist officer would suffer the consiquences and probably die. But then if his number two were sitting on this bridge, and it was Kendrick's life or the life of the crew.

He knew the choice he would want that second officer to make.

"My orders stand, we collect our crew, we get our weapons, and the moment that door opens we get out of here warp nine for as long as we can hold it to the nearest Federation outpost. we will sound the alarm, and bring back reinforcements. Retake the base if it has fallen, and persecute both Ive's and Hawthorne for their betrayals of the Federation." For all he knew Hawhtorne could even be in league with the Theurgy why else would he detonate a bomb on his own starbase before they arrived?

"Message Hawhtorne that I accept his conditions, and look forward to a drink with him after this battle is over. We will 'deal' with the Theurgy."

[ Krystal "Meony" Tancredi | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Resolve ] Attn: Daniel Havenborn, Tristan Kendrick, Keval ch'Rayya


[Show/Hide]

At the denial to launch first, Tancredi sighed and replied quietly, "Ya got, sir."

The "sir" at the end sounded foreign to anyone who knew the redhead. She was the least prone to formal protocol and addressing people by rank. Some found that acceptable, some did not. Honestly, Tancredi didn't care what anyone thought. She was fine as long as no one wanted to pick a bone with her about it, and if they did, if they're of the Resolve, she'd listen. She may kick their butts in turn, but it was fine if she lost. They were family. Families fought. It was bound to happen. So she took note of the tightness in Havenborn's voice when he had spoken to her. It was probably her imagination, or perhaps not. In any case, she watched as the remaining Valkyries launched, and then she led her motley squadron out with them.

As long as there was a good fight to be had.

A fight she was being denied of practically as soon as her shuttle was out those bay doors. The Captain and Havenborn were giving instructions to hightail it back in. "What in the...?" the hostiles were right there! Right there! And they were going back in? "RrrrrrrrRRRR!" with gritted teeth, the fiery-haired young woman relayed the order to her fellow Tribbles, as if they didn't hear or see for themselves what was going on. "Back ta the big mama. Move it! Double time."

Someone asked what was going on, and muttering under her breath, Tancredi said, "That's what Ah'd lahk ta know."

Even if it were a test run, this was by far the shortest one she'd ever gone on. Escorted by the Gray Wolves, which was kind of a joke by itself, but Havenborn was a stickler for proper order. It was a wonder they hadn't killed each other yet. She was in the midst of powering down her vessel and getting up to exit when she was told by ch'Rayya to stay put, and at this point, the other Tribbles were beginning to mutter. Tancredi, one foot outside her ship already, visibly threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, and shouted, "Fahn! Whateva! Tribbles, back ta ya ships! Stay put and...get ready to roll out!"

Turning back herself, she plonked down on her seat, looking more than a little grumpy, not that anyone else would see. But she saw plenty in the meantime. She couldn't help but notice how K'ren went right up to Herrold, and the way she pecked him on the cheek. Smiling to herself, Tancredi felt glad to be able to see that. To see people finding comfort and perhaps love. For a brief moment, alone, locked up tight inside her own ship, she felt envious. Very envious. But it faded away, willfully, as she forced herself to feel glad and happy for the two. Maybe she'd buy them a drink. Who knows? Maybe there'd be new kittens in the near future. Herrold was a lucky man.

And she was alone. But that was perhaps proper, and as it should be.

[ Lt. JG Zelosa Ejek | Main Bridge | USS Resolve] Attn: Kaligos, Vystori, Arista, Mathis, DocReno, Auctor Lucan, Anyone else

The first few seconds after Dr. Parnak started speaking, Ejek found herself in need to suppress the urge to strangle him. Or at least kick him out of her chair and throw him out of the command centre. It didn't come as much of a surprise that an outsider - never mind that the outsider was one of her people - would voice an opinion incompatible with Starfleet protocols. That he did it from her chair, by assuming her counselling position, however, was unacceptable.

But wait. Zelosa Ejek's shoulders relaxed upon hearing the older Cardassian's speech coming full circle to conclude with what she had been about to point out. It was good that she was not prone to act on impulse, or she might have ridden herself and others of the chance to hear him out. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have an impact on Kendrick.

"Captain, with all due respect," she transmitted calmly. "I know how important it is to deliver our piece of information, but I do not believe it is worth to risk the lives of over 20.000 civilians." There was no way of knowing for certain that the USS Theurgy wasn't here to try and blow up starbase 84.

"We have been in enemy territory for a long time, Captain. Hard decisions have been made and we have lost many of our finest crewmembers. I understand your dedication to us and this ship. But we're home now. Framed or not, these are..." Our people? Your people? None of these expressions seemed to quite fit. "Federation citizens we're compromising if we leave. It's not only our first officer, whom I'd also advice to leave behind. But these are the people we've sworn to protect when we joined this organisation. I don't think we should, or can, proceed with your plan without betraying all that Starfleet upholds."

Why on Cardassia was it two Cardassians who had to make a case for the protection of civilians? Perhaps it wasn't that strange, however. For all that Cardassia had done to other peoples, their core dedication was to their home and the citizens of its home worlds.

[ Lt. Jg. Suq | Main Bridge | USS Resolve ]

"My orders stand, we collect our crew, we get our weapons, and the moment that door opens...

With fortune on his side, Suq arrived as Kendrick gave his orders the final time. He stepped into the room as quietly as he could, hoping that the Captain provide just enough distraction so that no one would notice he got here very, very late. The Theurgy loomed on the view screen, Hawthorne loomed in their minds. Here they were, a ship full of frightened animals with danger on every side. Very familiar,  he thought, Nothing new happens out here, I guess. At least my hair can't get much whiter than it is or else the stress would show.

"Message Hawhtorne that I accept his conditions, and look forward to a drink with him after this battle is over. We will 'deal' with the Theurgy."

Soon after Kendrick's final orders, He heard Ejek talk. In fact, he was pretty sure she was talking at the same time he was, for a little while. He held onto her friend's voice in his ind, the only comforting thing in this entire situation. He walked closer to the chief engineer's console--technically his, though he never really liked to think of it as 'his'. Just borrowing it.

He stood there, not sitting, and staring at the console as Ejek spoke. It helped him concentrate to stare and stand still. She finished, and he thought to speak after her, but did not. He couldn't make any judgement calls regarding others' lives, not anymore. The moral battle if he made the wrong call would be too much. All he could do was deliver hard facts, and his professional opinion as an engineer.

"Captain," He spoke, after a certain measure of silence. He did not lift his head, "The Resolve is restocked, but she's still in bad shape. It goes without saying that facing down any ship, let alone the Theurgy, is suicide. If we were to battle, I can't say with certainty that our civilian population would be able to evacuate safely.

We will be able to hold warp nine long enough to make a relatively safe exit, provided we aren't followed. The....the borg friend, she's in engineering. She's incredible, really. She's fast. One-woman-slash-borg-engineering team. Thanks to her, The Resolve will be ready to jump as soon as we leave dock. We could warp the second the doors open but we may destroy quite a bit on the way out. Destroy bits of the Starbase, I mean, we'd be mostly okay. We might take some debris with us." Now, as he began to lost steam, he ceased speaking.

He felt like he was vibrating where he stood with the energy of the moment. He wished it was over. He just wanted a nap, but then treason just had to happen.

[Lieutenant Keval ch'Rayya| Resolve Bridge]
Attn: All on the bridge & Resolve fighter elements

Keval listened to the various arguements happening on the bridge before finally even the calm Andorian snapped loudly with "*ENOUGH*!" at which point he came from around his station and as the ship's second officer he moved to stand next to his captain and friend. "We need to stop trying to produce counter plans to whatever the captain has in mind. Yes we are in a situation that even I'm having trouble figuring a way out of but that doesn't mean that we just tuck tail and run."

Keval then turned to face Suq and gave the other man a thoughtful expression. "When you say that we are in a bad way, just how bad are we?" Keval asked simply, a thought starting to cross his mind before he turned to look at his ship's counselor. "Use the terminal next to my station and bring up what you can about the captain of the Theurgy, we need intel and quickly my dear."

Keval then took in everyone on the bridge and gave them a critical, searching look. "We can't fall to pieces right now, we need to stick together like we have over the past several months and keep moving, keep fighting and just because it looks like everything is going to pot right now does *NOT* mean that we *DO*!" Keval said simply in a reassuring but hard tone. "We may have a couple of new faces and *YES*, the XO is currently a "guest" of a possibly very hostile force but that does not mean that we're going to just tuck tail and run. There is a plan but you have to trust in the captain and he hasn't lead us astray yet!"

Once he had finished saying that, he turned back to face his captain and leaned in close "I don't know what you got planned, but I'll be damned if I let things go sideways now when we need to be united. Give them something to work with and we'll survive this." he reassured Tristan.

[ Drauc T'Laus | Aerowing Cockpit | Docked with the USS Resolve ] Attn: Resolve Bridge Crew

As he checked the power level in the Type-III rifle he had acquired aboard the aerowing, Drauc heard the Borg's reply on the intercom.

[Six here. Drauc, yes, I remember you. We did indeed manage to clear up the transmission. It seems that my own Captain, Captain Hawthorne is behind all of this. As unfortunate as that may be.]

Hearing this, Drauc raised his dark eyes from the rifle, staring at the transporter controls on the aerowing through the tresses of his red hair. The lurking enemy hidden in the terrain was known, and the question was; how did you flush him out? He knew the battlefield, and how hard the kill would be. So why did he hesitate? Was it because the righteous path was not easy to tread? Nay. Was it fear for his own fate that stilled his incentive? Not that either. Nor was it doubt, having learned what the traitor had said to the Romulan below the Subspace Aquisition Grid before he was killed - the bomb detonating. He had even seen the bloodshed through A'vura's memories. Hawthorne was conspiring with his own people, and to what end?

He retraced his thoughts, wading back through the maelstrom of minds that had imposed themselves upon his own. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his hard fingers, pacing the aerowing. The headache that came with his abilities was so dire that he would wish it upon no one, and it grew worse when he tried to recall the errant thoughts of others, their musings suddenly becoming mirror images of his own. He bared his teeth, breathing hard. Memories seared their way through his mind, and when the pain grew to great.... he screamed at the bulkhead, lashed out with his fist.

The pain was his beacon. The thoughts of all security guards that had been in the Detention Center whisked by. All the prisoners. Irrelevancy, mediocrity, idle musings, nothing of import. He screamed again, striking the bulkhead - knuckles bloodied. Something. There was something. He knew it. He was getting closer. Hundreds of minds obscuring the path. He knew it as the spectre - an illusive recollection from someone else. Another scream of mental tearing, another strike - the pain his focal point.

Something.

Yes. A report... A report. What had it said? Which mind had read the contents? Why did it come to mind? Who? Who!

Komial Dotnhil.

The Chief of Security. What had she read? Why had it come to her mind? Was it because of his presence? Yes, he was Romulan, hence she had shed a thought to the report. Breathing hard, Drauc struck the bulkhead anew, and he screamed louder. Her. Her! He had to focus on her alone. What had been on her mind? He paused, realising that... that she was sleeping with Ian Hawthorne. She had spread her legs for the traitor. At first, he thought it was relevant, but then he remembered the true import - the illusive idea that pricked his mind like a thorn. It was a report. A report about what? Why had she thought about it when she saw him? His eyes lined with pain, he was about to strike again, but then his gaze fell upon the rifle in his other hand...

...and he recalled it, as if fishing it out of a mire.

Weapons. A secret report. Classified. About weapon research facilities being raided along the Romulan Neutral Zone. It was believed to be the Theurgy's Captain - Jien Ives - that fed one of the Romulan factions with coordinates to the facilities. The facilities themselves were top secret, so it was not of public knowledge that they even existed. Hence, Komial had said nothing to him, but he knew now. He learned that the Amethyst, the Ruby and the Saphire - all secret depots - had been raided. All personnel killed. No loose ends. Komial had been convinced that it was Jien Ives who fed his people with the coordinates. Nay. Ian Hawthorne had affiliated himself with Romulus, and whatever he was up to... he was willing to murder in order to escape notice. Wasn't he, as Base Commander so close to the RNZ, best equipped to deal with Romulus?

"Drauc to bridge," he rasped, winded after his seizure, not knowing that he chimed in at the wake of an argument held between the present staff. "If Ian Hawthorne is the traitor - if he is Aidoaan - he is conspiring with my people, and in doing so... he has let hundreds of Starfleet officers die at their hands. Secret weapon facilities in Federation space have been targeted, leaving no survivors, all assets gone. Their coordinates compromised. The Captain on the Theurgy might still have defected too. Of that, I do not know, but Ensign Six tells me Hawthorne killed the Romulan this morning, and Hawthorne named you traitors in his stead. It makes it plain... that Hawthorne can't be trusted in the battle to come. Especially not if Ives is in his league. He must be stopped, lest the people on this base are all in their hands."

Walking over to the transport controls on the aerowing, Drauc saw that the shields were down, and that Starbase 84 was beaming aboard the crew. He resumed talking to the bridge officers. "I can reach him, and remove his voice from the command center," he grated through his teeth as he keyed in the destination. "It is the right thing to do, and I work better alone. No minds to distract me, and I will play the part of the fugitive you found in the brig today - again unaffiliated with you. My name no longer tainting yours. I have but a single request... should I not return."

Drauc stepped up on the transporter pad. "Find the woman that goes by the name T'Mei... and tell her... that both my brother and I hated her for what she did."

He adjusted the setting on his rifle, and waited only for the reply. Then, closing his eyes, he began the hunt. "Energise."

[ Sera vers Aldnoah | SS Sabine, Shuttle Bay 17-C | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Kaligos & Brutus

Sera relished the feeling of their bodies interlocking, Jack inside her, seeming to fill her up. She also loved the pleasure she was obviously giving him by his vocal responses. She had always been one to draw pleasure from seeing the pleasure she brought in others. That on top of the physical sensations themselves were driving her close before he even moved them to the floor. When he picked her up with such ease, her heart skipped a beat. She grabbed onto his muscled arms and locked her feet behind his back to hang on out of reflex, though she was in no danger of being dropped whatsoever. He stayed inside her the whole way to the floor of the ship where soon the comfortable weight of him pressed down on her while he started to fuck her in earnest.

Sera's hands roamed all over his body, exploring, needing to touch as much of him as possible, feel the ridges of his muscles while he explored her mouth and tongue with his own in a deep kiss. She could feel herself getting closer and knew he was as well, so she slapped his ass for encouragement. He responded as she hoped, increasing his intensity. For a brief moment, the universe melted away and there was just the rising heat in her body and the feel of him on top of and inside her before that ultimate release as waves of orgasm crashed over her. She grabbed on tightly to Jack as she moaned into their kiss, unable to control her voice as she came. It was then she realized that he was pressing fully into her as well, filling her with his seed.

Their kiss had broken during their orgasms but they continued to lock eyes intensely as the wave of pleasure waned. She cupped his cheek with one hand and brought him into another kiss, this one more tender and gentle, her way of saying 'thank you,' for distracting her and helping her release some of the overwhelming stress she had been feeling. "We should probably get dressed again, I imagine we'll need to be leaving soon."

As she took a moment to clean herself up and start putting her underwear, bra, and pants back on, the ship's console started beeping an alert. She also noticed the telltale swirling lights of half a dozen people beaming into the shuttlebay. "It is *really* time to leave, we have company!" She jumped only partially clothed into the pilot's seat and frantically started prepping the ship's final steps for launch. "Cover the door, I'm going to get us out of here!"

---

[ Ens Derik Veradin | Bridge | USS Resolve ] Attn: All

Derik was feeling a rushed mix of emotions as everything kept happening in quick succession. He held the ship steady while the Captain had parlayed with the traitor aboard the station, and was prepping their exit maneuvers while he waited for the inevitable orders, keeping in mind other possible maneuvers in case things went completely south. He also felt guilty about leaving the XO behind, but A'vura had said everything that was on his mind, and there was too much chaos right now to be questioning the Captain. Everyone's lives were on the line, not just their XO, and as much as he really disliked the Cardassian scientist that had appointed himself their Captain's new advisor apparently, Derik had to admit, grudgingly, that the man did have a point. As did their counselor, Ejek.

He drew on years of training and discipline and kept his mouth shut. He had a responsibility and a duty, and he was going to fulfill it to the best that he could. He turned to see Suq reenter the bridge and felt another wave of relief and gratitude. Derik had been worried when everyone else from the spacewalking team had come back except for Suq. He spared a smile and wink for his good friend and 'friend with benefits' before turning his attention back to his console.

Derik looked up and listened intently as Drauc's transmission came through. His eyes grew wider as the deeper implications of Hawthorne's actions were made known. The man was giving one Romulan faction access to Federation tech? That would drastically alter their civil war and then what kind of Romulan Empire would they find on the other side of that conflict, armed with Starfleet's best weapons? The thought scared him, and he'd like to think his resolve, no pun intended, had grown quite a bit over the last three years.

He kept his two cents to himself barring an emergency or the captain's request for his opinion and waited for the next part of their plan to begin. He had faith they would make it through this. They had so many times before and with odds as bad or worse. They would figure it out. They had to.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie "Grey Wolf-01"] Attn: Triage, SummerDawn, Auctor

Hearing Lieutenant ch'Rayya's order slightly annoyed him, had he not been listening to the Captain?  The Captain was going to warp as soon as they got out of the starbase, it made no sense for his pilots to remain in their fighters or shuttles but those were his orders.  "Confirmed Lieutenant, we're on standby."  He said as he turned back around and headed back to his fighter.  The archaic terms didn't make him feel any better about the situation either.

"Chief Randall, get me everything you can about the Theurgy's fighter element."  Daniel said as he made his way back to his fighter.  If they were going to fight the Theurgy, which if he recalled was a Multi-Vector Dreadnaught; a warship of all things, he wanted whatever information on their fighter element that he could get so that his pilots would at least have some sort of advantage no matter how small it might be.

"Ensign K'Ren, get to your fighter and prepare for launch."  He called out as he climbed into his fighter.  He wasn't fond of fraternization on duty, what his pilots did during their free time was their business however while they were on duty he expected them to conduct themselves as officers regardless of their actual rank, he'd have to remind them of that after their current situation was settled.

[Komial Dotnhil | Starbase 84 | Enroute to Shuttle Bay 17-CAtten: Security Center

Motes of light swam before Komial's eyes and then faded along with the tell tale chimes of the transporter effect. Feeling the butt of her phaser rifle against her shoulder, she swept it from side to side, taking in the view of the blown away bay doors, just behind her, and the ship ahead. It was a thing of beauty, even in her angered state she had to admit that. A thing of beautify with its loading door wide open, and its engines starting to rev up.

"Oh hell," she muttered softly. Making a snap decision, she took off across the bay, running, feet pounding across the deck. She could see the open curvature of the space dock beyond the little bay where the Sabine began to lift off, and beyond that, would be open space. Going as fast as she was, pulse pounding in her ear, she nearly slid past the control panel she was going for. She crashed into the console with a groan, air knocked out of her. With shaking fingers, she moved to erect the bay force-field, and then dial up the intensity to the point that it would stop a ship.

Only then did she look up an - "What in the name of the gods?" She spat out. She saw Hi'Jak, very much without his pants, trying to close the ships door.

Growling at the site - he was in far better shape than she'd expected, but she found him repulsive in that moment - she slammed her hand on the PA system.

"Vessel Sabine you are hereby ordered to stand down and prepared to be boarded. You are under violation of numerous Starfleet and Federation statues and as such your vessel is considered impounded. Surrender the fugitive -" the pant-less horror - "at once, or I swear we will shoot you back down." And putting action to words, she took aim with her own rifle and fired a warning shot, sending it streak out just past the door of the vessel, the angry orange pulse lighting up her prey for just a moment.

Despite the ragging urge to simply shoot the junior science officer cum murdered and get vengeance for her people, Komial had to allow them a chance to surrender. That oath she took grated on her some days, but if she didn't give them that chance, she wouldn't, in her mind, be worthy of her Captains respect, let alone his love.

[ ENS K'Ren | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie "Grey Wolf-03"] Attn: Triage, Havenborn, Auctor

K'Ren had barely made a few steps when Lt Havenborn gave her new orders, and a disapproving look. She winked at Liam and went over to her own fighter, climbing up into the craft and began the time honored ritual of strapping herself into her fighter. The males used to joke that strapping on and flying a fighter was the closest thing to sex one could do with one's pants on, and while she would agree the experience of flying was amongst the top of her list of passions, she didn't think it compared to sex, at least not the pleasure she'd derived from her mate for so long and now with Liam.

The cockpit was familiar and comfortable, a nice contrast to the runabout she'd been in shortly before this. This cockpit was made for her, everything that she needed was close at hand, easy reach, unlike the standard Federation runabouts with their expansive consoles. This was home, and even as she adjusted her tail into the groove made specifically for her, the thing started twitching excitedly, one of the giveaways she was excited and a little nervous to either stand down, or get the call and launch with the rest of the squadron.

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

Kendrick's plan was already being put to the test, but not by the people he had expected. It was odd to see the two Cardassians speak of the need to protect the innocent civilians when normally they would be the first people he would have expected to speak on the merit of the military, and their duty to the rank and file. He understood why it was confusing for so many of his own crew to look upon the captain and see that he was willingly abandoning one of their own.

There was something he could have quoted about the needs of the many, but his thoughts were interrupted by a voice he had not expected. If anyone was going to hail him he was expecting it to be Hawthorne for another tense round of political promises which he was sure the man wouldn't keep too.  But it was Drauc's voice who came over the communication, and a final piece of the puzzle was given.

"Once we have the crew back on board this ship issue a red alert, and get our shields back up as quickly as possible. Make sure that none of the Starbase's personnel can get aboard this vessel." Kendrick's grip on his chair tightened. It actually took a long moment for him not to cuss, there was a deep burning anger towards Hawthorne now, as Drauc revealed just how deep all of this treachery went. None of Hawhtorne's men could be trusted now.

"This is no longer just about our ship." Kendrick said as his blood ran a little colder a shiver going up and down his spine. This was one of those rare events that captains were not trained for. There were procedures for routing out traitors sure, slow diplomatic trials used to strip a captain of a rank, where every detail was laid out, but they only existed in the academies legal courses. In the perfect scenario he could have fought this out peacefully, made an arrest brought Hawthorne back to earth and plea his case showing all the evedince against the enemy captain.

The reality was Hawthorn may have doomed the entirety of the Federation already. "Put me on ship wide, I need to make a captains log and you all need to hear this."

In truth Kendrick was starting to feel a little awkward, he had already done his brave speech, already quoted Shakespeare and mugged for his crew. He had already laid out his plan so that people could add their objections in their personal loggs or even abandon ship as the option would be open to them to do so until they could pry those doors open, or the shields were up. No this was not going to be the brave captain's next speech, the voice of Kendrick as it came out across the ship, and fighters was one that was tired.

Kendrick had never sounded or felt more old than he had in the past... five? ten hours? had he even slept since he had gotten into this Starbase? He wasn't sure anymore. "I want to layout for all of you the stakes of this situation, and why I am ordering the resolve to retreat as soon as the door is open. I want you to hear my reasoning, and put it on record as to why I am telling you all to violate direct orders, and show you why this is not an act of cowardice. I've already done my big speech for the day, so I really don't want to take up much of our time."

He took a sigh, rolled his eyes, and decided to cut the meat of the situation. "We the crew of The Resolve have found evidence that Captain Ian Hawthorn of Starbase 84 is a traitor. He has worked in conjunction with a Romulan spy to attack his own base, to what ends we do not know. Additionally we believe that under the code name Aidoaan, has been giving away the location of Federation bases along the neutral zone. Effectively arming one side of the Romulan civil war with our [Federation] technology. If this situation is not rectified shortly and the Federation never learns of this treachery then it would mean that in the eyes of the Star Empire we will have joined their civil war."

One last deep breath and Kendrick leaned back in his chair. "By being drawn into that conflict we will also be pulled into war with the Klingons, and perhaps even rally the Cardassian union from slumber. This would be a war on three fronts, and with people like Hawthorne in our midst it is a war we have no chance of winning."

Kendrick closed his eyes and brought a hand to his face. "end log, end ship wide transmission, and set that transmission to send out along the Federation's Network on all open channels in the event of this ships immobilization. If we can't run then we will scream the truth for everyone around us to hear. Have all fighters prepared for an emergency, if we are pursued, we could be fighting at warp, and someone make a note of Drauc's final wishes. I like to think that we will make it out of here in one piece, but in the event that not everyone makes it off this ship, could someone put out a APB on a Romulan infiltrator called Tei Mei, and an unnamed brother."

He had a sinking suspicion that the romulan psychic may not live to tell another story if he goes up against the might of the starbase but he wished the man well. Tei Mei... whoever that was, may have long doomed the Federation years ago. But one of her sons, may have just given them a fighting chance to save it.

There was a tired glance towards Keval, he had to wonder if he was giving the crew enough reason to follow him, when in truth he honestly didn't know if he would follow himself. Were he not on this ship this would have seemed like the ravings of a mad man. Hopefully A'vura and the rest of his crew would understand.

One person's life no matter how loyal a first officer would ever be worth the entirety of the Federation. It hurt Kendrick to admit that, but he knew from the moment he had sat down in this chair today that some sacrifice would be made. He knew that if that number one had been sitting in this chair and it had been Kendrick offered up as the prisoner left behind that he would expect the ship to do no less then leave him behind. Protect the crew, honor the ship, save the Federation.

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OOC: Hi'Jak will be getting his own post at another time, this Kendrick post has been long overdue.

[ Cmdr. Jared "Deadline" Salazar | CAG 23rd TacCONN Air Group | Interceptor Cockpit | Starbase 84 Spacedock ] Attn: Resolve Bridge Crew

There were no phases of grief for Commander Jared Salazar (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tactical_Conn_NPCs#The_23rd_Tactical_CONN_Air_Group_at_Starbase_84), having watched how a fifth of his Air Group was decimated by the signalling error before the launch. Behind the visor of his helmet, he was taking deep breaths through his teeth, willing himself to focus on the comm chatter from the speakers.

Flight Ops had given clearance, Jared gave the order, and through sheer luck, he had survived when the bay doors failed to open for the first attack wave. Maelstrom, Shadow, Red Lancer and Griffin Squadrons had all launched, then the second wave came in directly behind them, and they had no chance to avoid the debris field. No, Jared had yet to feel any grief for the losses he so keenly felt, still operating behind a veil of shock. Yet he was still in the air, navigating the circular spacedock along with the rest of the survivors. He had managed to keep the fourth Wing from launching, since any more fighters in the spacedock and it would have been impossible to coordinate the deceleration and regrouping that the first three Wing were now preforming. Yet when there were no more collisions, no immediate danger to his pilots, he allowed himself to curse loudly in his native Spanish - keeping his finger away from the comm channel.

After the long tirade came to an end, he was breathing hard into his helmet, almost making the visor fog up. He heard his Wing Commanders reporting in, standing by for orders, and he jammed his thumb down on the comm. "This is Deadline. Awaiting word from Command, stand by," he rasped, throat raw and kept his dark eyes on the Resolve - moving with the rest of the fighters in the spacedock to avoid collisions.  He had been surprised by the orders to stand down and don't attack the Luna-class starship, but he figured the fallout of such a battle inside the spacedock would have been catastrophic. He was surprised that the USS Chester had fired at all.  The bay doors remained closed, even if he'd already heard that Command had ordered teams to release the door mechanisms manually.

When he saw on sensors that one of the Theurgy's Vectors assaulted the top of the starbase, he realised that there might not be enough time for those teams to complete the task. It was confirmed when Captain Hawthorne finally hailed him.

[Commander Salazar,] said Ian, appearing on his HUD.

"Aye, Captain," he said, still taking deep breaths, still having his teeth bared in a rictus expression of ire.

[It has been decided that we give Captain Kendrick the benefit of the doubt, and to allow him to enter battle with the Theurgy to prove his and his crew's innocence. His remaining crew has been beamed aboard, along with restocked torpedo magazines. The 23rd will have to take out the bay doors, and all personnel is now evacuating the areas. There is no time for a manual release. The Theurgy has already opened fire on the base - targeting our tactical array. If it is destroyed, we will be at Captain Ives' mercy - manual targeting our only resort.]

"Acknowledged, we'll take out one of the bay doors and enter battle at your command."

[One more thing, Commander.] Ian's brow seemed furrowed with concern. [There is a risk that Captain Kendrick might be in league with Ives. Should that be the case, he might either turn against you or attempt to leave the sector once those doors are opened. Keep an eye on your sensors, and should you see the Resolve attempt either... you know what to do.]

Jared met the eye of his Commanding Officer, and nodded slowly. If Kendrick and his crew had defected whilst travelling through Romulan space, then it was likely they who had sabotaged the bay doors, killing officers on the base, and bombing it earlier that day. Jared did not know the Captain on the Resolve, nor any of the Tactical CONN officers aboard the starship, so he had little reason to doubt any of it.

"If the Resolve goes to warp, sir, I might have to split my forces in order to catch up with her," he said gravelly.

[Precautions have been taken so that it won't come to that, Commander,] said Ian, quite confidently, and then glanced away when someone in the EOC spoke to him. [All personnel have been cleared from the bay doors. Fire at will, and happy hunting. Hawthorne out.]

"Aye, Captain. Moving out..." Jared closed the channel to the EOC and looked towards the Resolve again, hailing the bridge. "This is Commander Salazar, CAG of Starfleet's 23rd Air Group. The attempt of manual release of the bay doors have been abandoned. The 23rd will blast them open, and given the bulk of your ship, you need to clear the dock first. We'll be right behind you... Salazar out."

With a deep breath, and another look towards the debris field, Jared put the thoughts of the dead aside, and gave the orders. Within seconds, two of the squadrons closest to one of the bay doors swivelled around, announcing their chosen targets around the massive moving doors. When all of them were locked in, Jared gave the order. "Fire!"

As one, the interceptors lit the spacedock with orange pulse phaser energy, cutting through the plating with one rapid impact after another. The plating and the hinges were, eventually, no match for their Rawley cannons, and the doors came loose one corner at the time, until they were sent off - drifting away from the space dock interior. They left behind a demolished frame that bled plasma and flashed with bright conflagrations.

"Salazar to Resolve. You are clear to move out. Watch your back out there," he said, dark eyes resting on the sensor readings...

...hoping that his suspicions about Captain Kendrick and his crew came true. He owed it to the surviving families of all his lost pilots that they'd be avenged.

- FIN

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OOC: New Chapter coming up momentarily! You can all stop posting in this one and await the announcement for the next! In the next starter, the Resolve writers will co-write with other all spacebourne writers from Chapter 02: Crucible. Stay tuned!