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91
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 3 : The Meeting of Heroes (or Villains) [ Day 1 | 1500+]
Last post by Nesota Kynnovan -
[Ensign Jaya Thorne | Hallway | Deck 04 | Vector 01]
Attn: @Ellen Fitz, @Brutus, @Stegro88, @Dumedion, @P.C. Haring, @JacenSoloDjo, @Juzzie, @GroundPetrel, @Eirual

A cold shiver ran down Jaya’s spine when Kelistina spoke up and said that the turbolift wasn’t responding. Realizing that a similar thing likely happened to Lieutenant Commander Akoni and the others, the brunette Assistant Chief CONN Officer began to feel increasingly affected by the stress that was now placed upon them. After all, if an experienced Chief of Security like Kai Akoni could fall to whatever was down here, even though he was a hulking man and had been the closest thing to siege equipment in the collective arsenals of the Security- and Intelligence Departments, at least as far as she knew, Jaya gave preciously little for their own chances. In fact, she hadn’t even held a Type-II Pulse Phase Pistol in her hands since Basic Training and even then it had only been one hour to supplement the mandatory training she’d received for the standard Type-II Phaser. As such, feeling the unfamiliar weapon in her hands gave her some relief and confidence, but not nearly as much as a normal Type-II Phaser would have given her.

She swallowed against her now increasingly dry throat and took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself, or at least force herself to calm down as much as possible given the circumstances, before rounding the corner and following Kelistina. As she did so, her brown-eyed attention was drawn to a wall console located on the far bulkhead of the hallway; so much, in fact, that she nearly collided into Kelistina when the tall woman suddenly came to a halt. Jaya only prevented hitting the other woman by sidestepping and, while she was on it, taking up a crouched position on the other side of the hallway, directly underneath the console. Jaya turned her attention to Kelistina and was about to speak up but, as she realized the woman was concentrated on something else, the Assistant Chief CONN Officer quickly closed her mouth again.

Jaya’s reasoning was simple though. While it was relatively easy to erect a very localized dampening field to block commbadges or disable the button to call a turbolift, it was an entirely different thing to disable entire wall consoles. After all, wall consoles were directly connected to the main computer system and deliberately tampering with one of those consoles without the proper authorization from the Engineering Department would send out an alert. Jaya knew it all too well because she’d once attempted to tamper with a wall console a couple of years ago, when she was still a Crewman aboard Starbase 10. In her defense, she had been on the receiving end of a dare and had no nefarious intentions whatsoever, but it prompted an Engineer and two Security Officers to show up and they had been less than amused by the situation. Regardless, tampering with the wall consoles on deck 4 would have likely prompted a much stronger response given the diplomatic niceties that were going on just three decks above them so Jaya reasoned that, whoever or whatever was out here, wouldn’t have tampered with the wall consoles and would have taken out everyone before they could get close to one.

If so, that meant that Lieutenant Commander Kai Akoni had possibly wounded whoever was stalking around on this deck to the extent that it now gave them a chance. ”Kelistina!” As she spoke, Jaya’s voice was but a mere whisper. When she was confident that she’d drawn the Zaroodian’s attention, she slid the Type-II Pulse Phase Pistol across the surface of the deck towards the other woman. ”Cover me!”

Confident that Kelistina would pick up the weapon and cover her, Jaya quickly rose to her feet and accessed the wall console. As expected given the ongoing diplomatic niceties, the console was locked out by the Security Department. When Jaya manually entered her access code, despite being a Command-grade Starfleet Officer, only the most basic functions opened up to her while the more advanced controls remained safely locked out for those with higher clearance. ”Come on… come on…” While Jaya navigated through the menu, getting blocked by the security protocols at every turn, she could feel how her stress levels were rising once more. After what felt like an eternity to her but must have been only mere seconds, her brown eyes finally came to rest upon the menu she was looking for; the alarms. It was positioned right on the main display but initially overlooked because she immediately accessed the menu due to a combination of stress and haste. She tapped the alarm button, thankful that it wasn’t locked out to her, and hit the one with the label she was looking for.

Intruder alert.

And that activated it. While it was visual only, likely to not cause unnecessary alarm during the diplomatic niceties, the warning lights on the wall panels immediately began to flash a dim shade of red. ”Oh yes!” As she whispered, Jaya immediately ducked back down and turned her brown-eyed attention back to Kelistina. ”I managed to trigger the intruder alert.”
92
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 4: S [Day 1 | 1810 hrs] A Friend Indeed...
Last post by TWilkins -
[ Ensign Sylvain Llewellyn-Kth | Maintenance Tube | Biological Laboratory Quintus | Aft Tertiary Research Deck | Erudite ] @Dumedion

“I don’t know how you expect me to move around when I’m curled up like a prawn with you laying on top of my legs!” Sylvain replied with a sharp hiss, his body trembling from a toxic blend of adrenaline, anxiety, discomfort and only slightly tempered fury. He tried to crane his neck enough to see what was ahead of him, rolling his head at a near-impossible angle before he was able to spot the opening in the tunnel a few metres ahead of them, no-doubt the location that Cora was indicating to. “Argh, hang on.” He huffed, anger dimming in the wake of possibly not having to have Cora’s limbs draped across his legs, and deciding to make an effort to move anyway.

He manoeuvred himself as gently as he could manage, but his attempts to flatten himself down enough to be able to straighten his body, resulted in barraging Cora with a salvo of knees, boots and ankles; not that she wasn’t deserving of the barrage. Eventually however, he managed to get into a position that allowed him to straighten up his neck, crawling his way forwards in the tunnel with as much gusto as he had left in him, and making a beeline towards the upcoming opening.

The larger space wasn’t enormous, but it was roomy enough that he could sit up without having to crane his neck, knees tight to his chest as Cora emerged through the opening behind him, the space ignited with the same ghostly-blue glow as the tunnel had been, but doubled in its intensity on account of the larger concentration of tubes that ran around them. The light danced off of the surface of the chrome sheen of the bulkheads, and lent into an almost psychedelic echo of light that danced across the room. Sylvain waited patiently for Cora to straighten herself up, before he defiantly struck a hand to his combadge, keeping eye-contact with her as he did so. Whatever ‘intelligence’ game that Cora was playing, he was certainly not planning on being a party to it any longer.

“Ensign Llewellyn-Kth to Commander Leavitt.” Sylvain spoke quietly, his brows furrowing into a steely expression that he hoped would express how disappointed he was in Cora’s conduct; this was hardly what he wanted from his first interaction with the Commander. “Ensign Llewellyn-Kth to Commander Leavitt?” He repeated, his first message going unanswered, his voice losing a little of his certainty as he did so. After another moment without recognition from the Commander, Sylvain tapped his fingers to his combadge a third time. “Ensign Llewellyn-Kth to anyone on the Theurgy crew, please respond.” A few more agnoising moments passed them by, before Sylvain simply huffed in indignation as he let his hand withdraw, pushing his head back into the bulkhead behind him, something of a scowl blooming across his face.

“Something must be jamming our communications.” He advised Cora, though he considered that she’d probably be overjoyed at such a prospect, given the lengths she’d taken to prevent him from signalling for assistance earlier. He sighed deeply, and tried to prevent a new deluge of emotions rushing into his head in the face of their newest obstacle, shutting his eyes for a moment to collect himself, before glaring at her with venom in his eyes.

“I think you owe me a lot more than a decent explanation.” Sylvain responded to her earlier statement, trying to remain collected even whilst he trembled from the cocktail of unpleasantness that was coursing through his body. “I just want to make it very clear to you, that being ‘with intelligence’, does not give you carte blanche to circumnavigate the chain of command and…” Mid-sentence, Sylvain noticed the soft glow illuminating Cora’s side, distracting his words away from his tongue as the Ensign realised that, secreted against her person, was a piece of Savi tech that she'd evidently stolen from the lab, some sort of datapad by its appearance, her tricorder clamped tightly against its sleek surface and thrumming away with the telltale blinking lights of a data transfer…

“Are you…? Did you…?” Sylvain was speechless as he focussed in on the device, acknowledging that sheer dumb luck wasn’t enough of an excuse to justify how someone in intelligence had ‘happened’ to stumble into acquiring some sort of Savi research tech and having the safe oppertunity to download its data... As the evening’s events began to unravel and reform within his mind, it began to dawn upon him that when he had blacked-out in the Common Area earlier, Cora had been the only person with him, and yet instead of ending up back with the Starfleet crew that were sitting not fifty feet away, both of them had somehow ended up in Savi research quarters… Had she used him as a distraction to get herself in some Savi lab? Had she been the one to release that poison upon him in the first place? Had she just endangered both of their lives in an attempt to get her hands on some Savi tech and make a good first impression to her superiors? Outrage filled Sylvain’s mind as he considered that, when he’d first met her, his mind had been overwhelmed with anxiety and stress, an intense feeling of unease and danger… Evidently, this woman’s intentions had been clear enough from the start.

“I… I can’t…” He was lost for words, swallowing down the flurry of fear and anger that bubbled up in his throat. “If you think there is any excuse that would justify you putting another officer at risk for personal gain, I would love to hear it.” Sylvain exploded at her, keeping his voice low, but his tone sharp as ice. “Because from where I am standing, it looks as though you took advantage of my friendliness, so that you’d have someone to help you out in case your little ‘heist’ went sideways.” He seethed, gesturing pointedly at the Savi item secreted against her side, before wiping at his face with the back of his hand to dislodge the stray tears of anger that had blossomed upon his eyelids.

“And now…” He gestured around them. “You’ve stolen Savi tech, they know that we’re out of bounds, and nobody from the Starfleet crew has any idea that we’re in danger.” His admonishment continued with a painful tone of betrayal upon his voice. He’d accepted her approach in the interest of possibly having a friend aboard, and she’d been intending to betray him from the start. “So there’s now a high likelihood that we’re going to get caught, probably be killed at best, jeopardise the alliance, and put the entire crew aboard the Erudite at risk.”

He blinked away more tears of anger as he spoke, feelings of betrayal and hatred at his own naivety spilling out; of course she had some sort of motive when she approached him, why would anyone go out of their way to try and befriend some Ensign in over-his-head? Either she thought he looked youthful and naive enough that he’d just go along with her crazy schemes without question, or she saw someone with a few muscles and decided that he could take a Savi in a fight… Sylvain was decidedly in neither of those camps.

“Struth, I’m the Chief CONN officer!” He snapped at her, his volume raising a degree. “Even if we get out of this, by some miracle, do you have any idea what sort of repercussions there might be for potentially jeopardising the alliance?” It took everything for Sylvain not to simply slump himself back against the wall in defeat. He was a pilot; he barely ever even went on away missions, let alone whatever twisted attempt at espionage he was currently a party to... The grim reality was that he didn’t have the skills that he’d need to get out of this situation alone, and he, unlike Cora, was enough of a Starfleet officer that he wasn’t going to get himself out of this situation at her expense…

He’d wait until they were safely back aboard the Theurgy before he sought out some repercussions for her to face…

“Right, so whatever ‘decent explanation’ you have, is going to have to wait, because right now, I need to hear your plan for how exactly we’re going to get out of this, because getting caught is not an option for us, or for the rest of our crew.” Sylvain responded grimly, straightening himself up and attempting to look slightly more severe than his tears made him out to be. “Your conduct thus far has been entirely unbefitting a Starfleet officer, so it’s about time that…” Sylvain coughed loudly, immediately stamping his hands over his mouth as he did so, in a better attempt to stifle the noise that erupted from him.

He’d been speaking with such ferocity that he scarcely realised how stagnant the air felt in the tunnels, how exhausted he felt as he attempted to breathe… When Cora had said that it was hard to breathe, he had been too stressed at their predicament to be able to pay attention, but now, he found his mind slipping back into the information that Commander Cross had given him about the Savi, recalling with a dour expression, that the Savi did not breathe a composition of air that was suitable for most other humanoids…

“I’m guessing that you didn’t put enough thought into this little heist, to bring along anything to help us breathe, did you?”
93
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 4: S [Day 1 | 1810 hrs] A Friend Indeed...
Last post by TWilkins -
[ Ensign Sylvain Llewellyn-Kth | Maintenance Tube | Biological Laboratory Quintus | Aft Tertiary Research Deck | Erudite ] @Dumedion

Sylvain had been in Starfleet long enough to know that there was a tendency amongst non-commissioned officers, to explore the concept of professionality a little looser than Starfleet guidelines intended. His initial months of serving as an Ensign aboard the Bowman, had given him a rude awakening as to how flexibly Regulation 256.15 could be adopted; he’d learned curse words in about twenty-seven different languages in his first week alone. But, as time had passed, and he’d accepted his promotion to department head, he’d learned that sometimes, it was easier to lend a little flexibility when it came to implementing professionality and that confronting some of his colleague’s less-professional behaviours, ultimately, was rarely worth the hassle… After all, as much as some of their rambunctious behaviours bothered him, what were a few lapses in professionalism compared to a happy and efficient staff?

As such, he’d learned to wince and forget when people used inappropriate language around him, he’d developed a tolerance for a certain degree of playful banter during duty shifts, he had taught himself how to politely refute ideas that blatantly ignored protocol, and in this case, he’d established an understanding that stressful situations could lead people to speak without thinking… However, Sylvain’s flexibility when it came to such things did have a limit, and Cora’s abrupt change in demeanour had shot at least two light-years past that particular line in the sand… The swift transition from her previously demure disposition, to this new, far sharper persona, was almost enough to give him whiplash, leaving him stunned enough that he couldn’t find the words to react to her sudden frenzy of hushed whispers, that so vehemently criticised his intention to contact Commander Leavitt, to follow protocol…

Had her only offence been to openly criticise his plan to contact their commanding officer, to follow Starfleet protocol, Sylvain would have forgiven her; it was a high pressure situation, and he was the first person to acknowledge that unfamiliar circumstances could make it easy for people to lose their heads… However, her decision to begin physically manhandling him, had certainly crossed a line; quite frankly, it was borderline insubordination; to physically grab him by the crook of the arm, and to actually drag him across the lab, quickly ignited his typically calm demeanour into something incandescent…

Physically apprehending any colleague, let alone a senior officer, was one thing, an act unacceptable in all but the most dire of circumstances. However, in her decision to physically restrain and drag him, not only did Cora breach Starfleet protocol in a most offensive of ways, she also defiled Sylvain’s own personal boundaries beyond any justifiable reason. For an individual so distinctly adverse to touch as he was, her choosing to put her hand on his arm and drag him, was an action so intensely intimate that the Ensign felt utterly violated by her choice of action; the only other physical contact he’d had in the past month, had been his extremely uncomfortable handshake with Chief Lok in the turbolift, and that had been agonising enough. He was only thankful that her grab had been over his uniform and not on his bare skin…

What right did Cora, no, officer Davidson, have, to manhandle him like they were participants in some sort of debaucherous Orion sex-pit?

He felt violated, so much so that his lips were a hair's-breadth away from delivering a rather fiery admonishment of her conduct, when her tone sharply changed once again, her full lips suddenly alight with promises to explain everything, implorations for him to trust her, all the while manoeuvring about the room with the ferocity of a woman possessed. Sylvain was still half-stunned, unsure of whether to admonish her, or to afford her the tiniest sliver of leniency, when the woman flung open a chrome port from the floor, most likely a maintenance hatch, and then dropped the bombshell that, apparently, she was an intelligence officer.

Then, before he could even begin to process that, several things happened at once.

A soft mechanical hiss echoed from behind him, at the same time that he suddenly felt a clammy grip crush into his fingers, his bare hand seized as he was once again yanked forwards, this time half-dragged and half-pushed into the maintenance tube that his companion had just revealed. The hand against his own was burning hot as much as it was cold as stone, Sylvain’s head spinning as Cora’s voice flung whispered pleas at him, begging him to speed up as his larger body crunched into the maintenance hatch, back practically one with the top of the tunnel, whilst his head was squashed down somewhere between his legs. Before he could even think about what had happened, Cora had shoved herself behind him and the hatch was sealed, her legs tangled within his own as he uncomfortably stared at the floor, his mind such a hellish miasma of emotions that he could barely comprehend what had just occurred.

More emotions rattled through Sylvain’s head than he could easily comprehend, but chief amongst them was the sound of a series of dull footsteps above their heads, a confirmation that whatever had entered the room as Cora had shoved him into the hatch, had noticed that they were gone… He swallowed down a shallow breath of nerves, shuddering at the feeling of ice that had enveloped his entire body, shuddering from this unforeseen chill as the space around them pulsed with a fallow blue glow, bathing the pair of them in a baneful light as they waited with baited breath.

As the footsteps continued, Sylvain felt a cool clarity salve his overheating mind, quashing the abundance of different emotion that was roiling through his head, and aiding his overwhelmedness to shrink in the face of cold logic, his genuine horror fading in the face of the life-or-death scenario that he’d suddenly found himself in; he could threat over the fact that he’d just experienced more physical contact than he had since he’d last hugged his own mother, later… And then, in that moment of clarity, Cora sharply dug her heel into the back of his thigh, and had the audacity to shush him for the inadvertent yelp that fled from his lips… Perhaps if she didn’t want him to make any noise, she shouldn’t kick him? Between the heel in his thigh, the phaser digging into his hip, the chest harness that was caught on his combadge and cutting into his back, the fact that he most decidedly wasn’t supposed to bend in this direction, that his entire body still hurt from the last ordeal that he’d been subject to, and the general mental anguish he was feeling, it was nothing short of a miracle that he wasn’t simply screaming.

Instead of obeying his more primal instincts and kicking Cora back in response, he refocused the stinking miasma of his own head into the space around him, attempting to analyse the tube the best he could, with the limited perspective he had, which wasn’t much considering that his cheek was squashed into the floor and his eyes were observing a glowing conduit… But even from that little information, he could hazard a guess that the space around them didn’t serve the same purpose as a jefferies tube… The Savi he had seen thus far had all been at least a foot taller than him, with vastly longer arms and legs, and the tight space that Cora had just bundled them both into, surely wasn’t designed to accommodate one of the creatures...

He wagered that this might well have been a ventilation duct, or perhaps a maintenance tunnel used only by drones or some such automated repair system… From what he’d read in the information that Commander Cross had provided him, he certainly couldn’t imagine a Savi crawling its way through a tube this small.

As the seconds ticked by with naught but the sound of the ragged breathing of the pair, the urgency that had prompted Cora to shush him faded, and before long, her voice had whispered a-thousand echos into the tube around them once again, instructions and recommendations, as if she wasn’t the one who had caught them in this predicament in the first place. A flush of irritation dawned on Sylvain’s face, recalling that he’d been a millisecond away from alerting Commander Leavitt of their situation, and leaving an avenue of diplomacy to their situation… But alas, Cora’s brilliant thinking had got them stuck in a maintenance tube, with the woman bleating at him to move to a location that he could neither see, nor likely move to, at least not without kicking the woman in the face multiple times.

Not that she wouldn’t entirely deserve it… 
94
Director's Cut / Re: [2374] USS Hamburg: Meditate on the Way of the Targ
Last post by JacenSoloDjo -
J'rovia Reclusiam | 2374 | Attn: @Dumedion‍ 

Kath closed her eyes and felt her entire body go numb. Not numb that she could not stand anymore. But numb because she was tired of trying to do the right thing. Tired of the fact she was wounded and could not be the 'Eternal Soldier' that she was. Tired that the war kept trundling on and she had her father all but begging her to bug out. To go back to fucking Earth where she would be 'safe'. Hah. There were fucking Changelings in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. How exactly was Earth safer than where she was getting sent into? Her place was in the field. Her selfless nature had ensured she had numerous scars and war stories. Her hip would not be in the condition it was in if she wasn't the kind of person who put herself directly and purposely in harm's way.

Opening her eyes, Kath watched as the taller Lieutenant laid into Taer like Kath's glare had threatened she would do if she heard more arguments, but Kath did not move to stop her. And a little voice inside her said Taer would probably find fault with trying to save her from getting creamed by the loyal, protective Klingon hybrid, too. Taer had fucked around and then found out what happens when you're insubordinate around the squad. How in the hell had all of her attempts to be friendly, to try to keep morale up, led to all of this? But then, there was nothing to be done was there if someone was just determined to find fault with everything you did? Kath was not responsible for how someone reacted to her words, only how she herself spoke and responded to people.

"Nuke!" Adelaide shouted then instead, yanking the larger Klingon hybrid backward out of range of going after the Trill again even though NuQach outranked her by a lot. Kath grabbed the back of NuQach's tactical vest, pulling her further backward to create more of a gap between the Petty Officer and the Klingon hybrid.

"You're the one with fucking stupid ideas," No'a finally and suddenly burst out. They had had enough. Kath watched, shock registering through her system. NuQach looked as startled as her Klingon features would allow her. Adelaide's mouth was partially open. Karatek stared, almost in abject horror that No'a had actually swore.

"It isn't our fault you don't have the social intelligence, the discipline, the fucking decency to understand when people are trying to help you and be grateful for it. You're alive. You're alive because every single Jem'Hadar that had you in their sights was shot down. By us. Even though clearly you don't deserve it. You really wanna be 'nobody', ksil? Forget to count yourself in who is left to save, huh? You stay behind and then what? You get cut off from the rest of us? And die when we are here especially and only to get you off this planet, like Mac said? Making all of our sacrifices be in vain which is the real stupid idea! You're so damn preoccupied with 'everyone who outranks me is an idiot'! But at least, oh at least you can die knowing you threw everything into everyone else's face no matter how hard they tried to help you! Even, damn, to be nice to you despite how little you even deserved it! All any of us has done since we got here was try to be friendly and to keep you alive but all you've been wanting to do is treat us like shit for daring to care what happens to you. An attitude that would never fly if we weren't in the middle of retreating!"

The senior Lieutenant was surprised by No'a's passionate response. She reached out to grab their good arm but No'a pulled away, their gaze still on Kino.

"You wanna know what half of us 'try hards' have been thinking about this whole time? How it wouldn't even matter if we went back while leaving you behind and shrugged, saying every single person down here, including one Petty Officer Taer, had died. Because we're known for being able to scrape by with at least a Pyrrhic Victory, they would believe that we tried everything and ended up failing. And you'd rather sit here and sulk and make everyone around you wonder how you even survived basic training because you have zero cooperation skills and zero respect for anyone or anything. You don't have to like us. You don't have to like our CO. But what you do have to do? Is fucking understand that being Starfleet means people actually do care about what happens to you even when they should just leave you by yourself to eventually get killed, surrounded by dead bodies, with not a single soul to watch your last moments. What Mac was trying to tell you was that you are just as important as anyone else was down here. You don't want the uniform? Too bad. You're in it and that makes you Starfleet which means you're going to be treated like any other person in Starfleet whether you like it or not. But all you've cared about this whole time is apparently figuring out how insufferable you can be until we just leave your ass behind and call you a casualty that couldn't be helped, even though we can't do that because that isn't how we operate!"

"No'a--" Karatek started but No'a shook their head, their jaw set.

A scoff from No'a then, cradling their mangled hand to their chest. They could feel tears pricking their eyes because they understood what Kath was implying, understood that Kath had given Kino one of her very last battery packs because at least someone would still be alive to use it. Kath's possible last acts were devoted to giving everyone else the best chance to survive.

"We thought maybe you were like this because of survivor's guilt, or some other trauma. So Mac and NuQach gave you a lot of leeway, because hey, sometimes people can't help it if it's just their trauma response. But that can't be it. Your shitty personality is simply you all the way down. So you got a lot of leeway you never deserved in the first place. You go ahead and bite your nose to spite your face. You continue being the ungrateful little snot that you are. It's a sick cosmic joke you're the one to survive for this long, isn't it? You don't get it, do you? The Lieutenant was saying she wanted to go last because she knows she will slow the rest of us down and would rather be the one sacrificed," No'a's voice broke then as their throat grew tight.

"She was doing triage and she lost but you won even though you don't deserve it. But you're too Prophets-damn self-absorbed in your pity party to get that she was offering to possibly die in your place! She essentially put you in charge of the rest of us, despite not even deserving to be in command of the cleaning bots on a ship, because she doesn't know the area; but you do. And she isn't sure if she will even be able to keep up with us. She chose the option that she did even though it gives her a lousy survival rate because it gives us more of one. It isn't a stupid order, it's a lethal one; for her! Mac's fucking implacable and that's why she gets the hard ass missions and drags us along with her. And you wanna know why we follow her? We stay with her because we know she cares far more about us than herself, unlike a lot of commanding officers who just fling their troops wherever and don't care how many of them die so long as the objective is achieved. Instead she will fling herself at the enemy to give the people under her command a chance, however slim, to get to safety. Which is what she was telling you she was going to do; that's why she told you to start moving! If the spot she chose were to get overrun, then at least we would have you to tell us where we could possibly go next and then get us there. But that can't happen if you swap places! She has to cover the retreat herself."

As No'a finally finished, they stood there breathing hard. Their mangled hand throbbed but they ignored it. Adjusting the 'holdout' phaser from Kath in their good hand, No'a growled and started to set off. Kath, NuQach, Karatek, and Adelaide were all staring after the Bajoran. None of the squad was sure they had ever heard No'a speak that much at once and sound so damn angry. Perhaps because they were defending their Commanding Officer-- The Lieutenant who was already feeling lousy because she had gotten wounded and was now more of a liability than anything else. And if, oh if things went in one direction, her boots would be the last off the ground not on purpose but because she had lagged and her squad's loyalty to following her orders sometimes transcended their loyalty to Kath as a person, as their friend.

"If it were me, I would've never asked you for next steps," NuQach growled before following after No'a.

"Enough. Lieutenant NuQach, Petty Officer Taer, you're both going on report. Ensign Asher, I appreciate the defense but you will not speak that way again," Kath said sharply, coming back to herself as the surprise over No'a's outburst faded. "Let's just get to the extraction point with as little bickering as possible."

"Yes, Sir," she heard both NuQach and No'a mutter, pausing to look over at their CO.

Kath had completely stopped trying to play nice. All she was focused on now was getting everyone off this God forsaken rock and go to a battle that actually mattered and wasn't fucked because of communication issues. Or, indeed, dealing with people less than glad for the assist.

"Surprise all of us by being at least a little more pleasant until we get back to the ship, huh, Petty Officer Rebel Without a Cause?" Adelaide warned as she moved after No'a and NuQach, cradling the IR light in her arms.

"Chief," Kath said in a low voice. Adelaide shrugged at being brought up for her own comment.

They all knew the after action report was going to be brutal. It remained to be seen just how brutal it would be and who would have to be listed down as a casualty. The whole squad was worried their commanding officer would be on that list and it reflected in their eyes. They all knew every mission it was Kath not so much playing hero but just making sure her subordinates made it through to the other side of things.

Adjusting the stretcher under her arm, Kath waited for everyone to go ahead of her then brought up the rear as she had intended, holding her rifle one handed.

USS Hamburg

As the Galaxy-class performed a slingshot maneuver of sorts around the planet, her Captain was unsure how much time they actually had left. That was of course before they watched as a Constitution-class burst onto the scene, phasers all releasing at the same time towards the enemy Dominion ships, wounding one badly enough it fell towards the planet. The Colorado had all the intel fit to transmit. It used the rudimentary and rarely used kind of Morse code using the front lights on the ship usually used to see their way through debris or through any number of enclosed places in space such as a hollowed out asteroid.

Back and forth the two ships spoke to each other without having actual audio communication. It would, perhaps, make for an amazing story few would believe as together they enacted a plan. While the Colorado kept the now only two Dominion ships busy, the Hamburg would work at getting their people off the ground.

The Hamburg made a few circuits around the planet, looking for the signal, for the ground team's COMMbadges to show up. Where did the signal go? Where did the Starfleet crew go? Had they all been killed in the time it took to lead the Dominion on a chase?

Too Far Behind Everyone Else | 2374

Kath stumbled as she continued walking the best she could even with the support of the damaged repulsor stretcher. Sweat trickled down her face from the effort. Every other step sent pain searing through her body, originating from her hip and terminating a few inches below her neck. She could not say why that spot. Just that it hurt like hell. Kath's gaze rose to the distance, her mind drifting back to the last time she had sacrificed herself in order to save her squadmates. What was more wounds or even death when it meant five others would be safe? As the Vulcan saying went: the needs of the many.

She had fallen behind by a number of meters. Every time NuQach or Karatek had looked back at her, she had simply ordered them to keep going. Until eventually they stopped looking back.

She almost started thinking maybe they had killed all of the Jem'Hadar in the area. But that was before two of them uncloaked and one of them bashed the butt of his rifle into her collar bone. She stifled a cry of pain before slamming the barrel of her own rifle into the Jem's stomach and pulling the trigger. He barely made a sound before collapsing at her feet. The second one got a good hit on her too, swiping her legs out from under her with his gun and sending her crashing to the ground on her back. Face twisted into a snarl of both pain and anger, she swung her rifle around-- grateful for the strap she used for it so it did not go flying when she was knocked down-- and fired. One more down.

Rolling over despite the pain, Kath began to crawl before she could grab some debris that was sturdy enough to take her weight. Where had the damn repulsor stretcher gone? Oh, well. Dragging her bad leg along with her as she walked, she began the arduous climb up the hill. With luck, her unit had continued to follow orders.

A sudden bright light up above drew her attention. She watched as one of the Dominion ships entered the atmosphere but clearly not under its own power and began to peel apart like an orange. A soft, incredulous laugh escaped her. Finally, space support!


Extraction Zone/Former LZ | 2374

No'a dropped to the grass, panting from the effort of the almost marathon. Everyone except NuQach and Karatek showed their fatigue. NuQach was the first to begin looking around to find where Kath was. But there was no Lieutenant MacFarlane to be found. And then they all heard the phaser fire some distance down and away from where they were. They exchanged looks. Who would disobey orders first? Kath had told them don't look back, don't double back. Not for her. But... she was still their friend.

Adelaide looked away and instead busied herself with setting up the IR to begin broadcasting the SOS message again so the Hamburg could find them. As much as she wanted to go find her Lieutenant she had a job to do. She understood her part in the play.

A few moments later they all looked up to watch the defeated Dominion ship streak through the sky like an asteroid.

Still no Kath.


Still too far away | 2374

Kath found a good spot to sit and protect the bottom of the high ground she had sent everyone to. Her lungs were on fire and so were her hip and torso. Not to mention her back from landing on it thanks to that one Dominion slave.

Checking her rifle again for any issues, she bit back a moan of pain as it ran through her like a wave from head to toe and back again. She looked down at herself, at the spot that still burned in her gut. She wasn't bleeding out anymore but it still fucking stung. Her gaze snapped up when the ground half a foot to her left exploded and flung dirt and concrete over her. She fired as soon as she sighted the Jem'Hadar who had fired at her.

When two more appeared, she flung herself off the debris she was sitting on and crawled behind it even though her entire body disagreed with this plan. Sitting up, she used the debris as her cover as she fired at the stupid goddamn--

Her shoulder slammed backward from a bolt hitting the strap of the tactical vest she wore. She howled her anger and pain before firing back almost blind with pent-up fury. There was no way in hell she was getting taken out or her unit. She flicked a control on her phaser rifle then fired. The two Jem'Hadar transformed into nothing-- not even ash. It took a lot of power so she tried not to use that setting a lot. But now was as good a time as any, right?

Panting with the pain and effort, she climbed back up to her feet. That had to be the last of them. It had to be. But she could no longer stay here. So she began her trek further up. Her body screamed at her to stop but she ignored it. Nothing was taking her out of this fight. Not yet. Not here.

Extraction Zone

The sound of phaser fire was closer this time and it made Adelaide stop what she was doing to look off to where they all expected Kath to be cresting the hill. But no.

"I'm going to go find Mac--" Karatek said but NuQach cut him off with a glare, her arms folded across her chest.

"She'll be here," NuQach said firmly. Though there was an air of anxiety. After all, Kath was still her best friend on the ship. Every single one of them knew there were two outcomes here: Either Kath made it, or they went home without their leader.

Further, closer phaser fire made NuQach and Karatek yank their rifles up and aim below them. Waiting for the moment when it was revealed the wounded Lieutenant had been overrun by the Jem'Hadar.


Some meters outside the EZ

Kath's body was shutting down. She knew it and there was nothing she could do about it except keep going anyway. To get as close to the extraction zone as possible. Her COMMbadge would give her location away; so long as she was close enough to everyone else she could be found and transported up. That was the only thing keeping her going. Just a little bit further.

Was her shoulder broken? It would not be the first time. But still she crawled over everything on her way up. It wasn't good for her hip either. But still she dragged her almost-carcass along until she was hopefully spotted like that golden retriever at the end of that one movie from centuries ago.

OOC: Ksil=dumbass, Hebrew masquerading as Bajoran.
95
Parallel Universes - "What if?" / Re: Theurgy: What If...? Below Decks Lounge
Last post by RyeTanker -
[Lt (JG) XamotZark zh’Ptrell (Lt. Zark) | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | Vector 03 | Holosuite 01| USS Theurgy] @AbsintheDeux @Dumedion @Juzzie @Dree

As Kino explained what had been going on in life, she nodded along.  It sounded remarkable like her own experiences so far, except she had been handling the medical side of the inventories by making sure that all the med kits were fully stocked.  As intelligent the people back at Starfleet Medical were though, war field experience had caused the medic to go around re-arranging the kits and adding a few more items.  She gave the armourer a wide grin and a squeeze on the shoulder when it was revealed her sidearm had been tuned.  It was always one of those things that one meant to get to, but there never seemed to be the time for it.  The Andorian did want to make sure that the weapon going to react the way she wanted, and would have to take it to the range at some point.  Another item to add to the endless list of things that always needed to be done.

There was really no denying where this evening was going though as she picked up on the subtle movements in the Shen's antennae.  The subtle swaying of Kino's hips purveyed a subtle trance on the mind, and Reika's gentle and electric touch was more than enough to tip the cosmic scales.  Mentally nodding to herself, Zark looked at drink and considered pounding it back.  A grin turned into a smirk as she took a final sip.  It had been a while since she'd been with multiple partners and maybe it was time to brush up on those skills.  A familiar ache between her legs was starting to build and she unconsciously crossed them as she leaned against the bar for a moment.

The medic was not known for either subtlety or indecisiveness as she moved between the Trill and Shen and linked her arms with theirs.  Giving them a reassuring squeeze that have each of them a chance to sample what they would be playing with later, Zark gracefully whirled her two companions towards the door and guided them towards the exit. Pulling them in so all three hips were connected, the hips swayed in motion, creating a barely audible groan as the magnificent posteriors headed out.  Turning to each person, Zark's smile was positively indecent. "I'm sure we can make both tactical and otherwise work, but I agree that otherwise will be taking precedent tonight.  I'm sure we can work out all the details in your quarters Reika since I'm sure we'll be getting an introduction to tactical as well; and well, we'll definitely need room for all the exercise."  Taking a breath, the lavacious Zhen finished with. "It's been a while, but it's like riding a bicycle, so I should be able to take care of bot of you at the same time."


OOC: And these ladies exit stage right
96
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Chapter 1: Triggered Much? [ Day 1 | 1800hrs ]
Last post by Nesota Kynnovan -
[Lieutenant Junior Grade Amanda Ashby | Maintenance Corridor | Romulan Space Station | Romulan Space]
Attn: @Stegro88, @Number6, @Ellen Fitz, @RyeTanker, @P.C. Haring, @Hans Applegate, @BipSpoon, @Dree

[OOC: I thought I’d have Amanda find the triggers so we can progress the story. If anyone is opposed to that, please let me know and I’ll edit my post accordingly!]

Amanda’s idea of providing covering fire had been the often tried and tested practice of blindly firing her phaser rifle and hoping that no one was stupid enough to wander into her field of fire in the process. When the mech finally stopped firing after a while and Reika called out, stating that she at least temporarily disabled the mech, the blonde-haired Martian carefully peered over the edge of her scorched crate. While the mech was slumped over and idly humming, thus no longer posing a threat, there was a gnawing feeling in the back of Amanda’s mind that, with her luck, it would immediately power back up the very moment she stepped out of cover.

Regardless, as Reika correctly pointed out, they had thalaron triggers to find. Following the Lieutenant’s position, Amanda pushed herself out of cover as well and reattached the phaser rifle to the magnets on the back of her suit before taking out her tricorder. At the same time she could hear how Lorad reported contact in the rear and how he’d neutralised the threat. ”Copy. We’ll resume our search for the triggers.” It was nice to know that the rear was being covered by someone who knew what they were doing and, for a brief moment, her blue eyed gaze came to rest upon the mech. The space station was dangerous and just the sight of the mech prompted Amanda to smile nervously. ”Nice job, Lieutenant. That mech would have torn us to shreds.” While she spoke, the blonde-haired Ensign activated her tricorder and began to scan for the unique signature of the thalaron triggers.

If she had expected the process of scanning to be easy, Amanda was definitely proven wrong the very moment she looked at the scans. Her scans were frustrated by an incredible amount of background clutter; various types of radiation at roughly the same frequency as the feint traces of thalaron that would give away the position of the triggers. It was an old trick though, one Amanda only recalled too well from her time as a wartime volunteer at the Ganymede refugee camp back during the worst of the Dominion War. Back then, the crew of resupply ships developed the practice of masking the  critical medical supplies in their cargo holds by drowning it out in background radiation so it wouldn’t show up in scans. While it wasn’t exactly the same, the high amount of background clutter in her scan held enough similarities to remind of her the practices back in those days.

It was at that moment, just when Amanda tried to filter out the background radiation, when her attention was briefly drawn by a sound. She listened closely and, astonished, double-checked to be absolutely sure, only to realize that some asshole apparently felt confident enough in their current predicament to start singing. She couldn’t be absolutely sure what was happening because it happened around the corner and, given that she wasn’t able to see anyway, Amanda shrugged and resumed her scans; identifying and eliminating the background clutter one piece at a time, like peeling an onion, and narrowing the search one piece at a time. ”Judging by the sheer amount of background clutter in here, the triggers must be in this room. I can’t pinpoint their exact location, but they must be… give me a moment to burn through the background noise.”

The process of eliminating each particular piece of background radiation was a tedious one that took more than ‘just a moment’, but Amanda eventually got lucky. After several minutes she eliminated a particular piece of background clutter originating from a large crate on the opposite side of the room and, when it disappeared from her scans, the feint traces of thalaron radiation finally appeared on the display of her tricorder. ”I’ve got them!” As she spoke, there was a hint of excitement in Amanda’s voice and she quickly followed the source of the radiation to a small shielded crate which was stacked neatly next to some other crates. The closer she got to the shielded crate, the stronger the particular signature of the thalaron triggers became. ”Alright, I have logged the signatures of the triggers!” She turned around and looked at the person closest to her. ”Now what do we do?”
97
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Chapter 1: Triggered Much? [ Day 1 | 1800hrs ]
Last post by Number6 -
[Lt. Vanya| Maintenance Corridor | Romulan Space Station | Romulan Space ]
@Stegro88 @Dree   @Nesota Kynnovan  @Ellen Fitz @Rye tanker  @P.C. Haring  @Hans Applegate

“And those who deny my brothers cry
Who won’t let my daughters sing
Have seen their last sky
For they shall be crushed by the Raptor’s Wing”

The song claimed to be an ancient Romulan hymn but Vanya knew it to be between 100 and 200 years old, a ditty that was intented to encourage patriotism in the lower classes while their Senator’s personal guards were absorbed into the central command to fight in the wars against Earth.   

Vanya turned to face the singer.    She had never quite seen a Romulan like him before.   His face was heavily tattooed she didn’t recognise the origins of the designs    It wasn’t just the tattoos, the parts of his face that weren’t under ink had been ravaged by time, or were under thick, dark green scars.    No doubt the irritation on the scars was being intensified by the same gas that was affecting her

“I’ve waited so long for this…”    he said staring her down.  He held the equivalent of the Romulan phaser rifle.    “I’ve even had you in my sighs before..    But I wasn’t allowed to do what must be done.   But now I have you.” 

She held up her hands.  “Vanya, Lieuentant, Starfleet serial number 987343-C .”  

The man barked with laughter.   “Cute really really cute.   You have no idea who I am do you?  Not only do I deny you your rights as an enemy combatant, I deny your rights as a sentient being.   You are an abomination that must be destroyed.   I am a sentimental old man, I should have done the deed as soon as I saw you, but I wanted you to begin to understand…”

She was about to make a play for freedom when her would be attacker’s head  vanished in a sea of green plasma. 

The attacker behind her assailant was a female in a Romulan uniform.   She dropped her phaser and raised her hands. 

“I don’t know whats going on here.” She confessed.   “But this isn’t right.   Its not even Tal’Shiar right.”
98
Parallel Universes - "What if?" / Re: USS Theurgy: What If: Climbing Mt. Olympus [Holodeck]
Last post by JacenSoloDjo -
USS Theurgy | 1400 hrs | Holodeck 1 Attn: @Krajin‍ 

Kath felt her heart speed up a little with excitement as the archway appeared and the door to the holodeck opened behind her. She turned around to face the alien male that walked in. Her brows rose and she could not help but smirk a little bit.

"Si. I'm familiar with who you are; good to put the face to the name," she said amicably. Once getting on the ship and settling in properly, she had, as part of her position, gotten a look at the crew manifest. Running in the tactical department meant she needed to know who was part of the tactical CONN in addition to a myriad of other positions. "I'm one of the ones coordinating you fighter jockeys."

"Lieutenant Katherine MacFarlane, but most call me Mac or Kath," she stated in a professional tone, making it clear how she took even her recreation and interpersonal relationships seriously, while holding out a hand not yet completely caked in climbing chalk. "'Course, some people also call me Valkyrie but that's usually when I'm in the field," she added with a chuckle.

"We can start as soon as you feel like it. I'm sure mountain climbing seems a little bit of a niche interest so I'm not expecting many people," she admitted, turning her gaze to the mountain. It had no real life counterpart and she felt that would increase the draw out of curiosity. Her message had only stated how difficult the climb was programmed to be at its max depending on climb route. She had done her best to make it so that any number of skill levels were apt for the climb. It was predominantly a level 3, but people could treat it as a 2 or a 1 depending on which direction they climbed. Thus, various spots on the base of the mountain held numbers and a line seemingly spray painted on that gave an idea of how difficult the climb would be if someone took that route. You would never find such a thing on a real life mountain but Kath had done the best she could to make things as accessible as possible for all mountain climbing skill levels.

"How much experience do you have climbing?" Kath asked after musing on all of her painstaking work in crafting a mountain that was equal opportunity as much as an activity could allow. She noted the attire looked appropriate enough but that did not always indicate skill. 
99
Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 16 [2200hrs] A shore for shore leave
Last post by Brutus -
[ Lt (jg) Sarresh Morali | Turbolift | Various Decks | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Nolan 
[Show/Hide]


In truth the body felt far more natural to Sarresh than he felt it should. There were reasons for that, some he knew, some he didn't. His gait was far more natural looking now than it had been at first, when he mimicked the more looping motion of the Ash'reem. Now, his stride toward the water seemed confident and automatic, without thought. Months prior, when he first woke up in the 'dry monkey suit' he'd been reborn with, that would not have been the case. Though again, there had been moments in those first few days, when the Harbinger mutiny was in full swing, where his body responded perfectly.

None of which was on his mind at that point. Sarresh was far more focused on the surf, the surprisingly warm lapping of the water running up over the top of his feet as he began to descend into the waves. He waded out to his knees before he heard Kythalie entering behind him, her own stride causing splashes in his wake. That brought a smile to his face as he pressed on, the water rising higher. He had expected it to be colder for some reason ,but then, it was a sunny day, and why shouldn't the waters be pleasantly warm?

Another splash behind him had the dark haired man turning his head, realizing that the Betaziod had gone under the surface.

"Capital idea," he muttered to himself and followed suit, plunging into the water fully. With a grace reminiscent of his previous form, he sliced through the depths, reaching the sandy bottom with ease and trailing his fingers along the slit. He wove through some seagrass there under the surface and came back up soon after, sucking in a deep lungful of air. He gave his head a shake and then swept his hair back from his face, turning in place as he tread in the water.

Her voice was light and sweet, full of what Sarresh took to be happiness as she asked her question, and he answered with a small smile of his own. Not a tight smile, nor the forced almost grimace that he used day to day. Small yes, but genuine. "Yes it is. Refreshing but not cold. Feels like coming home."

As Sarresh spoke, he drifted closer, less than an arm's length from the security officer. For a moment he contemplated reaching out, but held back, wondering where the impulse had come from. Perhaps he was more worn out than he’d realized, or perhaps he was just relaxed. Either way, he didn’t feel like keeping his friend - the word seemed fitting - at arms length the way he did with so many others.
100
Parallel Universes - "What if?" / Re: USS Theurgy: What If: Climbing Mt. Olympus [Holodeck]
Last post by Krajin -
USS Theurgy | 1400hrs | Holodeck 1 | Attn: @JacenSoloDjo


A shipwide invitation to attend some rock climbing had gone out and Atlas with some free time on hand decided to attend this. It'd been a fair while since he had done some Rock Climbing on an actual mountain, rather he had used the climbing boards on the Holodecks. Primarily because other crew he had been with at the time were not keen on climbing an actual mountain and endure the vertigo and other bits that came with being so high up. Or the terror of falling. He passed through the archway and into the holodeck proper, taking a look around at the mountain they were at. He took a deep breath through his nose as he picked up on some of the scents from such a wild environment.

To show off his impressive, though furry physique and allow for easier climbing, Dominic had chosen for a form-fitting black sleeveless shirt with a White Wolf head emblazoned on the front, as well as black cargo pants and something akin to shoes for him to wear on this endeavor. He wore climbing gloves to assist in the activity and protect his hands from the terrain, though the right glove lacked fingertips and as such left his fingers roughly half bare. "I heard of an invite to join another crewmate on a daredevils climb! I'm all for it." Dominic greets her with a twitch of his ears. "I'm Dominic Winters, or Atlas. Your preference on which you want to use. Do we want to wait around for others or shall we start the climb?"
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