Star Trek: Theurgy

CHAPTER 01: SUPPLEMENTAL | NEW PACK, OLD TEETH

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/b/bb/Fighter-Assault-Bay-Ep-05.png) (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/8/89/Fighter-Assault-Bay.png)

[ Devyrie "Dragon" Okhala (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Devyrie_Okhala,_callsign_%27%27Dragon%27%27) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Tactical CONN
[Show/Hide]In her underwear, Devyrie "Dragon" Okhala quickly put her white hair up while standing in front of her locker - the overhead light touching her Romulan ears.

The klaxon of Yellow Alert having sounded already, she was feeling the thrill of the hunt, despite what had happened at Starbase 84, and her being on a dubious ship. She tried not to think about her father's words, just efficiently going through the steps and motions that had been drilled into her muscles. The rest of her uniform had been tossed into her locker along with her flight jacket, and next, she lifted her Tac CONN exosuit out of its compartment and began to shimmy her way into the snug thing. There were other wolves there too, those who hadn't suited up already, and she helped two of them close the back seals before Vinnie did so to hers - her trusted RIO appearing behind her. "Look at the bright side, we never got this much action at Luna Base."

"What's not to like?" said Devyrie, even though she didn't entirely mean it. She still didn't feel like she belonged in the new Squad.

As her RIO worked the seals, Dev turned her ridged forehead to the side. She spotted Alessia, and seeing her changing reminded her about what they had done that first night aboard the Theurgy. She wondered what Angel had done last night, wondering if she had been in company with someone since she hadn't found her. Oh, she knew had no right to ask if what they had in terms of memories together mattered in the long run. Despite the pending chance for getting into battle anew, she was in deep thoughts when she heard Vinnie speak again. "Are you ready?" he asked, his helmet under his arm - blue eyes glinting in excitement.

"After you, Fury," she said in her Alpha Centauri accent, pushing her doubts aside with a quiet smile before they ran out to their Valravn together, helmets in hand. On the way there, Dev passed people in yellow jumpsuits, the armament teams scrambling to stock up all the fighters with armaments in accordance to pilot preferences.

"Who are we launching against? I thought we were in hiding?" asked Vinnie, climbing up the fighter stairs that had been pulled up for them.

"I have no idea," said Devyrie, looking down towards the Valkyrie fighters, "but I suspect Razor will tell us."

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[ CPO Liam Herrold (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Liam_Herrold) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]Having been caught cleaning out the last emitter housing on one of the Valravn fighters, Liam Herrold was covered in grime, sweating like a pig, yet nonetheless walking among his own deck crew, shouting orders with the upper part of his jumpsuit hanging from his hips. "Come on! You know the drill. Careful there, that's no empty mirco torp casings you are handling. Hey, what are you waiting for? The loading ramp is right there!"

Wiping his forehead, Liam turned towards the aft section of the bay, seeing that that half of his team were making terrible time stocking up the Valravn fighters, and even though he could understand their unfamiliarity with the beasts, the'd had plenty of time since last night to learn the protocols. As Head of Weaponry and Ordinance, he did not want to apply too much pressure on them either, since mistakes were prone to blow up in everyone's faces, literally. "Keep your heads straights over there..."

Picking up a cloth from one of the tech trolleys, Liam wiped his neck and his hands as his light blue eyes kept an eye on his team. Slowly, he walked up next to Sten Covington, but before he got there, he met the eye of Chief Ji, and while he wanted to smile to her, this was not the time and place, but the jolt he felt when their eyes met was undeniable. Memories of what they had done in the botched Valravn simulation were hard to discard, especially since it was just an hour ago. He had to try and push it from his thoughts. Focus, Liam. Hearsay held Chief Ji had been with Covington, but the details were sketchy, and he hadn't asked. None of his business. Still, it felt a bit awkward coming to stand on Covington's right side when knowing this.

"Fighters loaded up within the minute, Chief," he said, putting the cloth in one of his pockets before pulling on the upper half of his jumpsuit - covering the wing tattoos on his chest. He might not be a pilot, but he was the one that made sure that something happened when they pulled the trigger on whatever awaited them outside the ship. "Phaser conduit and emitter housing diagnostics on all Valkyries and Valravns checked out this morning, thanks to the Gamma shift. They're good to go."

So strange, that it wasn't Erik Randall standing next to him - the loss still keenly felt. It was almost as strange seeing the scope of the larger fighter bay when in full activity. He had lost count how many times he was reminded that this wasn't the Resolve he served on any more.

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OOC: Introduce your fighter pilots and fighter bay characters in the new Episode! Yellow Alert has been sounded, which means all hands ready. Flight suits on, get them into the cockpits (with their RIOs if they have any) and run pre-flight checks. Here is a rudimentary list of checks to make: [Show/Hide]You may all pick and choose which hard-points are mounted on your characters' fighters. Available hard-points can be found on the individual fighter pages in the database. Here is the Valkyrie's (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=AC-409_Mk_III_Valkyrie)page, and here is the Valravn's (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=AC-477_Mk_I_Valravn).

Furthermore, here is the current Squad Org Chart, only Havenborn, Tessa May Lance and Zrinka are on the Sabine mission, so @Nolan will have Thomas Ravon sort that up In-Character here in this thread, and brief the pilots that it's the Asurians out there. Click link for the chart: Lone Wolves Squadron Org Chart (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tactical_CONN#The_Lone_Wolves_Squadron) Please note your Wolf designations, as in Wolf-Zero-Two, Wolf-One-Three etc. for comm talk later on. Callsigns works too, of course. :)

Finally, here is the Fighter Assault Bay map (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/0/07/FAB-MAP.png), where you can see the numbers on the deck and locate where your character's fighter is at: [Show/Hide]

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Tactical CONN

As the yellow alert sounded Thomas looked up from his Valkyrie as he was doing a visual inspection of the bird. He had already been suited up in his flight suit as he had planned to take the fighter out on a patrol mission in order to get a bit closer to the new pilots and frankly just to get away from those four walls and a desk that was called his office. The frown on his brows indicated that something was not going to plan. Furthermore his squadron was not up to full strength with three pilots on mission. It'd be a test to see how well the different flight groups would work together. There hadn't been time or  practice to integrate the Val'raven and Valkyrie pilots to work as a well oiled machine.

It did only take a few seconds after the yellow alert that the jumpsuits seemed to be crawling out of the deck plates, rushing around with ordinance. His fighter being loaded with the additional Hellbore torpedoes and Hellhound cluster bombs. It would certainly make his fighter a bit more sluggish to fly, yet the firepower was worth it. He nodded at the deckhands and stepped aside to let them do their job. While they armed his fighter he used the stair to climb into the cockpit and started running his pre flight diagnostics before tapping his comms "All Tac CONN pilots, report to your designated fighter ASAP."

While the basic diagnostics and engines flared up green he started to get more information from both Cameron Henshaw and Carrigan Trent about the reason why yellow alert had been sounded. He processed the information without a change in his facial expressions as he looked up to see who else he needed to get aboard their ship before he could address his pack. Here and there he saw the last few pilots running to the ladders to get in their fighters and once he had accounted everyone he smiled as a feeling of melancholy ran through his body.

"Afternoon pilots." he stated clearly as he looked around slowly as if trying to make eye contact with every fighter in the bay "As you might've heard the yellow alert has been sounded. The reason for this is that the Asurians have located us and are currently hailing our ship. We are on stand by should the situation escalate. Therefor run your preflights and report in when there are any problems or when you checked out for flight. Razor out."

While listening to the sound off or eventual problems that occurred, Thomas looked down at the squadron lay out lighting up on his screens. He had refrained from appointing roles just yet as if things would go smooth for once, there would be no reason to launch. With a beep his systems registered the installed hardpoints as his final pre flight check flared green. "Wolf Zero-one to mission ops, we're ready to go on your signal." he called out to the bridge as the sound offs seemed to be in the green for everyone.

[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton, LT Talidenai "Terror" zh' Idenna, LT JG T'Zantha "Sniper", LT JG Cameron "Witch King" Ward, & Ensign Tallanyreen "Aria" sh'Kandros| Fighter Assault Bay| Deck 16| Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: Tactical CONN

With an ease given to him by weeks of being on the run as apart of the Harbinger's air wing and now the Theurgy's, Chris had become too adept at putting on the Tactical Conn's signature exosuit in a rushed combat expectant situation.

A fact that he ruefully regretted having to learn as the last servo closed the connectors around his right foot closed into a seal before he stood up to grab his helmet, "Another day in the coal mines." he grumbled.

"Aw come on now, Husker, it isn't all bad." quipped Cameron Ward as he reached behind him to yank his own helmet out of his locker. "It's like we're late to a dance or anything." he added with a grin.


The Asgardian native simply rolled his eyes as he started to make his way across the locker room, his helmet held firmly in his grasp as he thought about how true Ward's statement was as his planned date with Ji had now been put on hold due to alert.

It wasn't uncommon for issues to change on a moment's notice due to the ship's existence of being on the run and he had accepted that during his brief time with the ship so far, as it was hard to make connections when the wrong moment could happen and a stray torpedo could blow a chunk of starship into the vast open nothingness of space or the right phaser barrage from an enemy fighter could shatter his shields and armor to leave him nothing more than a mist of frozen meat and water to be vaporized in a nanosecond later.

His mind, normally clear during times like these, was full of worry and doubt due to what happened earlier that day..when he saw the look in her eyes..

Chris stopped long enough to duck into the gym, closing his eyes and trying to focus on regaining his focus, his center, but instead only one thing came to his mind and he understood what he had to do.

Chris sat his helmet down on a bench before removing the PADD strapped to his thigh and inputting a couple commands into it before bringing it up to his face.

As much as he wanted to be dressed for their date rather than in a uniforms and flight suits, he had even shaved for their date as he wanted to make a good first impression on her with what would have been technically their second date as he had recalled her calling the meal on her couch the night before as their "first date".  Now necessity governed what he was about to do while he waited for his fighter to be readied.  He wanted to do this in person but Ji was no doubt already out on the deck, getting the birds ready for the battle to come.

He pictured the face of the young woman from Seoul and his expression turned a little bit more somber and serious as he imagined looking her in those brown eyes of hers.  He longed to hold her hand, to kiss her, or to even embrace her.  However, he had to be quick as the yellow alert klaxon was sounding, and so he spoke rapidly to the PADD right after hitting 'record message'. He cleared his throat and spoke from his heart. "I wished that I could say this in person but it can't wait." he started before taking a calming breath, his eyes showing how much concern he was feeling. "Before I say anything, Ji, I wanted to apologize for being a complete and utter idiot earlier today," he said in a honest and serious tone. "When you said that you wanted to give this... whatever this is with us... a real try with me, I got a little bit overexcited because I wanted to show you how serious I was taking you in this and I think that I may have come off as trying to go too fast or make you feel like I wasn't respecting you which was the complete opposite of what I was trying to do..."

He blinked for a moment, his nervousness was evident as was the very visible form that this had been on his mind all day because here was the first woman that he actually really liked and he didn't want to screw things up with her... not right out of the gate... and it quite possibly showed in his eyes.  Taking a deep, cleansing breath, he continuing with "I really like you, Eun Sae Ji, and if I could do over this morning without any of the accidental pushiness that occurred I would gladly take it because I meant every word of what I said to you because you are the first person that I've felt this way about and I don't know where to go from here but I do know that I don't want to chase you away.."

Chris closed his eyes for a moment, took another deep breath before opening them again, and pictured himself looking into those lovely brown eyes of hers. His gaze was now unfaltering and honest to the point of letting her see how much he cared and liked her-laying himself open much like earlier when he kissed her during their breakfast.  When he started to speak, he went slowly like he was trying to make sure that he was saying each word but he stumbled over trying to say certain words as he was trying to speak to her in Korean, the language of her birth;

"naega meomulgehaneunde pil-yohan geos-eul baeul su-issge dowajuseyo, ji."

It was now out there for her.  He ended the recording and pressed "send immediately".  It would instantly go through the ship's comm system and appear on the PADD that Ji had on her at all times while on duty.

Chris then replaced the PADD into his slot on his thigh, picked up his helmet, and stepped out of the gym, making his way down the corridor and onto the flight deck proper with his right hand clenching tightly as he went.

Eventually he reached his fighter and started to do a quick visual inspection when he saw Ji giving a report to Sten, hoping that she would be okay before he climbed up the short ladder to his cockpit and gave her one last look before he turned away to put his helmet on as the canopy closed.

Chris then started to go through his checklist, looking over that he had his usual payload onboard which made him smile just a little bit before his expression became grim again.

Once he was finished, Chris tagged the squadron's channel. "This is Husker, Valkyrie Seven Two Four Two, unit sign Wolf Zero Eight is green across the board." he said, his mind already starting to focus on his duty.


////////////////////////

Cameron watched as the scowling man simply walk out of the locker room without saying another word to which he couldn't help but shake his head before turning to face his former SCO. "Not much fun that one, Terror."  he quipped.

Tali rolled her own eyes in turn, "Chris tends to focus inward when it comes to preparing for combat, Ward." she explained as she slipped her right arm into the exosuit sleeve. "You've met his oldest brother, you know how Slaytons focus on impending combat."

This brought a look of shock from Cameron. "You're kidding me, he's old Stone Face's kid brother?" he asked, actually surprised.

Tali didn't respond at first but instead flicked her eyes over to Cameron's RIO in Aria who simply gave her a look that read "And now you know my suffering." before Tali went back to focusing on getting her own suit sealed up.

"Well, each of us prepare for combat in our own way like us Wards tend to celebrate combat and the possibility of death because to do otherwise dishonors those who are about to die." Cameron said with a faint grin as he then thumped Aria on the left shoulder who couldn't help but smile as well. "Come on, Aria, I want to see how Miki looks." before turning to head out of the locker room as well, Aria close behind.

Once the odder members of her former command had left the room, Tali's face shifted into a worried state as her eyes flicked over to Chris' locker and wondered how much what happened on the Harbinger and the Theurgy had done to damage his own confidence.

T'Zantha walked over and laid a hand on her lover's shoulder. "He'll be fine, my Ko-telsu." Sniper said in a soft tone before she reached over and gently turned the andorian's face to face her own before leaning in and kissing her wing-mate on the lips quickly and tenderly. "We will help him through his pain but we need to survive this first."

Tali looked into the pale red eyes of her longtime partner before nodding slowly in agreement. "Alright...battle first, help later." she said softly in agreement before turning away from Sniper to grab her own helmet. "Now come on, there are asses to kick and they won't kick themselves."
////////////////////////////////////////

Meanwhile Cameron and Talla walked across the hanger bay until they finally reached Wolf-15 at which point Cameron ran his left hand over the aft side launchers with a smile before the two slipped into the cockpit and started to seal it up, Aria started doing her half of the pre-flight checks while Cameron himself wanted to check out his weapons load out as he did his own half of the check-list.

The "Witch King" let out a low whistle of appreciation after his suit linked the tactical systems to his suit's TVD. "Aria, I think someone loves me because we're packing not only extra torpedo launchers but also some of those lovely hellborne torps as well!" he explained with a smile.

"Strut fields are in the green as is sensors and comms." Aria said as she finished up doing a couple of checks before adding her own connection to the TVD and seeing what he meant. "Well if you like it so much then you might want to thank the head of weapons for the wing, Cammie." she teased.

A smile came across Cameron's face as he opened a private channel. "This is Lieutenant Ward to Chief Herrold, I'm loving the weapons load out that you equipped me with. I owe one hell of a steak dinner later, handsome." he said in a warm tone before wrapping up his own flight check.

As he did so, he say the indicators for Wolves Zero-Nine and Zero-Ten light up along with Zero-Sixteen which meant that a good chunk of the old White Wolves were ready for combat as the voice of Lieutenant Commander Ravon crackled through the comms.

"Afternoon pilots. As you might've heard the yellow alert has been sounded. The reason for this is that the Asurians have located us and are currently hailing our ship. We are on stand by should the situation escalate. Therefor run your preflights and report in when there ar any problems or when you checked out for flight. Razor out."

Cameron kept an indicator to let him know to show when and if Chief Herrold replied as he opened up his connection to the squadron's channel. "This is Witch King in Zero Fifteen, we are green across the board." he said clearly into the channel.

*This is third flight, Terror in Wolf Zero Nine. We are clear and green.*

*This is Wolf Ten, Sniper. We are in green and ready.*
=============================

OOC:
"naega meomulgehaneunde pil-yohan geos-eul baeul su-issge dowajuseyo, ji."
translates into English/Federation Basic from Korean as:
"Help me learn what it takes to make you stay, Ji."

[Ens Nathanial "Icarus" Isley | Wolf 0-4 | Fighter Assault bay] Attn: Tactical CONN
[Show/Hide]
Nathan was stepping through the showers in the locker room when the yellow alert sounded. After his encounter with his 'older brother' Drauc T'Laurs he had gone about the rest of his day, and since the pilots had been on standby and he had been up since three AM, he had taken the time to go back to his quarters and sleep.

Now he was naked, sweaty, with a bad case of bedhead, and being told to get to his ship as quickly as possible. Thankfully the sweet sense of mercy was that he didn't need to go far to grab his flight suit. Going up to the locker, he grabbed a towel the least he could do was try to take some of the sweat off his body before he got dressed in his tactical armor.

He had been wrearing the stuff on and off for the last two days. Since coming back to the wolves he had been studying his bird, he had  gone through flight checks, and even run a few simulations in the holodeck to make sure his week in security didn't dull his flight skills. That plus the fact that he had been on patrol once all made him confident that he could fly under the blue and highly explosive conditions that they were going to face today.

Dressing as quickly as he could he walked out onto the flight deck, his bedhead now obscured with his helmet as he listened to Ravon speaking to his pilots. He honeslty didn't know if Ironfox could have said it better or not, he did not envy the other pilot for having to lead this rag tag group and he probably couldn't have done the job nearly as well as Ravon had in terms of keeping everything together.

Walking up to his bird, wolf 0-4 it was pretty much right where he had left her after he and papa bear had given her a run down and reset to his flight controls. Since it had been idle since black opal it still had the tetryon cannon mounted to it, something Nathan was not about to fly with again.  "Considering the explosive conditions that we are facing out there it would be nice to have something that won't set off the clouds of gass while I'm inside them."

"Hey." Nathan pointed to a green lizard that was on the flight deck, the enormous creature was seemingly looking over a pad and helping the flight crew. The large creature nodded as Nathan gestured to him. "Sorry for lack of formalities big guy, but I need some help getting that off my ship, and my bird mounted with torpedoes."

[P02 Sithick | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy]

Sithick was on loan to the fighter assault bay, in truth it was one of those places he wanted to work. Not because he dreamed of being a pilot those suits would never fit him and the ships looked cramped and small as he stood next to them. Rather he was fascinated by the other smaller ships. While he was fine working on Thea's various compartments there was something unique in the puzzle solving involved in these smaller vessels. So when the need for a new hand on deck had come up Sithick had volenteered to help.

His briefing had gone over well, and he himself was now assisting with the ships, getting them ready to fly and doing quick inventory checks to make sure they had enough weapons to cover the birds. When he heard a shout across the room, he nodded and turned towards the room. He had never met the pilots, Sithick was usually an isolated creature, and he didn't really mind being called big guy, it was probably one of the lesser of offensive names, the pilot even appologized so Sithick just nodded and got to work dismounting the heavy cannon, and also sending a ping out for what he was going to replace it with. Taking a cart at a time to get the ship loaded up with like the pilot had asked for missles.

"I think this shall work for you." The lizard spoke with his female translator not wanting to use his real voice and tongue considering how different it sounded and also the harder to understand accent.

"We has two extra torpedo mounts, both loaded with 5 MK17 torpedoes, this should make lots of boom. Since we do not know the shielding type of asurans I have equiped one MK 1 Helbore on the left wing, and on the right wing I have balanced it with a standard quantom torpedo, both make big boom, do not fire anything until enemy shield is down for maximum damage yes?"

Sithick watched as the human nodded pleasantly and got into his ship to start running preflights, As sithick got to taking away the larger tetrion cannon, and help the next pilot in need of modification of their ship.

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]
@Auctor Lucan @CanadianVet @Kaligos

Diagnostics.... diagnostics................ come on you fucking piece of shit finish the diagnostic I have a shit ton of other stuff to take care of.  Ji's leg bounced up and down with energy that she didn't really have to waste or expend.  It had already been a long day with the promise to be longer.  She thought back to the holodeck.  Was that really an hour ago? she thought to herself as her eyes never once strayed from the screen in her hands.  She had a good time there, and had wished that they didn't have to rush back to work.  After all their time together, she had kind of found herself wanting to lay beside him, talk.  Pillow talk, wasn't that what it was called? 

Time for that later, Eun Sae.

The device in her hand chimed and she looked down.  Everything was green, the fighter was ready when she might be needed.  She ducked into the cockpit more, bending at the waist.  A quick hand unplugged the male from female conduits and she closed the hatch.  Twisting the small turn lock she shifted so that she could get out of the fighter's cockpit again, only to hear the alert sound.

Instantly, she looked up.

Fuck, what the fuck is happening now.

She had no doubt that the fighters would be needed.  It wasn't just the flood of the pilots coming out half in their exosuits pulling them on while they walked to their fighters, others emerging fully suited.  It was the fact that they were at the fucking moon base and who knew what the fuck was goin on out there but whatever it was it seemed to be time for action.  Defense, offense, who knew.  She didn't really care, she just had to make sure that everything was ready to go.  That was her job now.  She didn't wait another second, she jumped onto the large stairs and took them down three at a time.

“Jim!  Get those trollies out of here and secured in the maintenance storage areas.  Make sure that everyone has all their shit together.  No tools left on the deck or in the machines.” 

She moved, she was quick, she might be little but she was fierce and she as excellent at projecting her voice when she needed to be.  A couple running steps later, she noticed yellow clad feet hanging out of one of the engine compartments.  Her eyes shifted to the partner on task.  “Gleebson, get who ever that fuck that is out of that compartment. Close her up, this is an alert, there's no time for that shit.”

She continued moving. 

“All deck hands this is Chief Ji.  Any and all tools must be in the maintenance areas.  Do not leave your shit anywhere.  Pick up and move all trolleys, tools, and various parts.  Close all engine hatches.  This is not a drill.  Flight crews are here.  Make way for them, they need space to get out of here.” she said to her combadge so that all the mechanics and engineers down here would know what to do.  The flight deck was a bustle of activity in moments.  They knew it was go time. 

She saw Liam rushing across the deck, she couldn't miss the upper body that she had quite memorized just an hour ago glistening in the LCARS unit on the holodeck.  She knew that he was heading over to Sten probably so that they could both report in and give the Chief of the Deck what was going on.  She followed at a low jog and finally caught up with them.  Liam was pulling his work suit on.  Hers was already secure and zipped up on her front to just above her chest.  She slid her hands in her pockets as her eyes met his blue ones.  She didn't smile, though she really wanted to.  He didn't smile either.  They had jobs to do, and professionalism needed to reign right now.  Even though she wished that she could do something for him.  To show him that she still thought fondly of their time.  She didn't even notice the slight blush that colored her cheeks as he gave Sten his report.

She gave a nod and her dark eyes turned to her boss.  The blush on her cheeks faded.  She had no desire or attraction to Sten.  Not any longer, and honestly, the way he had sent her off on the Harbinger had pretty much sealed away anything she thought she might have wanted with him.  That and the feeling of betrayal and how temporary her position here could be.  She didn't like to think of herself as disposable.  A lot of emotions played on her face as she looked at her boss, but none of them were of attraction or desire. 

“The flight deck is clearing now, we'll be good to start getting the fighters prepped for launch momentarily.  All systems are currently green, on all the fighters that you'll be needing that aren't marked for further maintenance.” she reported quickly. 

Standing this close to Liam, she could not help but by hyper aware of him.  Of what they had done, what they could be in the future which hung heavily over her head.  She knew they would need to talk, but right now they had work to do.  The fighters needed them right now, and they had work to do.  The ship needed this deck to run efficiently, and right now, it was in Sten's hands.

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @DocReno & @Kaligos
[Show/Hide]Meony was beginning to think that she was still on the Resolve and the Theurgy was just some long-winded crazy-ass dream and that she really ought to lay off the Romulan ale. Except she hadn't been drinking all that much lately. Between adjusting to life aboard Thea, and spending quality time in sickbay recovering from one insanity after another, it was all she could do to just keep up with things. She spent the evening in sickbay yesterday, after the Devoted had given her a severe beating. If Silim Parnak hadn't been there...

...well she wouldn't be here today to find out what had a hornet up everyone's skirts.

She had been on her way for more simulator training with a Valkyrie Mark III, so she was already suited up. There was a lot of re-acclimatization for her, having spent a few years fighting in a type-8 shuttle, a far cry from a space superiority craft like a Valkyrie or those lovely Valravns. Plus, the Mark III had some significant new modifications, including the removal of RIO seats, though that was something she'd already gotten used to, the shuttle not having a need for a secondary pilot. Her two prize pistols from her time in the Unknown Regions, Flash and Burn, were not on her, because she hadn't been expecting to be called for actual flight status. In fact, she wasn't even sure that she was cleared for flight. But she supposed she could manage, after she made the passing score the last three times, though the adjustment to the speed controls were still touch-and-go.

She was adjusting her hat to hang comfortably behind her while she raised her helmet to fix on when she was distracted by the sight of Liam Herrold and her mind flashed a memory of him with Erik Randall, and the host of emotions that came with the knowledge that Erik was no longer with them. So she had no time to register there was a fucking huge-ass two-legged lizard in her haphazard path, therefore she aggressively introduced her nose and lips to his side, “HWAOUF!”

She bounced off him, the force of her impact as mighty as a feather against a mountain, even in armour, and she landed painfully on her rump, her TAC CONN helmet plopping on her head messily. Shunking it off, she crankily broke out with “Who in Sam Hill's name had da braht ideah ta place a green scaly wall of...oh howdy do...” said Meony when she finally noticed that the wall was actually a tiny godzilla. Tiny...for a Godzilla, still fucking huge for any other sentient. He looked strong enough to heft a Valkyrie or four and maybe juggle them, with the pilots inside. Scrambling to her feet, she gazed up at the Gorn thoughtfully, and then fixed her helmet on properly, bundling her hair into the suit, “Pardon meh, Ah hope Ah didn't hurt ya or anythin'. Fuck, Ah gotta run.”

With that, she was off, going for the Valkyrie that had the least decoration on it. She was Wolf Oh-Seven, so she remembered being told, and she listened to the SCO, Thomas Ravon giving the rundown. “Ass-Urine?” said Meony, “Geez do Ah feel sorry for 'em.”

She clambered into her fighter, but was unaccustomed to the tight fit compared to the liberal space of the shuttle, and soon found herself head first where her feet would be, while said feet were waving wildly in the air, “GAHD-DAMMIT! ARGH!” She struggled around and eventually got into position, quickly running her pre-flight checks. Eventually confirming all green to Thomas, “Only thing wrong is Ah ain't flahn out there yet!”

She keyed in the codex and looked up her wingmate, and addressed him on a private channel, “Wolf Eight, dis is Wolf Seven, ya all set there?”

[ CWO1 Sten Covington | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]

It was good to have a solid team working with him again. 

Yes, Sten had sent Ji away to Harbinger, thinking it would be best for the two of them to be separated after the incident with that pseudo-god they'd encountered earlier.  Oh, he had been  mistaken and badly so, but what was done was done.  And now that he had her back, he knew he had someone he trusted implicitly as the head of fighter power and propulsion.  And she was a quick learner, especially when it came to those bloody abortions from Knight's mind.  The Valravn fighter was fine on paper, but in the hangar of a ship where every cubic inch was at a premium?  Not so much. 

As for Herrod?  The man was clearly pining for his old Chief of the Deck, and it was clear he tried in small ways to make Theurgy's bay feel much like the one he'd lost on the Resolve.  As a rule it wasn't entirely bad, and he did run an effective weapons and ordnance section.  And, being the most qualified hand he had available, he was a good fit to step into the late Marquette's shoes as his right hand. 

So, when Yellow Alert blared and word to prepare fighters for launch came, they were already in motion to arm more than just the alert birds and to clear the flight line.  Initially, Theurgy's deck gang were all handpicked people.  A small few had come from the Mk III project and there were a few that were fresh out of training from the fighter support crew program, but mostly he'd drawn them from ships and starbases based not just on their performance, but their adaptability, ability to learn, and willingness to work hard.  It hadn't translated solely as the ones with the best personnel evaluations, but he knew he had a crack team under his leadership.  They had taken losses, and they'd had to integrated people from Harbinger and Resolve, and even start training a few hands from scratch, but they were his Bear Cubs. 

Stepping out of his office, Covington had a full-sized engineering PADD in hand as he started to review the birds as they were being prepped for launch.  And, to his people's credits, all were showing in the green... until... "NEKO!" He bellowed across the deck.  His was a powerful voice that needed no amplification.  "Power down your engines!  Weapons cold!  You got a red light on inertial dampeners!  Sithick, get in there and get them working!"  And further down the list he went, until another entry got his attention.  It was fairly minor, but it needed addressing.  Yes, it fell within the margins he had set, but it was still a little close to the edge of his tolerance standards (which, by all fairness, were much tighter than what Starfleet deemed acceptable).  "Shinigami, you're deadline!  Ji!  I'm seeing a bit more flutter than I'd like on the port impulse manifold.  In this mess it might not hold.  Don't have time for a rebuild so get me a quick fix, dealer's choice."

---

@Kaligos  for Sithick to jump into action!

[ K'Ren "Neko" (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=K%27Ren) | Wolf 06 | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]The last few days had been interesting to say the least, but K'Ren had little time to muse as she slipped her flight suit on over her undergarments. Unlike the various other bipedal species that populated the Federation, owing to the fur that covered them head to toe, Caitians were amongst a small group that wore an specialized undergarment beneath their flight suit. Designed to keep her fur from being pulled the wrong way, or caught in folds of the actual flight suit, it kept her comfortable while she was flying, letting her remain at peak performance. The suit itself was basically standard issue except for a small ergonomic bulge in the seat of the suit. Her tail had to go somewhere and tucking it down the leg of a form fitting hard suit had proven uncomfortable in practice, so a small bulge that her tail could comfortably tuck into had been devised.

The one small mental wandering she permitted herself was to think about Xander as she slipped on the upper part of the suit and locked the seals. She'd always thought about her mate when she'd gone on duty, and even about Liam when they'd launched in the battle around Starbase 84. Now she had a new mate, an unlikely companion but her heart was his, the bond her species felt had latched onto him and she wouldn't let him go if she could help it. K'Zin weren't much for ceremony, and so aside from a couple rituals to claim her, they'd spent most of the night instead curled up in each other's arms, consummating the union they'd made.

The suit now on except for the helmet, she always waited until she was at her fighter to put it on, a ritual she'd had since flight school, K'Ren trotted out to the flight deck and her new fighter. She'd seen her new squadron orders, given to her by padd when she'd reported to the holodeck earlier this morning for her check ride on the new (to her) Mk 3 Valkyrie. She'd passed that check ride, she wouldn't be here on alert if she'd not, and while she missed having a RIO to chat with on longer flights, she had to admit the improvements in the Mk 3 made the backseater redundant, and she didn't have to worry about risking a second life if she found herself outclassed in combat.

Settling into the seat of the fighter, placing her helmet on, K'Ren began her usual preflight alert checklist. She'd had very little warning about the alert so hadn't had time to check her weapons loadout beforehand but she knew Starfleet practice was to put a mixed bag of weapons on various fighters so most bases were covered on the alert birds. As she pulled up her loadout, she saw she was loaded for what looked like an assault or interdiction strike, her usual loadout had been supplemented with Quantum Torpedo's so whatever she was hunting today, was most likely large, capital ship size.

Now all that was left was for her to sit tight, and wait for launch orders, or hopefully, orders to stand down. Or at least she would have if she'd not heard an order bellowed over the comms to power down her fighter. She wasn't sure what she'd done wrong but complying with orders, she started the powerdown sequence of her fighter, making sure all weapons were safed as she looked over to the Flight Ops bay, wondering what was going on.

[P02 Sithick | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy] @CanadianVet ,@SummerDawn ,@Triage & @Blue Zephyr
[Show/Hide]
Sithick was taking down carts, cleaning the runway when he felt something lightly bump into him, he turned as the armor clad pilot bounced off his hip and landed on the ground, he extended a claw towards the pilot though when he noticed that it was a female he wanted to recind his offer. He still felt awkward around the fairer sex. When she was on her way he gently dusted his hip, the girl couldn't have been more than 90 pounds, even clad in a hundred pounds of armor he probably could have hefted her over his shoulder. Sithick himself weighed in at a modest 283 of muscle, kind of slim for a gorn, he probably could have crumpled her armor, and in truth he was a little worried that he had done more damage to her than she had to him.

Shaking his head he went back to clearing the deck before he heard his name, his head snapping towards Covington and nodding as he went to the bird in question the pad in his hand quickly pulling up Wolf 06 the mark III Valkyrie. While he had only become familair with the birds earlier this morning he was a quick study his life had been in service to a flotila each and every ship he had been aboard had been different.

The Orion crime syndicate had a few shuttles they had repurposed into warp raiders, and the klingon IKR program had been an infint dream back when he had been sold to the empire as a mech slave. Compared to any of those the Valkiries were infinitely more advanced. Still a ship was a ship, and inirtial dampeners were a nearly ubiquitious technology once you knew what you were looking for.

Taking a look over the bird it took him a moment to crack the engineering access panel to try and see what was mechanically wrong, finding the one part that had fallen out of alignment had taken him a moment, but as he fiddled with it, the red light he was seeing turned yellow, and  as he grabbed a decoupler and went to work on the the problem adjusting it until he had resynched the inertial dampeners on the Valkyrie the birds light going from a cautious yellow to a green, as he put the access panel back together.

"Good to go!" Though he did make a quick log note about it, a sensitive rear alignment of those could come apart in future repairs or got jossled hard enough, his fix would hold, but he wanted to do a full reset on them the moment they could get the  bird back.

[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton|  Fighter Assault Bay| Deck 16| Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Triage

Chris was simply sitting there in the quiet of his cockpit with his eyes closed as he tried to focus, his mind was cluttered with two concerns at that moment that his mind a whirling maelstorm that he really didn't need at the moment.

<Wolf Eight, dis is Wolf Seven, ya all set there?>

The accented drawl brought Chris out of his thoughts as he slowly opened his green eyes to see that the question was sent across a private channel which he clicked open. "Yeah Meony, I'm more ready for a fight then anything...need to go and heavily clear my head." Chris mused into the private channel as he did another weapons check, his fifth in two minutes it seemed.

He flexed his left hand a couple of more times, rotating it to keep the blood flow going as he sat waiting as he occasionally kept an eye on his communications. "I just wish that something would happen already, I could use the distraction of someone trying to kill me." he growled.
//////////////////////////////////////////

[LT Talidenai "Terror" zh' Idenna & LT JG T'Zantha "Sniper"| Fighter Assault Bay| Deck 16| Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: Tactical CONN


Amusingly enough, Tali was sitting in her own fighter thinking the same thing but for other reasons as the zhen was becoming increasingly bored with waiting as she started to drum her fingers across a section of her cockpit where there wasn't anything to accidentally trigger or caused a breakdown.

<Bored my dear?> came Sniper's voice through their private comm-channel.

"Of course I'm bored, T'Zantha, there's no electro shock therapy, no heavy drug usage, and most certainly no elevator muzak..." Tali grumped as she turned her head to look over at the first next to her as a vid-window appeared in her field of view of her lover's face. "Can you blame me for being bored?"

<No I cannot...but at least you're not like Pit Dameron though.> Sniper quipped back.

Now that brought a wince to Tali's face as she recalled the pilot in question. Pit was a good kid even though "Pit" was the shortened form of his name of "Pitonakis" and he was from Nova Roma, the son of Commodus, the head trainer of Tactical CONN pilots when Tali was at the Academy.

Pit had been assigned to the Harbinger at the same time that she and T'Zantha had been and instantly the zhen and the Roman officer had issues-namely with Pit automatically assuming that he was an ace due to his genetics much like his impressive good looks and other aspects...however that didn't stop him from being removed from the ship's airwing by Phanatos a month after Christopher had arrived on the ship.

"You know, I could go a century without ever hearing that name again." Tali said with a grimace in her voice.

<Fair enough...however you do need to stop worrying, things will be fine.> Sniper then continued, a hint of reassurance in her voice as she spoke. <We will survive this and then we can have drinks with our loved ones again.>

Tali looked over at her long time partner and then reached out to gently stroke the canopy, wishing that she could actually reach out and touch her as a faint smile crossed her face. "I would like that." was the only thing that she could think to say.

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]
@CanadianVet @Auctor Lucan @Kaligos

Sten was already commanding officers.  Now was go time, and she could understand that.  She listened as he got Sithick working on Neko's inertial dampeners.  It was something that would definitely be needed out there where ever the fighters were going.  It was important that all of the ships were in the most top of working order.  Systems were showing green all over the place, and she was glad for that.  Her boys had worked hard, she appreciated all the work that they did and after the battle she would probably orchestrate a Flight Deck party.  Once they were headed to some more neutral space and their jobs of the 'aftermath' of a fight like this was over with. 

She did that from time to time.  They all squeezed into one of the Vectors and had at the replicator.  It was good for morale, for people that wanted to bond, for people that wanted to just let their hair down.  She found that since she had started that from time to time the flight deck just worked far closer together. 

It was a brotherhood a family.

Ji heard her name, and her spine straightened.  Her dark eyes shifted to Liam for a moment, looking right in those pretty blue eyes of his.  Memories of their moments on the holodeck playing heavily in her mind.  She hoped that he didn't regret it.  She didn't.  It had felt right, finding something good with one another for a moment.  But, now was not the time to ask questions, or hope that things could maybe go further than a quicky in the holodeck.  Right now she had work to do.  She looked over at Sten who was still at nearly fully volume as he told Shinigami to stand down and that there was some flutter, that Ji had oddly not detected herself, in the port impulse manifold.

That it was up to her to fix it but not replace it.

Sure, why not.  Let me just pull it out of my ass and make it all better for you.  Need a bandaid..  Ji didn't voice any of her internal sarcasm as she turned to look over at her boss.  Her face, which had been open and warm when it looked at Liam only moments ago shut down to sheer professionalism at this point as she studied her boss for a moment. 

“On it.”

She took off, running through the deck and dodging through the various people that had found themselves on the deck for one reason or another.  Her boys were moving the tools and supplies off the deck so that when the fighters were warmed up and leaving the tools and shit wouldn't fly off into space.  Or be in the way of the fighters.  She found Jim, one of her big beefy guys and she held up a hand.  He stopped where he was dragging a cart of tools and parts over to the maintenance bay and she quickly grabbed up a belt, and strapped it onto her waist.  She filled it quickly with small parts that she thought she might need to fix this thing until they could actually replace it. 

“You need me to..?”

A look silenced him asking if he could take over the job she had been assigned.  She gave him a nod then.  “Get this off the deck and head to safety.  The fighters will be taking off soon.” she told him as she looked over at the fighter she needed to get into.  She rushed over to the large fighter and gave a quick wave to the pilot that was sitting in the cockpit so that she knew that Ji was there.  She sighed as she headed to the port and looked for the manifold. 

“Don't fry me Shin.” she said over her com unit as she pushed a maintenance ladder up to the back of the fighter so that she could more easily reach the manifold that she needed to make a little tighter.  She tested it with her fingers, and figured out how lose it was.  It wasn't really bad but if the pilot needed to shut off the air flow to certain systems this would not completely seal.  She thought about what she could do to make the valve tighter.  The flutter valve was important.  It needed to open and to close so that Shinigami could actually power the vessel and it would react accordingly. 

“Thea make note when Shinigami returns she needs a new port impulse manifold.” she said out loud so that it would not be forgotten on the maintenance logs.  It would be put on the 'To-do' list of the flight deck for when the woman returned.  For now though, she needed to show the reaction time.  First she grabbed her hydrospanner out of her belt and began to tighten the bolts a little bit.  She could see the weakness in the manifold, but as Sten said, they didn't have time to replace it.  Replacing the spanner into her belt she tested the manifold flutter valve again.

Better but... still needs a slight bit of slow down.

Reaching into her belt again she pulled out a pair of pliers and found the small male tab that protruded into a female port.  She reached behind the metal fastening carefully, and grabbed the male tab with her pliers.  It was an uncomfortable position to be in.  Elbow deep in a manifold chamber, shoved into a flutter valve, wrist twisted to grab the tab properly and flatten it just slightly, bending it to where it would take a bit more effort to close.  She pulled her arm back out of the manifold and checked it again.  It was much slower reaction, less flutter, but it still would function pretty much as normally as she could make it. 

Quickly, Ji slid down the ladder and pushed it off to the side.  “Jensen, get this ladder out of here.” she called out to one of the guys heading off.  He diverted his original path and collected the ladder from her as she rushed around the front of the cockpit giving Shinigami a thumbs up.  “Should be good to go.”

She jogged back across the flight deck.  Slayton should be out here.  I haven't seen him.  I hope he does well today.  I probably need to talk to him when he comes back. she thought to herself as she found herself back over where Liam stood.  She turned to Sten.  “It'll work now.  But I put it on the maintenance list for when Shinigami returns.  We'll replace the manifold all together.”

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: 1) @Blue Zephyr , 2) @Auctor Lucan , 3) @Tactical CONN

The gloved fingers of the lieutenant commander tapped away at the flight stick as the Valkyrie remained steady in it's slot. Ravon was waiting for the go ahead to break free and take his new pack out to open space. The wait was killing him... In the meantime he confirmed that nearly all ships had sounded off. Yet the lights flickered overhead, which caused him to roll his eyes up to the hangar bay's ceiling. The lights dimming as he frowned 'What the hell is going o-'

"Fighter bay, shuttle bay, scramble, scramble, scramble.  Weapons tight. Disconnect your computers from Thea immediately! Use on-board computer systems to link up all available craft, answer on this low-band frequency, and extend your shield bubbles to cover the vectors as best you can for radiation protection."

The voice of Trent was clear and Ravon made quick work to disconnect his ship from Thea's mainframe entirely. "You heard the XO, switch to low band and disconnect from the ship. Line up for departure weapons tight!" he ordered as he fired up his fighter and taxied out on the platform. His eyes came to rest at the hangar bays, which normally would've been sliding open by now. "Oh, for fuck..." His eyes darted around the Hangar bay as ships fired up their engines and started to roll out in position. "Sten!" Thomas shouted as loud as he could.

The Boss himself turned his head to the pilot and already nodded as he knew what he meant. The booming voice of the man echoes through the hangar bay, almostm atching the sound of the engines as he addressed  CPO Liam Herold "Herold! Get those blasted aft bay doors open for the fighters!" The moment he had shouted it, a second problem came to light in Sten's mind as he shook his head with a curse, "Ji! Get up there as well and get a structural integrity emitter up and working or we'll all be breathing space air!"

Breathing space air was the last thing they needed really. A full on vacuum pull would rip the entire hangar bay apart. People, carts, loose laying ordinance, anything not strapped in decently enough would just fling around the hangar bay and most definitely hit the fired up fighters with their payloads. A disaster like that would surely mean the end for Vector two before any fighting would even start. The distance to the bay doors was a while away, yet for one to actually know by heart where the closes structural integrity emitter was and to turn it on in time, it would surely be a race for the both of them.

Ravon looked around as he shook his head slightly and watched the rest of the birds line up to prepare for take off. He needed a game plan for when the doors would open. So as the deck hands did what they could to open the doors he addressed the squadron.

"Terror take Wolf 10 till 12 with you and get to Vector Three. Angel, you're taking everyone from Wolf 14 till 16 with you for Vector two together with Neko and Meony. Hardtop, Icarus, Husker, on me for Vector One. I'll take the lead after that I want cover for Vector Three and Lastly Vector two. Confirm and execute once the doors open."

"Lieutenant commander, we're having problems with our bay doors, expect a delay." was the reply Thomas got from the shuttle bays and he cursed "Confirmed, good luck. Split your group up as well and aid where needed." he replied to them.
Sten in the meantime signaled to Ravon "Sixty seconds!"

Thomas nodded and saluted the chief before he closed his canopy and readied himself for a quick departure. He hoped the deckhands had got their shit together. Sten always pushed them hard when it came to time limits, so there was a chance that they weren't ready yet. However, Sten never desired the impossible. He knew what his people were capable off. If not, this was going to be the quickest and most deadliest take off he had done in his career. Probably the last one as well.

[ Devyrie "Dragon" Okhala (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Devyrie_Okhala,_callsign_%27%27Dragon%27%27) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Tactical CONN
[Show/Hide]When the lights went out in the Fighter Assault Bay, Devyrie frowned, looking around at the other fully stocked and readied fighters.

"What's going on?" she said into her helmet, never having seen a fighter bay powered down that way before, on none of the ships and bases she'd served on.

[I have no idea,] said Fury behind her in the Valravn cockpit.

But then the First Officer spoke up, and Devyrie swore under her breath. They needed to get out there, and fast. She untethered her shipboard computer from any link with Thea, switched to low band comms, and then heard Ravon's orders. Ready for launch, sure, but those bay doors were still closed. Were they powered down as well? It seemed she was not the only one who saw it, as people from Sten's crew were running as quickly as they could towards the sides of those bay doors.

"I'll taxi her into position," she told Fury, throttling up their Valravn's thrusters along with the rest of the Lone Wolves Squadron. It was the first time the pack would go hunting together, and they couldn't even leave the fighter bay? Had she not heard the slight alarm in the voices of her superior officers, she might have found it funny...

...but if that structural integrity field outside the bay doors was powered down too? Then they would be launching in quite a different fashion than Tactical CONN Academy taught them. A cold shiver ran up her spine, and she realised she'd stopped breathing. They'll die, all of them out there... and Fury and I will be lucky if we pass through those bay doors without becoming scrap metal on the way.

[Jesus fucking Christ,] said Fury on their private channel, since he must have realised the same thing.

"This is Wolf One-One," she said on the squad channel, sounding calmer than she felt. "We're in position and ready to launch."

---

[ CPO Liam Herrold (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Liam_Herrold) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]It had taken Liam a moment to wrap his head around the magnitude of the situation, the feeling of pending disaster sneaking up on him. When the SCO and Covington gave their orders, however, Liam had fully realised that this would be no ordinary launch. If he'd had the time, he'd curse and pray - even if he wasn't that much of a religious man - but as it were, only action counted.

"Aye, Chief!" he said and he set off running towards the bay doors, but before he'd built enough momentum in his sprint, he made eye-contact with the Gorn technican that was in his path. There was no one more ideal for this task, and Liam minced no words in getting the help he needed. "You! Sithick! You're with me. Move it! Come on! Every damn second counts!"

And thus he ran, hoping that the Gorn could keep up with him, but not about to look behind him to check if that was the case. He couldn't see Ji, but he'd heard Sten's orders, so he tapped his combadge. "Herold to Ji! Oh, damn..." There hadn't been any chirp from the combadge, which meant it wasn't working. He tried to look over his shoulder as he ran, nearly stumbling as he did. He hoped his shout could be he heard over the roaring fighters. "Ji! Make sure the SI field is up! If not, we'll all be spaced. Give us some some kind of signal!"

There was no telling if she'd heard him, but he hoped it was not the last he'd seen of her.

He spotted the Gorn then, and mid-sprint, he tried to relay instructions. "The moment she lets us know, we release the mag locks and pull. Got it?"

---

OOC: Great post, Nolan! I think the most efficient order would be, from this post on, 1) @Blue Zephyr (Chief Ji activating the field) 2) @Kaligos (Sithick getting the doors open together with Herold + Icarus) 3) @Nolan (Razor ordering the launch and the pack splitting up between their designated Vectors) 4) All Wolves, but everyone are free to post ahead of time if they want to, of course!

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]
@Auctor Lucan @Kaligos @Nolan

It was time, the fighters were starting to move into position.  It's going to be crazy quiet when they're gone. she thought to herself as she stood there watching for a moment.  Just watching the beauty of the great birds as they moved and taxied themselves out of their slots and vectors and onto the main concourse which was thankfully, now, clear of all the debris of a Mechanical Deck.  She was glad that her men had gotten onto the job as quickly as they could and she would make sure that they were told so later.  Ji very much believed in the bonuses of positive re-enforcement rather than always negative criticism.  In a world like Starfleet it was so easy to get stuck on reprimands and less so on the fact that they also did good jobs.

Suddenly, she heard Herold's name called out calling her to jump.  Ji's eyes shifted to Liam as he seemed to take in the words and what needed to be done.  The blast doors were still closed and obviously the fighters could not take off with them in the way.  Liam seemed to select an Engineer to help him with getting them open and ready and then her own name was screamed.  She jumped again, not having really expected her own name to come forth from the Flight Deck's Chief as well.  She listened to her orders and gave a quick nod.

“On it.”

She didn't waste a minute, she was quick on the heels of Liam and Sithick as they headed across the bay to the same area.  She figured that this was the last job for a while.  At least while they prepped for whatever carnage would return, and it would.  They were probably going out there because they were needed, a fight or a patrol.. something.  There was never a mission that all the fighters and pilots returned complete and unharmed.  It just wasn't the way of this life.  As she moved she heard her name from before her, Liam's voice was easy for her to pick out, her heart slid up into her throat.  Wondering what he had to say.  She shouldn't have been, it was all business, that was them right now.  Working and business was all that mattered there would be time for kind words and plans later.

She darted through the other mechanics, the fighters getting into their positions and finally made her way up to the front where two pillars stood to the side ringed with computer units, and the emitter that would create the field allowing everyone not to be pulled out into space the moment the blast doors opened.  She stopped by the pillars and she looked over at the boys, they had just made it to the blast doors.  She gave Liam a nod when their eyes met and she looked down.

Fuck!  The computer system, I should have known!

The computer systems were all off line, she was going to have to turn it on manually.  She quickly reached underneath the ring of computer screens around the pillar and pushed the manual power button underneath.  Slowly, the back lighting on the screen in front of her began to flicker on. 

[Loading] it said with the dancing squares.  She dropped her head for a moment.  Come on.. come on... we don't have all day we have to get these fighters out of here.  Her eyes darted up to the boys at the doors again, she gave a shake of her head, and pointed to the computers.  It was too loud in here right now to scream out at them but she wanted to make sure that they understood.  Or at least they might have an inkling as to the fact that she was waiting for the damn thing to boot.  Finally, the UFP logo appeared on the screen and spun around twice before it disappeared.

[Login required....]

Mother fu... I swear to God I will get someone to reprogram this shit for emergency purposes if it's the last thing I do!

[JiES_PPC]

[Enter password]

Ji sighed.  [**************]

[Logging in.. please wait.]

If I thought my fist through the screen would make it happen any faster, I would risk the broken bones to do it.

[Welcome Chief Ji]

Ji didn't bother with the welcome message she tossed it to the side with a quick swipe across the screen and began to tinker with the various areas of the menus so that she could find the field emitter.  How it had been forgotten she didn't know but she supposed in the mayhem it just had been.  Quickly she pulled up the emitter and looked at the menu.  She could turn it on, or she could test it.  She bit her lower lip.  I can't afford an accident.  She clicked to run a quick test of the system.

[You have selected to test the Emitter Field System, do you wish to proceed?]

[Y]

[Testing in progress.....]

Ji tapped her fingers on the metal casing surrounding the screen. 

[Testing...]

Ji's leg was bouncing at this point, shaking from the sheer will not to push her head through the screen but finally.

[Testing complete, no known errors detected.]

Ah there is a God today.

She quickly pushed the button that took her out of the diagnostic screen and back to the field emitter screen.  She quickly punched the button that said Initiate Emitter.

[You have selected to initiate the Field Emitter.  Would you like to proceed?]

[Y]

A million times Y just get the fucking thing up!

[Emitter initiated in 3...2....1....Emitter initiated.]

Ji let out a long and slow breath, then looked over at Liam and gave him the thumbs up.  It probably hadn't taken that long but it felt like it had taken forever.  She rushed over to see if they might need any help.  Staying close wouldn't hurt, and if they needed extra muscle she was close by. 

“Good to go.” she said outloud incase the thumbs up had been misunderstood somehow.

[P02 Sithick | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy] @CanadianVet ,@SummerDawn ,@Triage & @Blue Zephyr
[Show/Hide]
Software all over the ship was going nuts, Sithick watched in an odd state of fascination and horror as programming and screens failed on almost every pad and device that he was dealing with. However with all the birds that needed to get out of the ship it wasn't long before he had to put himself into motion. Other people were better qualified to work the ship into recovery mode.

Their chief engineer had a contingency for this type of thing named after some sort of earth amphibian. He had read the memo that had been passed around, and understood the basic idea, but as they were in MVAM right now the sword was going to be on it's own, and that meant they had to figure out some other way to fix the computer core.

He wasn't part of the engineering staff, and he wished his fellows luck in that matter, turning all of his attention to the problem at hand.

They had sixteen birds to get in the air, and the doors were locked.

Sithick started moving, and it seemed everyone else on the floor had the same idea. He joined with CPO Liam Herold, as they ran to the doors, waiting for Ji's command that the doors could be opened without the risk of exposure to the cold death of space. He had survived in a near vacuum before. But that was through careful exposure and the elimination of oxygen over time. While he was sturdy enough to be frozen and than revive, and his internal organs were designed with enough cushioning that nothing would burst he had no intention of trying out what would happen with a sudden and complete vacuum exposure.

The software was still fractured, so Herold and Sithick would have to use the manual overrides, with mag-locks this was a lot like throwing a switch. Thanks to the fact that the Federation worked on a tower of babel, with millions of languages and cultures from hundreds of different worlds everything that was designed to be operated in a crises had clear pictures. Throw switch disengage locks, after that there was a crank to open the doors manually.

The switch on Sithick's side gave way easily. The Gorn's raw strength meant that the door had little resistance to offer against him. Liam's was slower going, and the crank had to be worked together. It wasn't something drilled, or even thought about often.

Note to self: Talk to engineering, emergency drills and maintenance for stuck doors.

Slowly but steadily the heavy doors split apart, the now reinforced shields coming to life as the doors opened keeping the air on their side in. As soon as it was large enough for the first Valkyrie to let fly Sithick waved Ravon onward. "Get them out!"

He shouted over the roar of the engines half unsure if anyone could even hear him. As the two engineers continued to get the door completely open.

Today was gonna be a long day if they lived through it.

[ CWO1 Sten Covington | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]
@Blue Zephyr @Auctor Lucan @Kaligos @SummerDawn @Nolan

Sten watched as his team went into action on his command.  Sithick was the first to arrive to his task and he watched on PADD as the Gorn worked on Neko's Valkyrie.  He knew that the kid was brand new in the fighter bay but he was trusting he would help get these birds into the air.

"We have a Yellow Light.. almost there Gorn!  We need to launch yesterday, lets get it going!"

He bellowed loudly as he watched the progress on his PADD, enlarging a more detailed View of Wolf 06's systems as he worked.  He saw the lights all go green at the same time that Gorn did and heard him yell over all the ruckus in the room.

"Confirmed, we have a go on Wolf 06.  Wolf 06, Neko, you are clear to restart pre-flight checks and power up!"

He then turned his gaze towards the flutter and Ji just now arriving at Shinigami and the issue she needed to fix.  His thoughts went back to all that had happened in the last few days, and indeed his whole history with Ji.  The events not even involving her in the last couple days had made him rethink a few things and how he had been pretty hard on her because of how he felt and not anything that she had really done.  He resolved when things calmed down he would have a personal word with her.  He heard her give the all clear and bellowed:

"Good Job Ji!"

The the gravity of the situation hit him like a ton of Bricks..

"The shit has hit the fan, lets get the field up and doors open!"

Hey yelled as his team was already springing into action.  He watched as they worked fluidly together.  Yes he had noticed the looks that Ji had been giving Liam.. He knew his chances with her were over.  He hoped he could salvage a friendly personal relationship with her, but was happy if she was happy.  He would give them the normal talk about keeping it Low Key since he was her reporting officer as his assistant.  With lots of cursing, Ji got the field up, and Sithick got the doors open.

"Ravon, you heard Sithick, we are good to go.. and within the sixty seconds.. Mostly..."

He smirked.  He had a great team!

----------------------------------------------
OOC.  Please PM me as this was my first Mission Critical post if you see anything I need to work on or if I missed anything I need to do or should not be doing.  Thanks

[LT Talidenai "Terror" zh' Idenna & LT JG T'Zantha "Sniper"| Fighter Assault Bay| Deck 16| Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Nolan , Tactical CONN


Tali had a bad feeling as she remained sitting in her fighter after he talk with Sniper, it was like a strange sensation that started from her antenna and then began to power its way all the way down to her toes.

At that point the message came down from command to scramble and about disconnecting form Thea which Tali quickly did without hesitation and then checked the ship to ship communications. "Sniper, are you there?"

<I'm here but I believe that I must echo an old saying of Christopher's by saying that I have a bad feeling about this.> came back the vulcan's comment.

"I concur entirely." was the only thing that Tali as she then started to follow the rest of the orders. "I want you to stay safe out there, k'hat'n'dlawa." Tali said to her wing man as she quickly cast one last look at her partner's bird before going back to what she was doing.

Everything about this scramble was only serving to make the unease that was starting to grow in her stomach even worse with first this scramble because the ship had been found by these Asurians and then the order to unhook from Thea, Tali honestly didn't know what was going on but something in her gut was telling her that something was truly rotten in that human state that apparently all things lived in...Denmark was it?

When Razor's orders came through squadron's channel, Tali forced all other thought out of her mind as he clicked into the squadron's channel. "Terror to Razor, I confirm and stand ready." but as she manually closed the channel, she noticed something that bothered her;

Her right hand was shaking slightly.

This never happened to Tali before and as she clenched it tightly, she closed her eyes to focus on what needed to be done and when she opened them again the shaking was gone again.

"What brought that on?" she asked herself quietly in the confines of her own cockpit.
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[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton|  Fighter Assault Bay| Deck 16| Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Blue Zephyr , @Even Angels Cry , @Nolan , @SummerDawn , @Hastata-Nerada , @Kaligos , @Triage , and @Auctor Lucan


Tali wasn't alone at feeling an unease at the situation as Chris sat in his own cockpit, being alone with his thoughts as he watched everything going on around him like he was in a type of limbo and while he knew that he could open a channel and talk to anyone like he was hearing over the combination of both the usual squadron banter and the orders being passed around.

But a specific feeling crept into him, reached through the armor of his suit, through the fabric of his uniform, and through even the meaty parts of his scarred back to grasp his spine and it's collection of nerves directly with it's icy nails penetrating all the way through to the very core of his nerves.

It was the same feeling on the eleventh day after Gowron's declaration that the Federation had ten days to withdrawl from the Archanis sector that lead him to spend two years in Rue Penthe, two years of his life lost and unable to ever get back.

That same feeling he got when he walked into the squadron's ready room on the Harbinger to find Riptor bragging about raping a woman to death and the other members of his squadron asking Riptor how it was, how tight was she, and other such dark matters before he launched himself onto his own friend, steel like fingers tightening around Riptor's throat.

That same feeling he got when he saw that the only choice was to ram the cursed Harbinger into the Calamity, killing so many of his now former crew mates who had fallen to Vasser's stupidity and how he had done that without a second thought, personally entering the commands that would allow the Akira-class carrier to keep on a stead path to destroy the other ship.

Chris closed his eyes and fought back the wave of fear that sudden envoloped him, that shook him, that made his soul twist in the night as all of those things started to come down upon him.

But in this temporary limbo, Chris thought of the people that he had come to care about since joining the ship like the confidence that Ravon had in everything or Alessia's newly found and treasured friendship or Cameron's warm faith in him all the way to Tali's ever present assuredness that everything would be alright or T'Zantha's private little ghost of a smile that only appeared when an abstract idea like "faith" was called into things...

...And Ji.

Even though the unfamiliar feelings that coursed through him made his soul, as shattered and jagged through all the things that he had done over the course of his life to date, he was glad that she was in his life and he knew that everything would be okay..especially with that smile that she gave him at the start of breakfast before everything went sideways.

He knew that after all of this, they would talk and everything would be alright.

It was then a new thought came into his mind, something that he knew that he would finally be able to do once this battle to come would be over and that dashed some of the fears away from him as he felt his razor like sharpness to return to him.

He had a REASON to return to the ship.

Chris then quickly tapped out a text message to Ji and like the video before it, sent it directly to the PADD that she kept on her, telling her to be careful as he had a bad feeling about the possible battle to come.

After sending it, he then heard the order about disconnecting from Thea which made him glad that he had sent the message because he didn't know much about the Asurians and simply hoped that this wasn't some kind of messed up electronic warfare like Liquidius had mentioned happened during the war with the Dominion, how occassionally the enemy forces would attempt to scramble Alliance forces' communications.

As he quickly started to make the adjustments for assistance without Thea's aide, Husker then heard the new orders come down from Razor and blinked a couple of times as he tried to understand exactly what was going on. "Husker to Razor, orders confirmed. I'm on your wing." he said into the squadron's channel.

Husker then opened up a private channel up to Alessia's fighter. "I don't know what's going on, Mi querido amigo, but be careful none the less alright?" he said into the channel.
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[LT JG Cameron "Witch King" Ward|  Fighter Assault Bay| Deck 16| Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Nolan


To say that Cameron was bored was a slight understatement, he had been on the front lines of the Dominion War and had been there at the first battle of Chin'Toka, staring down the disruptor ports of Galor and Selek-class Cardassian warships as he flew against the toughest pilots that the Jem'Hadar breeding cache's could shove out.

To put it simply Cameron knew that a dire struggle was coming and it was singing loudly in his blood which was the only time that he could show emotion because once the battle came he was just like his callsign was from the novel it came from;

Cold, silent, effectiant.

He was a dark rider upon a steed of steel and fire.

"Cameron, getting orders passed down that we have to disconnect from Thea and link up with our on board systems to the rest of the squadron." Aria said from her seat.

Cameron didn't say anything at first but quickly did as the orders said while Aria focused more on the communications aspect of their fighter and once that was done, he finally spoke up with "Wonder what that was all about?"

Aria shook her head, "I don't know but it must have been important though." she said before setting the communications frequency to match what the ship's executive officer had said to do and sent back a confirmation.

"Very true, Aria my dear, but I just hope that we do something soon because I'm really getting..." Cameron then started to say when Razor spoke in his ear with squadron reassignments about the Vectors. "Maybe I should really watch what I ask the universe for eh?"  he quipped.

Aria chose not to respond as she simply opened up a channel to Razor. "This is Aria, sitting RIO in Wolf one six, orders are heard and confirmed, lead."

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Even Angels Cry, @SummerDawn, @DocReno & @Kaligos
[Show/Hide]How on Earth do things fuck up so badly on this ship? Was Kendrick ever this harried? She was beginning to think if it took just days for this much shit to hit the fan so frequently here, she might be better off some place else. She was running her pre-flight checks when the lights began dimming and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise up. Everyone was scrambling around, the doors were stuck. Was Thea malfunctioning? They were conducting repairs to her after all the beating she'd taken. She began to miss being able to participate in the conversation with senior officers and observe on the bridge like she used to on the Resolve. It wasn't standard protocol, but Kendrick felt the situation beyond Federation space called for extraordinary choices.

“Ah, da fuck with it all!” said Meony, “Ah'm gettin' out there!”

She completed the last of her check list in haste and powered the craft, feeling a brief thrum as the engines began to warm. She received the tactical message, and she obediently disconnected her computers, linking with the other fighters using the fighter's on-board computer. Thomas Ravon was soon issuing instructions and orders, and she chimed in once she could, “Orders confahmed, Razor!” She keyed in a private message direct only to Chris Slayton, “Watch yer six, Huskah!”

Switching off any open channels she whooped when she saw the big Gorn had the doors opening and waving through the fighters. “YEEEEEEE-HAAAAAH!” Once she had a clear path ahead, she gunned her fighter through the field and was soon back among the stars, “Did y'all miss me?” she asked them, “Well don't ya worry none, no sirree! Cause Meony's back and bettah than evah!”

She easily steered her craft, adjusting for the sensitivity and greater maneuverability of the Valkyrie compared to a Type-8 shuttle, and headed for her assigned Vector. She didn't rush in, but waited to trail Alessia "Angel" Garcia and K'ren, and she prepped her shields for a spreadshare, briefly missing her shuttle and its myriad of capabilities, amongst which included shield-sharing. “Let's see what ya cain do, sugah!” said Meony to her craft, and she kept her eyes open, sending a message to Alessia, “Ready an' waitin'!”

LT JG Alessia Garcia, Callsign "Angel", Wolf 13 - Flight Leader (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/thumb/9/9b/Alessia-Garcia-04.png/250px-Alessia-Garcia-04.png) |  Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Auctor Lucan , @Triage , @DocReno , @SummerDawn , @Nolan
[Show/Hide]

The yellow klaxon chimed as Alessia stripped in the locker room. Her shirt and pants came off in a hurry and she flung them into her locker.  Shoes were next, until she was standing in just her black underwear and black sports bra.  It was a common look for her in the locker room.  Each pilot preferred different under armor for their flight suit.  Alessia preferred this for undetermined flight lengths and her bodysuit for shorter ones.

She caught a glimpse of Dev undressing and her breath hitched.  That woman was still beautiful.  Why hadn't she looked for Dev yesterday?  Alessia wasn't sure.  Maybe because she wasn't sure about them.  Or maybe she had a busy day and just wanted to relax a little on her own.  No matter her reasons, she was grateful for their rendezvous.  She flashed a sweet smile at her lover as their eyes locked, then looked away blushing.  She'd open a line to Dev if she got the chance.  If not, she'd talk to her after this.. whatever this was.

Alessia finished dressing, double checked her suit with the help of Karma, and then ran to her valravn.  A tech was there, crouched beside her wing.  From the ordnance lying around, she guessed he was refreshing her packages.  As she neared, however, she noticed he wasn't alone.  He was talking to someone, but she couldn't see them.  "Hola!  Gracias, amigo.  Just a refresh, or did you do a full switch out?"  She had a preferred load out of 2 Mk I Hellbourne torpedoes, 2 HellHound cluster bombs, 1 EMP Torpedo, 1 ECCM Emitter and 2 Mlk XXVII Photon torpedo Launchers.  Hopefully he hadn't changed anything on her.

"I got us 2 Mk Q-IV Quantum Torpedoes this time.  Had to swap out one Hell-suite, but I hear it will be worth it."

Alessia froze in her tracks.  Her eyes glanced up.  She knew that voice.  She hadn't seen him in 2 days.  He'd been ill, but she'd been unable to pay him a visit until today, and sickbay was in such disarray that she had to leave before finding him.  Carefully, she circled around her fighter until she saw those steely blue eyes and his charming grin.  "Sehl!!!  Mi cucaracha!!  Dios mio!!¹"

She ran to him and flung her arms around his neck.  There were tears in her eyes as she hugged him.  His arms wrapped around her as well and squeezed her tightly.  "It's alright, Angel.  I'm alright now.  I already did our pre-flight walk around.  Let's get in.  We can continue this reunion in the air."

Alessia squeezed him one more time for good measure.  But he was right of course.  They had a job to do and a threat to respond to.  She kissed his cheek and let go, then circled back to her ladder and her helmet.  Once she and Sehl were strapped in, she powered on her bird and began her pre-flight checks.  Basic diagnostics, COMM systems, navigation and weapons all powered on with green status.  Shields, dampeners and sensors reported no issues.  Internal and external diagnostics were green.  No issues with structural integrity or exosuit functions.  The wireless links were in place, as was their connection to Thea.  Everything looked good.

Before she had a chance to give the green light, however, Razor's voice came in loud and clear over her COMM channel.  ["Afternoon pilots.  As you might've heard the yellow alert has been sounded. The reason for this is that the Asurians have located us and are currently hailing our ship. We are on stand by should the situation escalate. Therefor run your preflights and report in when there are any problems or when you checked out for flight. Razor out." ]

That was her cue.  "This es wolf uno-tres², all systems online and functioning properly.  We are green to go."  She listened as the rest of the pack made similar reports.  It was happening.  They'd been found and now they were facing a terrible enemy.  She was unaware what the might of the Asurians might look like, but she prayed it was nothing like the wrath of Starfleet.

"Jesus Angel, I was only out for two days!"  He spoke with a mirthful tone, but Angel knew better.  She shook her head.

"Lo siento³, Sehl.  It's been a rough couple of days.  I slept with Dragon.  I got in a work out with Irnasall and Covington.  I went windsurfing with Icarus.  I shared a hot springs with Striker.  And I told Husker my secret."  She would go into more detail later of course.  He would demand all the gossip.  For now, she felt like just glossing over the highlights was enough.  It had been a busy two days.

"YOU DID WHAT!?  Oh my god Angel!  I should leave you alone more often!  Heh, so tell me... how did it feel to go on so many dates?"   He teased his pilot as she protested.  "Seriously though, you slept with Dragon?  I see the appeal but I didn't think you were into women."

Alessia shrugged.  "I didn't think I was either.  It just kind of happened."  That wasn't a lie.  It had just happened.  It was an accident.  A wonderful, amazing accident.  But how to explain it to Sehl without giving away too much?  "It was.. she was.."

The flickering lights caught Alessia's attention and paused her train of thought.  'What on earth is happening?'  Almost immediately, she heard the XO's warning.

["Fighter bay, shuttle bay, scramble, scramble, scramble.  Weapons tight. Disconnect your computers from Thea immediately! Use on-board computer systems to link up all available craft, answer on this low-band frequency, and extend your shield bubbles to cover the vectors as best you can for radiation protection."]

"On it!  Disconnect in three.. two.. Bird in stand alone mode, disconnect complete.  Fighter scrambled and ready.  Establishing flight link... Flight link established.  Activating shields now.  Shields active. Ready to roll, boss."  Sehl was on it.  He'd had 2 days to recover.  Which meant two days of sitting around waiting to be let go, waiting to come back to the FAB and help.  He was itching for this flight. 

Alessia fired it up and taxied their fighter out in line with the others waiting for departure, but no one had moved yet.  The bay was jammed with birds trying to move and not being able to.  What was the hold up?  Then she saw it.  The doors!  Alessia parked her bird on the runway and sat, annoyed.  They needed to go.  They had the green light, so why weren't the doors open?  Thank god someone had noticed!  She couldn't even imagine the tragedy that could have happened if someone had flown into the doors while they were still down.

"Why aren't the doors open?  What are these people doing?!  Don't they know we have to get out there?!"  Sehl was annoyed.  She could hear it in his voice.  Alessia was too, but she needed to be calm, to be a leader. 

"They'll figure it out, just give them a minute.  The computers are probably offline.  I'm sure that's why we had to disconnect from the ship.  I should probably reach out to my team, huh?"  It was a rhetorical question.  Sehl knew that, but he said yes anyway.  Alessia took a breath and prepared to give an encouraging word to her squad when a private channel started flashing.  She opened the line.

[ "I don't know what's going on, Mi querido amigo, but be careful none the less alright?"]

It was Husker.  She exhaled with relief.  "I'm rubbing off on you eh?  It's only been a few hours But yes, you too.  Por favor, ten cuidado.⁴  You have a reason to come back.  No lo olvides."⁵  She closed the channel.  It had been short, but she felt bolstered now.  She was ready to encourage her team.

"Hola amigas y amigos.  I trust everyone is green to go.  In case you didn't see, the doors are shut.  As soon as they open and the path clears, we fly out of here and circle to vector two.  We'll use our shielding to protect it from radiation.  Keep your weapons tight until the order is given."  As she spoke, the doors began to move and once they were open far enough, the fighters began taking off.  "Vamos muchachos!⁶  I'll see you among the stars!"

The hard words were spoken. Now it was time for a few softer ones.   She sent a private message to Icarus.  "Be careful out there." 

Then she did the same for Dragon. "Dev.. when this is over we need to talk.  So please, be careful. I want to see you again."

Alessia had an opening now and she taxied her fighter down the FAB and shot out the doors.  Her valravn soared into the swirling blackess of space once more, with Sehl woo-hooing behind her.  As she circled around to form up with her team, Meony pinged her.

["Ready an' waitin'!"]

They were in good spirits, which was a great sign.  She answered back on her team channel.  "Ok mis lobos⁷.. Shinigami, Witch King, Catscratch, Meony, Neko.. form up on me.  We have to protect Vector two!  Vamos!

---

1. My cockroach!  Oh my God! - cucaracha is Alessia's endearing nickname for Sehl
2. one-three, or thirteen
3. I'm sorry
4. please be careful
5. Don't forget
6. let's go, guys/ come on, guys
7. my wolves
8. let's go/ come on

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ]

As the squadron reported in with acknowledging orders, Thomas scratched the list off in his head. 'Well, this all great and all, but I just need to get this fucking bunch out there now.' he thought to himself as he watched his newly acquired sister run off while the Gorn and other chief ran to the bay doors. Surely, the Gorn was a great idea to have him around the fighter bay, especially in these conditions. Yet where the hell had they acquired a freaking Gorn?!

It were troubles for later or perhaps even another days as the doors slowly cracked open. The doors opened more and more and he figured he could throttle up and barge out with probably scraping his wingtips at the doors. The alternative was powering up his weapons to make a hole big enough to fly out. The latter plan would probably not be taken in kind by a lot of people, yet it was a failsafe that he kept in the back of his mind.

"Ravon, you heard Sithick, we are good to go.. and within the sixty seconds.. Mostly..."

As the all clear was given, Ravon nodded and saluted to Sten. Even if it wasn't a thing the old man liked, it was sort of tradition. The engines rumbled and with a jolt the fighter of Ravon speared forward. The gear retracted mid take off and he was the first one out as he looked back for a split second to watch the rest follow in succession. "Control,, fighter bay is unleashing the pack. Elements are moving in position. Standing by or further orders." he informed Trent and whomever was listening.

He watched the squadron split up as directed and he circled once for the rest of his wing to form up. Once acquired he jolted off to Vector 01. "Take your positions and hold on tight wolves. Keep the chatter to a minimum and stay safe. Wolf zero-one out."he concluded with a message to the rest of them as he adjusted his shields. As he made his approach to Vector one he caught something in his peripheral vision. It was something he hadn't seen before in his life and his eyes narrowed a little at the size and outline of it. The Asurian saucers were present as well, yet somewhat harder to notice against the darkness of space. Yet what drew most of his attention was the gigantic beast that decloaked and took a physical form over the Vectors. The sheer magnitude of it was hard to fathom as it was bigger than anything Thomas had ever seen. It sent a cold shiver down his spine.

"What kind of a shitstorm did we fly into now..." he murmured in the confines of his helmet as he complied what Carrigan had ordered them to do. Though he doubted that whatever they were going to do, would have very little effect if the ship would engage them.

[Ens Nathanial "Icarus" Isley | Wolf 0-4 | Fighter Assault bay] Attn: Tactical CONN
[Show/Hide]
When the order came to disconnect from thea's main computer Icarus obliged quickly, getting ready to launch only to find himself in a parked line up of planes. He sat for a moment tapping his foot like a commuter in mid day traffic a thing that hadn't existed in over two hundred years.

For a moment he thought of opening his hatch and yelling at the bird in front of him but knew that it wasn't their fault. The doors, the computers, hell this entire ship had somehow managed to go strait to hell in a hand basket.

The weird thing was the voice at the back of his head.

I hope Eve is okay.

The thought made him pause. She was a program, a virtual tool, and yet he was sitting in his bird thinking about her. He could see Angel's bird a few feet back, and yet he didn't really think about her as much. Of course he wanted her and her Rio to come back alive, but even after the date the two of them had been on, he didn't really have the same thought. Maybe it was because Eve was a program thus she was vulnerable to whatever the hell was happening outside of their birds, or maybe it was that he had subconsciously chosen the red headed medical hologram as someone he could trust more easily.

He wasn't really sure.

He listened to Ravon as their tasks would be dolled out. He wasn't an element leader anymore, rather he was the bottom rung, and he had never been more grateful for his demotion than he had been right now. It eliminated a lot of the things he was originally supposed to be responsible for.

Right now all he had to focus on was his bird, keeping formation, and sticking with Ravon. When the doors finally opened, and they started flying it actually felt more at ease out in space. "Wolf zero four launched."

Icarus took up position on Razor's left wing keeping with the classical and well practiced ^ formation. He was bringing a crud ton of missiles to this fight, but for now had to hold his fire against the enemy contacts.

[ Devyrie "Dragon" Okhala (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Devyrie_Okhala,_callsign_%27%27Dragon%27%27) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Tactical CONN
[Show/Hide]Before the bay doors had fully parted for the Lone Wolves, Devyrie had heard Angel on her private channel.

[Dev.. when this is over we need to talk.  So please, be careful. I want to see you again.]

Her heart had skipped a beat in hearing those words, and then she smiled, thinking that it had all been in her head that Alessia wasn't interested in picking up where they had left things after that first night aboard their new ship. The rumours that Angel had been with two others guys were all false. She should have known. How could she have doubted her? She had no idea what had kept Angel from saying anything until right then, when they were heading out into the fray, but did it even matter? Despite the worrisome development where the fighter bay had been powered down, and the risk they ran of being vented into space since the SI field had gone down, Devyrie felt like the could take on anything. She bared her teeth and replied.

"Dragon to Angel. I look forward to flying with you again," she said ruefully in her Alpha Centauri accent, since both their callsigns had wings, and it ought to be plain that she wasn't referring to their current launch. Not to her RIO, however, since she wasn't ready to tell Fury what had happened just yet.

Then, the line before them vanished, and the bay doors were cleared. "Launch thrusters online, preparing to switch to impulse," she told the trusted officer behind her in the cockpit, and then the Valravn accelerated to to launching speed. She cleared the bay doors and they were flying through the nebula. Orders were to enter a shieldspread together with the rest of the squadron, to protect the different vectors from radiation exposure.

"Dragon to Terror, approaching Vect-"

Then, mid-call to their flight leader, Devyrie Okhala vanished from of her cockpit - dematerialising in a shimmer of light.

And before the Lone Wolves, something immense seemed to be decloaking. A ship that dwarfed the Theurgy, large enough to make Thea look like a Runabout. It was of such magnitude in proportion that it didn't fit within the realm of comprehension for the pack. A prey larger than they'd ever hunted before in either of their pack. White and black, almost insect-like in form, it appeared like it could hold over fifty thousand souls or more.

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/3/39/EP05CH01.png)

---

OOC: Another post coming up with Liam Herrold! :)

[ CPO Liam Herrold (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Liam_Herrold) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]If it hadn't been for the Gorn, the fighter bay door would have taken a lot longer to open. As it were, Liam had put all he got into cranking the bay door mechanism to not leave the Gorn doing all the work. He was not some soft line officer, and he pulled as much weight as his crew of technicians, so while he was no match for the Gorn in brute strength, he compensated in tenacious endurance. He did not let up a moment for rest until the doors were fully open, even if he thought he'd pull something in his shoulders. Then, when the Lone Wolves finally launched, Sithick, Ji and him were right there as they passed them by, and Liam looked out into the Azure Nebula after them - the structural integrity field all that separated him from the lethal vacuum outside the doors.

"Lucky to have you here, Sithick. Well done," said Liam, quite winded, and jumped down to the deck of the fighter bay. Then he turned his head to Ji by the computers. "Are you okay?"

He realised, belatedly, that it might have been the wrong question to ask, showing his concern for her so publicly, but no more had he realised his error than he saw something happen out there in the nebula. It was... it looked like an oblong, white planet was materialising out of nothing, until he realised that it was a ship. A colossal ship, and it had to be decloaking. "What in the name of..."

He trailed off, and as he looked towards Ji, he saw something behind her shoulder - his light blue eyes leaving her face... and widening.

Right there on top of the Lone Wolves' Squadron's insignia, in the middle of the fighter bay's deck, seven dark figures materialised - shimmering into existence. One of them stood a head taller than the others, and none of them remained standing still where they had appeared. There was a loud crack, static in the intercom system, and then, a contralto, alien voice was resounded through the fighter bay - as loud as the engines had roared before the fighters had took off. While the speakers amplified the words, the tone sounded almost hushed - the speaker's voice quiet.

[Remain where you are,] said the voice, and all seven moved towards the maintenance bay on the starboard side of the fighter bay - the area that had been dedicated to the Reaver-class fighter the Theurgy crew had obtained from the USS Calamity. [The Vigilant of Sa have no interest in you.]

They all appeared to wear the same kind of dark exosuit, and from a distance, Liam could not make out much behind the glass of their helmets. The tallest one led the way into the maintenance bay, but four of them straggled, watching the Starfleet officers in the fighter bay with strange looking weapons in their hands. Liam clenched his jaw, having an idea what they were after, even if he didn't know who they were. They had often had boarders on the Resolve, and this was no different. Evidently, they were about to take the Reaver. More troublesome, however, was the fact that the craft was one of the few pieces of evidence they had to prove the existence of the parasite usurpers.

"They are about to take the Cinsaj," he said to Chief Ji and Sithick, and he made eye-contact with Covington on the far side of the fighter bay. Could they truly afford to loose the Reaver? Without Thea online, could they even do something about it?

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OOC: @JosiahDorn Will Covington really let these bastards take the Cinsaj? ;) Highest kill setting on phasers would do damage to their exosuits, but it would take more than one bolt/beam to penetrate the layers that protect their bodies.

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]Meony was happily flying her craft in formation, and she set herself in place and settled in for what was a relatively easy job. If there was any fighting to be done with those funky saucers, well, she'd get to that when the time came. She vaguely remembered seeing some of them back at the starbase during the battle, apparently arriving with Thea. The days following up from that battle still fresh in her mind, made her wonder what happened, since it seemed like they were working together with Thea. But then, they were called Ass-urine...maybe they were just a buncha sorry cowpokes.

Or was that sore cowpokes?

Whatever.

She had just been about to communicate with Angel on what was going on with Thea, and why the launch bay doors didn't open automatically earlier, when the biggest honking battle axe, calm-as-you-please, showed up and parked overhead. Meony's eyes rolled in the most unbelievably dramatic slow-mo in history, whilst her jaw gradually lowered itself so that it could kiss the base of the Valkyrie's floor. “Saints, man!” said Meony, hazel eyes studying the enormity of the blade ship, and the unbelievable fact of its presence. “Well, Ah'm callin' it, we're fuuuuuuucked...”

Now where was that self-destruct button? Better yet, where was her gun? She figured pulling the trigger on a phaser set to vape in her mouth was probably better.

[ K'Ren "Neko" (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=K%27Ren) | Wolf 06 | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] @Triage
[Show/Hide]K'Ren saluted the deck officer when she was given the goahead to power up. Even with the modern capabilities of communication, some things remained the same and the flightdeck was no exception. Hand signals could be seen even when comms were down, and on the Resolve, that had been the case more often then not, usually due to jamming by threat forces. She knew her launch routine, and as she was given the go ahead, taxied into her slot in the launch sequence.

The wait wasn't long, and soon enough she was given the order to launch. As soon as her light went green, K'Ren pushed her throttles to full, feeling the thrust push her back into her seat. Even with the interial compensators on the craft, she was a pilot who prefered to feel her fighter and dialed down the IDF system just a shade, enough to feel the craft through her flight suit.

Once clear of the launch bay, K'Ren formed up on Meony's wing. Normally she'd have been paired with Salvo but as she'd not seen him in the launch sequence, and with Husker assigned a different vector, Meony made as much sense as anyone else. She waggled her wings for her flight lead, before breifly going on the comms. "On your wing Meony. Husker is with Vector 1 and Salvo's MIA." she remarked, not knowing he was off ship already in the Sabine, out in the nebula somewhere.

[CPO Eun Sae Ji |  Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]
@Auctor Lucan @JosiahDorn @Kaligos

The doors were opened, she could see them struggling but between the Gorn and Liam they were able to get the doors open and luckily her field held.  She relaxed slightly against the computer console for a moment trying to stay out of the way as the fighters began to depart the bay.  She was just glad that everything was coming together.  They had all worked so hard, she could use a coffee, probably something to eat and start working on the things they would need as the fighters began to return at the end of whatever outing they were being sent on.

Liam ran over to her, asking her if she was all right, she didn't even think about people noticing.  She just gave him a slight smile and a quick nod.  “I'm okay I'm just glad that.. wh..what?”

He was looking behind her, and she twisted her body around, back to Liam as her eyes scanned the deck hearing his words over her shoulder.  She swallowed heavily seeing.. things unfold on the deck.  Her hand instinctively reached back for his.  Not for anything other than to just know, for a moment, that he was still there behind her.  Because in front of them, just outside the bay doors was a massive ship.  It dwarfed them, and it was something that she had no idea where it had come from.  She swallowed heavily.  “What is that.” she whispered more to herself than expecting anyone around her to answer.

Her heart thrummed heavily in her chest, pounding against her ribcage as she stared at the massive ship.  Then as she looked up at Liam she realized he was focusing on something else.  His eyes were wide, terrified, surprised, she wasn't sure.  A mixture of both probably.  Slowly she turned her body, her hand clenching his as she saw the beings materialize on the deck.  Right on top of the logo.  There were seven of them.  Glass dome helmets and some kind of exo suits.  She hadn't seen them before, she couldn't tell much past the helmets that they wore, and those suits were similar but completely different than the ones that their pilots used. 

What the .. seven fucks are they...

Voices came on over the loud speaker and she jumped slightly, they didn't seem loud in tone but the volume was going to assure that everyone heard it no matter where it was.  She was focusing on the beings telling everyone to remain where they were.  No one had any desire for the people on the flight deck, but they were heading for the Cinsaj.  She swallowed heavily as Liam said what her thoughts were currently on.  They wanted the ship, why was anyone's guess at the moment, but they still needed that.  It was their ship and they weren't about to just let someone walk off with it.  It was too important.  It had come from the Calamity, and they weren't done with it.

I haven't even gotten to finish playing with it yet! she thought almost angrily.

“No they sure as fuck aren't.” she said as she looked around.  She caught Sten's eye from across the deck and saw that he was heading for the office.  She was pretty sure that he had some weapons in there, for now though, she wasn't close enough for that to beneficial to her.  Right now, she needed to find some other way to wound or damage the idiots that thought the Theurgy and her mechanical crew would be an easy target.  You messed with the wrong ship you glass headed fuckers. She knew that there had to be something she could do.  Standing there, doing nothing, was not in her genetic make up.  These fighters were her babies, this deck, these people, they were her family and she would be damned if some intruder was going to walk off with one of their prized possessions.

Counter Measures... that's right! Where did they go.

Ji looked around, brown eyes searching the deck.  They weren't far, the crate sat there pushed to the side so that the fighters could get out of the bay.  The box nearly gleamed with possibility as she looked up at Liam.  She didn't even realize she was still holding his hand but she quickly turned and let go and then she shifted her eyes to the crate so he knew what she was doing.  She knew how to arm them too, if they could use them, maybe they could at least wound or slow down the intruders until Sten and the others could mount an attack.  She couldn't say anything outloud she wasn't sure how far these guys could hear, or if they were telepathic.  Who knew, but she was not going to take the chance.

Ji quickly made for the crate.  The beings were heading for the ship, and so she hoped they were busy enough that they didn't see her doing what she was doing.  She opened the crate and looked down at the gleaming counter measures.  There were two kinds in the crate, the ECMs which were essentially a micro torpedo, and the ECCM, which were chemical in nature.  She didn't think the ECCMs were going to be what she needed.  She picked up some of the ECMs and tossed one to Liam and another to Sithick since it would help if this was a joint attack on these beings. 

She headed back over to the other two, and she looked at them, silently giving them the orders that she had in her head.  A small nod, as she armed her ECM, and then she chucked it across the deck to where the beings were.  Hoping she could take some out, if nothing else, she hoped that it would jack up their suits.  She was a strong woman, quite muscular with the fact that she lifted and worked with fighters all damn day, so she hoped those muscles wouldn't fail her now as she lobbed the grenade, so to speak, across the deck. 

Here's hoping.  And I sure hope Sten hurries up with those guns, we might have a fight on our hands.

[ CWO1 Sten Covington | Fighter Assault Bay| Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy] @Blue Zephyr @Auctor Lucan @Kaligos

Sten had managed to slip out of the bay through one of the back doors.  Whether he was undetected or they just didn't care since he appeared to be running away, he didn't know.  He ran into three of his men as he headed towards his office, he motioned for them to follow him.  "Come."  As he made his way to the office. He recalled the huge ship that had materialized outside the bay, so big, he could only see part of it from where he was standing, and it took up the whole bay doors. 

"We are under attack and have been boarded.  I only have two emergency phaser in my Office." He unlocked the cabinet, shouldering one of the Phaser Rifles and handing the other to the Klingon mechanic.  "Marv, you're going to be going out with me and trying to slow them down.  I have no fucking clue what they are, never seen anything like them or the suits they are wearing, so set your phaser to kill and we'll ask questions later.  They are going after the Cinsaj. That ship saved our butts once before so I will not be letting anyone fly that thing out of here."

Sten set his own phaser rifle to the kill setting and was trying to come up with ideas as they were the only two guns they had on the Fighter Bay unless Security rushed in... except for the spare fighter cannons... The mass drivers!  He looked over at the Junior Weapons specialist, a Vulcan whose name he couldn't pronounce so everyone called him John and a human mechanic grunt named William. "John, you take William and go the back corridor, to our weapons storage.  Grab one of the mass driver turrets and mount it on to a maintenance cart. Find something back there you can rig as a power supply and you all go on the opposite end of the deck, come out by Maintenance bay two and unload all you have on these fuckers, you got it?" 

They nodded to him and ran off towards their task.  He looked at the Klingon.  "If you have any gods to pray to, now would be a good time. Lets go!"  Holding the phaser rifle in his hands, he made his way down the hall from the office with Marv following him around the back corridor again. The door behind fighter bay 01 was still open with the power not restored yet.  He nodded towards Marv and they both turned around the corner and saw what looked like something exploding right on the intruders. He quickly saw that Liam, Ji, and Sithick were on the move and he aimed at the boarding party, covered in a small cloud from the explosion, and unloaded five or six blasts from his phaser at the biggest shape he could make out, before ducking behind the doorway again.  Marv likewise got out half a dozen shots from his phaser towards the group before taking cover.

Meanwhile John and William had secured a cart, managed to get a gun mounted on it and were in the process of trying to wire it to the makeshift power supply they had put together from the parts they found.  They were still in the weapons room. 

[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton| Theurgy "Air Space" over Vector 1| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Nolan @Even Angels Cry @Kaligos  @Hastata-Nerada


Chris didn't say anything as his fighter leapt into space as that old familiar feeling of "Husker" started to settle over him like an old familiar coat that had been put away for the summer and now it was winter again and now that he was surrounded by the cold comfort of space, he could do what he was meant to do; Be the "Ferryman" and if this was an all hands combat alert, then he would be sending quite a few across to the other side.

<I'm rubbing off on you eh?  It's only been a few hours But yes, you too.  Por favor, ten cuidado. You have a reason to come back.  No lo olvides.> came the confident Hispanic accented tones of Alessia's words to his ears and he understood that she wanted him to be careful which he would be...but it was the other thing that she said that made Chris twitch only slightly.

"You have a reason to come back. No lo olvides."

He didn't say anything back at first because he didn't know what to say but it was almost like somewhere in the back of his mind he needed that reminder and he could feel it help to give him a bit more of an edge and as such, he opened up a private channel to her again. "I will do the same, Angel, I fully expect to grab a pitcher of tea with you at some point." he said to her.

Once he was done speaking, he climbed back inside of himself and started to focus on the matter at hand as his hands busied themselves with making minor adjustments to counter balance the effects of the nebula as he stayed on Razor's wing, his green eyes narrowed in thought.

Then an alert came up and his eyes darted up to look as this massive starship that suddenly was appearing in the azure hued space around them as he studied the information on the ship that made the Theurgy look like a Valkyrie to a Negh'Var in comparison as he read the data that was coming through his sensors as this new arrival stood at four thousand and nine hundred long, one thousand and twenty five tall by one thousand and seven hundred fifteen wide as his mind sought to understand just how badly they were outclassed.

But Chris blinked as he heard Krystal's words come through the communications, his right hand clenching tightly within his armored glove. "No Meony, we're not fucked but they are because this pack has survived *WORSE* and will continue to thrive with its teeth at our enemies throats." Husker said, his voice as cold and sharp as a northern wind on Andoria but full of a confidence born from experience of being a survivor and one of the Theurgy's own. "Wolves, we've *GOT* this."

His eyes narrowed as he quickly brought up a view of the Theurgy and then he realized just how much he had changed in the last few days and for the first time he realized that he had something more to fight for which made him grit his teeth as he started a scan of this new ship, his eyes flicking over every inch of what was coming across his sensors in full because Angel was right.

He had a reason to return and he would go through every single enemy put before him to keep her safe.

That very thought filled Chris's heart and mind with a positive vibe at which point he realized that his right hand was starting to shake as his bird's stationary movements started to become a little erratic which made him take that hand off of the controls to look at it at which point he felt a now familiar sensation start to creep through him-it was the same one that he had felt very minorly back while waiting on the hanger deck mere moments before and then he felt in the turbolift after Ji walked away;

Uncertainty.

Chris closed his eyes for a moment as he clenched his fist tightly as his mind started to race with why he was feeling this but then thoughts started to creep into his mind.

{Why did he deserve to fly when he couldn't even keep his former squadron alive?}

{How could he even begin to help Alessia when his own demons were always close by?}

{What makes him think that he even deserves a real chance with Ji after all that he has done?}

As those thoughts and more start to crowd his mind, something else starts to creep up...a single bright spot that exists that draws his inner demons in and shoves them away without a problem as it shines a light something positive; a cause, a purpose...

...a *PROMISE*.

And like that, those demons that started to creep into his soul and grab his nerves firmly disappear back into the shadows of his mind as a focus comes to him, razor sharp as his right hand quickly grabs the control again as he grits his teeth and at that moment Chris knew exactly what he had to do.

Chris was confident that not only was he going to live through the day and make her smile again...but Chris also knew something else deep in his heart, a feeling that there was something about the battle to come as he looked out at the massive warship before them.

"We got this, my packmates." he said, his tone a little less heavy but still full of that same confidence none the less but Chris knew one thing for certain as the comforting cold feeling of Husker's nature flowed back over him that he embraced like an old lover.

This was going to be Husker's last ride...

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Even Angels Cry, @SummerDawn, @DocReno & @Kaligos
[Show/Hide]Meony considered Husker's words; she didn't realize her hailing frequencies were opened to the squadron until he responded to her statement. Seemed a tad dramatic, but hey, Meony's been a lot worse...or more ridiculous than that in her day. “Yeee-hah!” was her private response to him. Then she realized she hadn't yet responded to K'Ren, and she gave a belated waggle of her wings in return.

“Sure 'e's fahn,” said Meony, referring to Daniel Havenborn, though she did worry at his absence herself. After what happened to her the day before, she didn't dare disregard the possibility he had been attacked too. But K'ren didn't need that worry added on to whatever they had to deal with out here. “'sides, we gotta handful'a probs on our own 'ere. Ya seein' that big-ass axe up there??? Ah sure hope they ain't packin' fahters!”

It was too much to hope for in all honesty. “Fingers crossed folks, and if anyone's gotta horseshoe handy, kiss it, hug it, wear it, Ah don't care, but jus' do.”

She checked the configurations of her armaments, and was glad she went for a balanced set-up of warheads, energy weapons and specialization. She also keyed up the power focus to be on defense and shielding.

[P02 Sithick | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy] @CanadianVet ,@SummerDawn ,@Triage & @Blue Zephyr
[Show/Hide]
Sithick watched as the birds got out of the bay, and for a moment he was content. It was a short lived feeling of being able to take a breath and feel the weight removed from his shoulders, before it doubled back as a group of creatures were beamed onto the ship. He marveled at them for a moment, they were small grey things in helmets that kind of reminded him of a glass bowl. However they were also armed, and in armor. Sithick had to assume they were at least partly at fault for the ships computer going crazy.

As he stood, he turned to glance out the door into the wild blue colors of the nebula, and watch in horror as something emerged from cloak. He had been on dozens of ships with cloaking devices. The klingon variant was something he was actually intimitely familiar with considering how prone they were to breaking, but had never seen one on anything larger than a bird of prey. This ship that was emerging from nothing, was massive, bigger than Theurgy which was the largest ship he could comprehend. Already he could tell this was going to be a long day.

He wasn't sure how he wanted too approach this, as the voice called over the loud speaker, and pulled him back to the developing situation in the hanger he knew that no matter what happened he could not allow the invaders to take that ship. He hadn't taken a good look at it's weapon capabilities yet! he hadn't had the chance to disect it's engines or look over any of the mechanical parts that made up it's advanced systems. It was the most beautiful peace of tech on this ship aside from maybe the ship it's self, and he would not allow such a machine of war to be taken from under his watch.

He rallied to Eun Ji, as she showed the ECM's and how to arm them, taking the one she offered him, the thing felt heavy even in his hand, though that could also have been the situation. Sithick had never been a big fan of sports, but did have strength, and so while he wasn't accurate, he figured he would just arm the device, pick one of the invaders.

Sithick's claws clicked over the ECM, and nodded as he armed it, choosing his target, and stepping up for a moment bent his arm back, before whipping it forward, throwing the device as hard as he could at the creature. His strength would carry the device towards the creature, but he had thrown it like a fast ball, aiming to actually hit the creature with the bomb, rather than trying to have it land next to him like someone would throw a grenade. as such if it missed, it would probably fly clear to the end of the flight deck.

[Ens Nathanial "Icarus" Isley | Wolf 0-4 | Space] Attn: Tactical CONN
[Show/Hide]
As the enemy ship revealed it's self, Nathan was in awe of the situation above them. The ship seemed too massive for him to figure out, it clearly had a front and a back, but he had no idea what it's construction or armament would look like, and as it deployed fighters, he swallowed unable to really guess just how many they would be fighting.

Only Nathan wouldn't be fighting the enemy at all, as something seemed to scan over him. Nathan had no chance to alter course or pull away,  as he was suddenly pulled from the cockpit of his fighter, Simply vanishing from the helm of his mark III. the bird shifted slightly as Nathan's controls tended to drift when he wasn't holding them, not enough to turn around.

The fighter fell out of line with the others of it's squadron, as it moved over the Theurgy's helmet, and then continued on. flying at impulse speeds in a strait line into the void of space, going onward to seek out new life, and new civilizations to boldly go where no fighter had gone before.

[ Lt.JG Khorin Douglas | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn:
[Show/Hide]
"Hardtop, Icarus, Husker, on me for Vector One. I'll take the lead after that I want cover for Vector Three and Lastly Vector two. Confirm and execute once the doors open."

Khorin received the orders loud and clear from Ravon, and before long found himself in the cockpit of his fighter. It was a new bird, one he'd have to break in in due time, but it was his nonetheless. Just as he was running pre-flight checks, the lights of the Theurgy dimmed and Khorin cursed his and the crew's luck. Why now, why did it have to be right now? Khorin could see the people on the deck scrambling about, trying to unstuck the doors.

Khorin growled under his breath, grumbling about the mess that they had gotten themselves into this time. His fingers flew over the various buttons of his fighter's console, keying in the ignition of the impulse engines as he felt his craft begin to stir and come to life. "Orders confirmed" He said into his channel, and after a flurry of activity around him, he commed "Ready and waiting." and prepared to launch.

Before long he was launched and in the black, and a rush of sensation flooded through him, causing a wide grin to spread across his face. This is what he lived for. He took up position and flew in formation until he turned and saw the largest starship he had ever seen, a sight which even Khorin shivered to lay eyes upon. "pong Kahless"* he whispered beneath his breath. The ship was a great white and black abomination, like a battleaxe in space. Khorin could only struggle to imagine what raw power it could unleash. Only, Khorin did not have time to wonder, as he looked down and found himself dematerializing as a transporter beam locked on to him. "NoooooooOOOO-" He shouted as he disappeared, leaving his fighter to continue flying forward into oblivion.

---

*pong Kahless: "By Kahless"

OOC: Well his time in this thread was a short one but there we go, bye bye Khorin

[ PO1 Vinnie "Fury" Ferris (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tactical_Conn_NPCs#Ens._Vinnie_Ferris.2C_callsign_.22Fury.22) | Valravn Cockpit | Wolf-11 | Azure Nebula ] Attn: Tactical CONN
[Show/Hide]In the rear seat of the Valravn cockpit, Vinnie had been distracted by the ominous presence of the white ship, but he had frowned when there was strange light coming from Devyrie's seat. Then, he saw that she'd vanished, and no one was actually flying the warp fighter any more.

"Dragon!" he called, to little avail, for she was gone already. They had moved to join the shieldspread as ordered, but their current trajectory would have them impact with the Theurgy's hull, so Vinnie had to push the fact that Dev had been beamed straight out of the cockpit from his mind if he was to survive. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!"

In the last moment, he had managed to revert helm control of the Valravn to his RIO seat and barrel-rolled away from the unyielding hull plating that had filled the entirety of his view. He struggled to get his bearings, since he had only done RIO seat flying a couple of times in the Academy and on Luna Base, and most of it had been in simulators. "Right, you've got this. This will be a bloody cake-walk, okay, Fury? No problem. Hey, what could go wrong?" The Valravn was not designed to be operated from the rear seat, even if it could be done, and regardless, Fury would have preferred that it wasn't during a pending combat situation. To say that he would be mildly inconvenienced, having to multitask everything, would be an understatement.

"This is Wolf-One-One!" he called over the squadron channel, "I lost Dragon. I mean, she's just gone. Flying solo here, but joining shield spread now. What the hell is going on?"

That was when he saw two Mk III Valkyries drifting away on his sensors, without any course changes, and he realised Devyrie might not have been alone. "I swear these bloody radiation shields are fucking useless in every other sense than what they are for! Why are they not taking us all if they can? Recommend a head-count. And what the hell is that thing?"

Whatever it was, Fury saw that it had begun deploying some kind of fighter crafts (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Initiator-class_Interceptor)... and they just kept on pouring out by the dozen. "Bandits incoming, bearing Two, Five, Niner, Mark Three!"

Then, they opened fire - aquamarine beams and bolts assailing the remaining Lone Wolves and the Theurgy's separate Vectors.

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/2/2c/Sheromi-Dreadnought.png)

[ CPO Liam Herrold (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Liam_Herrold) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]At first, Liam had not caught on to what Chief Ji was doing but when he was tossed an ECM countermeasure unit, and she showed Sithick how to arm it, Liam knew her intent.

He had nodded in understanding, and Ji wasted no time acting on her plan. Liam had barely caught on to the fact that Covington was arming himself and others in the present deck crew when Ji tossed her makeshift ECM grenade towards the boarding party. Sithick threw his too, but it had a straight trajectory - making no clatter against the deck plating before it collided with the glass visor of one alien's helmet. The force of the impact had the black-suited alien stagger, alerting the rest, but by the time the majority of them raised their strange handheld weaponry towards the three of them, Ji's ECM went off, tossing two of them into the air with the shockwave of the detonation.

Then, almost consecutively, Sithick's ECM went off as well, sending two other boarders deeper in to the smoke cloud. Liam had tossed his own ECM by then, sending it towards the ones that he'd seen still standing before the smoke obscured all sight of the boarding party, and before Liam's makeshift grenade detonated, Covington had opened fire - riddling the cloud with beams. There were no screams. None at all, until a rumbling noise akin to a cricket's song echoed across the fighter bay. Out of the smoke they came, two of them, and Liam knew they were moments from being shot at. He shouted as he grabbed Ji's hand, trying to pull her down prone to the deck, to minimise them as targets. "Take cover!"

That was when Liam's own ECM detonated, and it threw the alien that had been aiming towards them across the bay, tumbling like a moth ball in the blast. The noise was deafening, still ringing in his ears, and he'd lost sight of Sithick. The other alien was holding his weapon towards Covington, and aquamarine bolts smote the distance in rapid fire against the two covering shooters. The bolts shredded their cover piece by piece, and Liam saw the one named Marv go down, holes across his whole torso weeping Klingon blood.

Behind the alien shooter, in the opening to the Cinsaj's bay, the dust cleared, revealing that another one was getting up. The boarder, a female by the looks of its exosuit, readied her weapon, but she was covering her face with her other hand. What was she doing? Liam saw that it was the one who Sithick shattered the visor for, but why was she covering her face like that? Was there glass in her eyes? Either way, she did not seem as much a threat as the other shooter.

Worst of all, there was no sight of the tallest alien. Was he already in the maintenance bay? "We've got to stop him," he murmured, sounding a lot braver than he felt, knowing that they had to do something. If they remained in the open, they'd be easy targets to pick off, but what could they do about the big alien in the maintenance bay? Liam swore, hoping Ji got some ideas. Where is Sithick?

That was when there were movements from the weapon storage area, and Liam's eyes widened when he saw what emerged.

---

OOC: Posting Order in the fighter bay, as suggested, but please, feel free to post ahead in the cue if you have the time! :) 1) @JosiahDorn 2) @Blue Zephyr 3) @Kaligos . As for the Lone Wolves squadron, @Nolan goes next!

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Kestrel-Wolf 01 | Azure Nebula ] Attn: All Wolves

Throttling up to Vector 01 Thomas got scattered reports from the entire squadron. From inspirational quotes to outright funny ones. It made him snicker behind the stick yet as they approached their respective Vectors, different reports came in from different pilots. Screams and disbelief before he saw Icarus' fighter simply drift by with full power yet no pilot. Eventually Fury replied that his pilot had been beamed away, unassuming the rest of the pack that veered off course shared the same fate. "The actual fuck?" Thomas whispered to himself before he looked around. Effectively he was covering Vector 01 with just Husker as Khorin seemed to be MIA as well. Yet Fury's message also alerted Ravon of a new looming threat. Fighters...

"Wolf 01, be advised, systems are coming back online. You are free to disengage the shield formation."

Thomas grinned as he licked his teeth and thrusted forwards as the first of the wolves "Confirmed Theurgy, be advised, I have several birds flying dead stick as the pilots seem to be gone... Any chance to recover them? In addition hostile ships launched from the mother ship. How do we proceed?" he looked around to the other Vectors before he opened up the squadron Channel "Wolves, this is Razor. Break shield formation and commence defensive maneuvers for your vectors. Let's see wh-" his voice stopped mid sentence as the first pack of fighters reached Vector 02. Minjae and Karma were seemingly the first target for them. The old squadron pilot that Thomas had known didn't stand a chance as the initial black colored fighter fired aqua marine beams at the fighter. In seconds the ship got sliced into four different pieces. The follow up fighters shooting their phasers at the nacelles and causing an explosion that blinded Thomas for a second. The cockpit of the Valravn was still intact, the pilots too far to be determined to be dead or alive. The explosion however flung the cockpit of the Valravn into the abyss of the ever blue Azure Nebula.

The awe that briefly captured Thomas turned into hard boiled rage "Fuck this shit! Weapons free! Defend your Vectors at ALL COSTS!" he breezed into the channel as his weapon systems lit up green. He opened his link back open to Henshaw "Scratch that last, hostile ships have opened fire, we are engaging for defensive purposes. Ravon out."

"Be advised pilots, those beams will cut your ship up like heated metal through ice. Avoid any contact if possible and make your shots count! Good hunting! Ravon out." he narrowed his eyes at the dozen of ships that approached vector 01 and he opened up a link to Husker "Show em hell." The armament of Ravon started to lock on to the approaching targets and once he got the good tones he unleashed the hellhound torpedoes. They weren't aimed at a single craft yet once launched they stopped before the fighters and unleashed the smaller torpedoes to hit as many targets as possible. The goal of this effect was to check if the hostile ships had any shielding at all or not.

As the torpedoes impacted the glow of shield impacts was visible and Thomas gritted his teeth in a loud curse as he unleashed a few salvo's of his phaser cannons. If anything it would wear down the shields a bit more before he pulled off to avoid being a target himself. And thus, the never ending dance of combat began once more.

---

OOC: The Initiators have shields, the Lone Wolves only have shields against the radiation. The gravimetric beams cut our ships apart easily, and even the  underslung quantum pulse phasers pack a lot of punch. The odds are stacked against the Wolves in all possible ways. There is no way to win, and the Initiators won't go down with one phaser burst, so try to keep it realistic, and illustrate the futility of this battle?

[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton| Theurgy "Air Space" over Vector 1| USS Theurgy] ATTN:  @Nolan @Even Angels Cry

Husker's board lit up as a venerable wave of hostile ships started to come at them from the massive starship beyond and in that singular moment, Christopher Joseph Slayton felt something that he hadn't felt in a long time as he took in what lay before him.

A cold sense of understanding.

He heard the hard boiled rage of Razor as he threw himself into battle but for Husker, there was none of that as he was finally in his element as he threw his Valkyrie fast and hard into battle as aqua colored beams reached out to grab at him like the long spidery fingers of monsters of old tales.

But he wasn't there when they snapped at him as he banked this way and that, firing his own weapons at the hostiles only to find that his own weapons fire wasn't having any real affect on them at all as the ruby red lances of phaser energy refracted off and away on the Savi fighter's and their shields.

But there was something in the way that they strobed that drew a memory into Husker's mind as he heard a warning of an enemy fighter scoring a solid glancing hit on his fighter which drew him back to the here and now as the Asgardian native suddenly killed all of his forward momentum then shifted it backwards, effectively skipping backwards over the pursuing fighter before Husker let loose with a few rounds from his pulse phasers to see how they in turned actually scored the shields.

The memory was complete and it wasn't a good one as the last time he saw this kind of shielding, a good friend of his was left without half of a face.

But instead of saying something quickly, the Slayton in him needed more information and thus he tried a different set of tactics as he swung around as he quickly adjusted his regular phasers to function in a burst like  mode the best that he could before he tried firing on two more Savi fighters with one managing to get away...

...its friend on the other hand was caught in the right moment which made Husker smile.

"Husker to all wolves, this is a priority." Husker said into the squadron channel. "Enemy craft's shields operate much like the Calamity's in that apparently their shields are arranged to disperse all incoming hostile fire and the subsequent damage by an oscillation of the shields."

He stopped talking as another enemy fighter scored another couple of hits on his fighter but the damage was kept minimal as with the first hit he was able to roll his bird in a way that the following two shots only did scant glancing damage. "Razor, think of these things like Reavers only with bigger balls, focus on the middle." he said as he rolled his fighter back up and managed to get some glancing shots onto another couple of fighters but a third got to kiss a micro-torpedo as it slammed dead center of its space frame.

"Switch phasers to a burst.." he started to say when one of the Savi's fighters managed to get a lucky shot on him which lanced through the fighter's shields from behind that cut through a lot of the small craft's material, it did cut through enough that it caused a minor system explosion which was followed by Husker biting back a cry of pain as his right hand jerked hard on reflex that threw his fighter into an out of control tailspin away from Vector One.
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[LT Talidenai "Terror" zh' Idenna & LT JG T'Zantha "Sniper"| Air space around Vector 3| USS Theurgy] ATTN: Tactical CONN

"Next time Sniper dear, please refrain that you have a bad feeling about anything." Terror growled into the squadron channel as she threw fighter hard into combat against the strange black fighters only to find that her best shots were being reflected off of them. "What the hell?!"

"Terror, I'm getting similar reports from the others. Apparently our weapons aren't being effective against whatever their shields are!" came the voice of Shocker, her RIO.

"Tell me something that I didn't know!!" Terror said as she looked at the status board of her fighter to see that the aqua beams where cutting deeply into her bird but not enough to do any form of actual serious damage yet due to her expert flying as the fighter's own shields was like air to the enemy fire as she tried to think of a way to keep her and her people alive.

Then like a gift from some deity, Husker's voice came through with <Husker to all wolves, this is a priority. Enemy craft's shields operate much like the Calamity's in that apparently their shields are arranged to disperse all incoming hostile fire and the subsequent damage by an oscillation of the shields.> came her former lover's voice but Terror heard something else in it that just screamed wrong some how as he continued with <Razor, think of these things like Reavers only with bigger balls, focus on the middle.>

Terror then could heard the logic behind the idea of the shields since it would help to lessen the damage by a good percentage which was something that the people behind the Valravn fighters had thought of trying to do back in the early stages of the design but they couldn't figure out a way to get the shields to bubble properly without badly interferring with the impulse fields and thus that idea was one of many scraped plans.

Terror's attention was torn away as she heard Husker start to say <Switch phasers to a burst...> when suddenly whatever he was going to say next was cut off by a cry of intense pain which made her eyes widen in reaction as that meant a long time friend and a survivor was hurt.

<Terror, we're done for.> came the voice of Wolf Twelve, Esa "Shocker" Ojanpera, which made Terror check her board to see that his fighter was basically being cut to shreds.

"Come on Shocker, don't give up." Terror said into the channel as she quickly as her fingers quickly went made the adjustments to the phasers as she went to help her fellow squadron member.

<Flint is dead, we honor you teacher.> was Shocker's last words as his fighter suddenly accelerated forwards at top speed, the two man fighter seemingly falling apart around them as they rammed full force into one of the hostile fighters, sending them both up in a bright blue and red fireball.

From her spot in the Vector's air space, Sniper could almost feel a certain amount of rage despite her heritage which made her say to her RIO "Bear, hold on." before she threw her own fighter into the midst of a large mess of hostile fighters, seemingly untouchable by her weapons with the occasional exception as the battle raged on.
////////////////////////////////////////////

Meanwhile back in his fighter, Husker forced himself to focus despite what he was feeling and grabbed his controls and forced himself out of his tailspin and back into the fight, quickly managing to catch an enemy fighter amidships with two more micro-torps.

"Not..done...yet." he forced out as he threw his fighter back into the fight.

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Wolf-07, Element Leader | Cockpit | AC-409 Valkyrie Mk III “Sassy Slayer” | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Even Angels Cry, @SummerDawn, @DocReno & @Masorin
[Show/Hide]“Dafuq is goin' on?!?” said Meony as she watched Icarus' fighter taking off on its own merry star trek into Lord knows where. 'Cause no fucker was flying that piece of shit no more, so her scanners told, and neither was Hardtop controlling his chicken...Oh, Lordy, here came more trouble, cause when it's a shitstorm, it don't drizzle, it fuckin' pours. There was enough of the bastards to blot out the almighty sunlight.

“Wolf-Oh-Seven still 'ere, sugah.” said Meony, sounding off to lead and her teammates, and at the order to fire at will and defend the vectors, Meony gunned her fighter's thrusters, revelling in the speed of her craft. Too long she'd been flying a fatass turkey, and she had to get unused to relying on automated turrets now. Chris Slayton came in with a report on the enemy fighter's shields and how they worked, but also that they had weapons that negated any usefulness for their shields, which she saw for her own self, when one of the Valravns was cut to pieces. And their weapons barely affected the hostiles? They were also outnumbered...well let's just put it at a thousand to one.

After a moment's despair, and a thought to Jimmy and anything that had been left unsaid after last night...she shrugged and said to herself, “Eh, just lahk any other day back on da Resolve.”

Spiralling her ship like a tornado, she played chicken with one stupid, and it decided it valued its life. So maybe there was hope. As soon as she was past the first exhange and slew of fighters, she spun her craft about and killed her thrusters, so that the Valkyrie continued drifting in its original direction but she could bring all her forward-facing weapons to bear. She triggered only the energy weapons, saving on her warheads for the time being. Just three days ago, she'd fought Starfleet interceptors that fought in a swarm much like this lot. Only problem was, she more or less could guess how Starfleet TAC CONN pilots and fighters thought. These fuckers were a whole other barrel of monkeys.

“YEEEE-HAW! Fucknuggets!” said Meony giving them the finger before twisting around and taking an orbit around the vector of the Theurgy. “Ah love flahn and kickin' ass an' Ah cannot lah!” When she came back around there was probably ten times more than she last saw, “Oh shit!”

She wound around and barely avoided grazing the hull of the vector she protected, firing indiscriminately at the hostiles once she was certain none of her wingmates were anywhere near her line of fire. And firing wildly at this crowd, one couldn't miss. But they seemed to take anything she threw at them. Torps and missiles were a joke at this point. “Wolf-Oh-One,” said Meony, directly messaging Razor, “What if we ovahcharged ouwah fay-sahs? Slowah fahr, buuut we'd be throwin' ten tahms da punch per hit.”

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]
@JosiahDorn @Auctor Lucan @Masorin

She was thankful that the boys didn't ask many questions they just did what needed to be done.  She did not know what else to do, but Eun was not going to let anyone come take her flight deck while there was still breath in her lungs.  Especially, taking one of their ships.  That was not going to happen and she would most definitely put forth a fight that would make people rethink the fragility of humans.  Once Ji's was airborn the other two threw theirs as well, and Ji was grateful that her single attack had turned into a triple threat.  Everyone viewed this deck as a home and a family and there was no way that some beings were just going to walk in here and think they could take out their things.

Hers went off first, and she was elated to see two of the interlopers flying away from the blast.  A sheer grin of pride crossed her face for a moment.  If those fuckers thought that they were going to come in here and just walk onto our deck they were grossly mistaken.  Sithick's ECM hit as well, and the cloud of smoke created by her own was even bigger now.  Liam lobbed his into the mix and the smoke in the area was so thick that Ji couldn't tell from her position what was what.  There was no way to tell if they had taken out any others or if there were some still standing. 

However, suddenly, someone open fired, and she looked over to see that Covington had come out of his office and was firing into the smoke-filled area.  She grinned again, this was her family, her crew.  She knew that they would be the sort that would definitely not go down easily.  Oddly, something that she noticed was that there was no actual noise though.  She expected screams, cries of pain, something, anything.  But, there was nothing.  For a moment she turned her head to the side, ear more or less pointed to the cloud of smoke and it was then that she noticed something.  Not screaming, or crying, but something that reminded her of the bugs on Earth that could make songs with their legs rubbing together.

Suddenly, she was taken out.  With a gasp she felt her hand grabbed by a familiar calloused limb and pulled to the ground.  She got down with him, she wasn't the sort to fight him when she knew that he wouldn't do such a thing for no reason.  Teal beams arched across the bay, and as they lay there she tried to make her body as small as she could next to Liam's.  Liam's ECM had blown and she looked up for just a moment to get a idea of what was going on.  The alien.. being.. whatever was currently sailing across the deck.  As she had perked up though, she noticed that Marv had gone down.  Several leaking holes in his chest and she swallowed heavily. 

Well they're definitely not against killing us for what they want.  Not that it surprised her.  She just realized for certain now and that meant they may have to take their lives to keep from them not only taking the ship they were after but killing more of her crew.  They didn't seem to be too interested in genocide of the Theurgy crew but they weren't exactly here for peaceful reasons.

Ji was still fairly close to the computer console that she had powered up and used earlier to help open the doors.  She was desperately trying to think of anything that she could do.  There had to be something.  She was not going to stay on the floor while whatever these beings were stole the ship!  Okay there has to be something.  If I could even just stall them while we get the opportunity to get closer.  Okay think Ji.. what do you have at your disposal.  I have.. wait.. why is that cart still over there.  Fucking lazy ass fuckers can't even put all their shit away while we get the blast doors open and .. wait.. actually... that's a good idea. 

Ji looked over at Liam. 

“I have a plan.” she said as she looked around because she was totally still piecing it together.  She swallowed heavily.  If I could keep the ship in it's spot, make it harder or impossible to steal that would be for the best.  Oh... Eun Sae Ji you idiot!  We have tractor beams on the fucking flight deck to move fighters that don't run.. holy fuck I do have a plan.

She leaned over towards Liam.  “I need you to load as many ECM's on that cart that someone forgot to put away, a problem we will solve later, arm them and shove the fucking grenade train over towards the bay.  I'm going to buy us some time by using the tractor beam system to hold the Cinsaj in it's spot until we can figure out our next step.  We will not let them take our ship.”

She looked at Liam and waited for him to nod.  Then she smiled at him for a moment, and cupped his cheek with her hand.  “Stay safe.”  She launched herself up.  “Sithick!  If you're close by, cover me.” she turned and rushed to the computer where she could tap into the systems of the deck that were over head and begin to access the tractor beam.  If she didn't get shot, and she didn't die, she would activate the tractor beam that would hold the ship in it's bay.  Hopefully, it would at least deter the ship from leaving while they all figured out what else to do.

The tractor beam flickered to life and she put as much power into the system as she could.  Hoping that she could create a strong enough tractor beam that the aliens would not be able to leave with their ship.

[P02 Sithick | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy] @CanadianVet ,@SummerDawn ,@Triage & @Blue Zephyr
[Show/Hide]
Explosions, chaos, battle, it had been a long time since Sithick had been in an honest battlefield. Yet this was the condition he was raised for. With everyone distracted even a creature as big as Sithick could disapear stepping into the cloud of smoke. All the old training he had, all the old senses that he had grown up with while they were rusty, were still there. Still active.

Hiding did not give him a weapon. Looking through the bodies would give him a weapon, but he had no idea if he could use them. He knew about genetic locks, the Syndicate had used them, a slave grabs a slavers weapon, and then feels their arm explode when they pull the trigger. He liked his arms, he would not risk it.

However there was an alien drawing his gun, to point at someone. Sithick approached from behind the creature, his body over shadowed the smaller gunner, Sithick reached out, and grabbed the creatures arm holding the gun. "I need this more than you."

His other hand landed sturdily on the aliens shoulder, that looked at him with a mix of confusion, and terror and then agony as SIthick pulled on the arm. Like any arm it didn't take too much to pull off of the creature, however the armor he was wearing took far more to rip apart than the bones and muscle that he was holding.

He grunted, and pulled, and removed the creatures arm with the gun still attatched. This was the weakness of the slavers back in the day. Even if the gun was coded to a genetic lock, the weapon never required a living pulse to work. He then tossed the creature to the side with the weapon secured in his claws. "Thank you."

[ K'Ren "Neko" (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=K%27Ren) | Wolf 06 | Cockpit | AC-409 Valkyrie Mk III | Azure Nebula ] @Triage

K'Ren had been watching her own tactical readout with some confusion as several craft veered off after losing control. Losing control wasn't the right word, the craft hadn't been damaged and started tumbling or some other form of control loss, they'd just kept moving in a straight line following the last command input, almost as if the pilot was no longer in command. The chatter, as clipped as it was painted a picture of more confusion as the disabled fighters had been enough of a distraction a first wave of fighters were already on top of the Theurgy.

She heard Wolf 01 order weapons free and while she was Meony's wingman, she kept her eyeballs swivelling, watching for any threats to her lead element. She could feel the furr raise on the back of her neck and soon enough, her tactical readout showed several fighters vectoring to intercept her and Meony's fighters. The way they'd sliced through the first fighters, K'Ren suspected they'd go through her bird the same, making a maneuvering fight the only option.

"Wolf Zero Six. We've got company." She stated over the comm's unawares the same thing that had crippled several other birds was happening to her. Then she felt a familiar and yet very alien tingle as the cockpit began to fade, realization dawning on her. The fighters weren't crippled, the crews had been plucked away by an unknown force, and now she was next. Grasping for the eject handle, she could just barely reach it, only for her gloved hand to dematerialize as the beam pulled her away into the familiar haze of the transporter beam.

Jaya Thorne (https://orig05.deviantart.net/12e0/f/2016/300/a/4/imgpsh_fullsize_by_auctor_lucan-damefg0.png) | Main Shuttle Bay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy | Attn: @Auctor Lucan , @chXinya
[Show/Hide]
[Congratulations Ensign Thorne.  Good luck out there.]

The word was strange.  Ensign.  Only a few hours ago she'd been an enlisted woman, a Petty Officer.  What a difference a day and more than a few deaths made.  Jaya tapped the console in front of her.  She was less than thrilled about being back in a shuttle.  After yesterday, she'd be happy to never pilot one again.  But that was unrealistic.  She was lucky to have this chance. 

Jaya focused her eyes on the viewscreen as her shuttle flared to life around her.  Her hands knew the routine.  She could do it in her sleep.  Basic diagnostics on engines, thrusters, impulse and warp drives were complete.  Comm systems were clearly working fine.  Inertial dampeners came online.  Structural integrity was 100% and fields were holding.  Sensors and shields were functional with no errors.  Weapons were online.  Navigational systems were displayed and awaiting input.  All that was left to do was leave the shuttle bay.

As Jaya finished her pre-flight checks, the lights in the shuttle bay flickered, dimmed and went out.  Emergency lighting activated as alerts resounded throughout the bays.  Something big was happening out there.  Something bad.  And she was still stuck in the shuttle bay!  Jaya rolled the shuttle into launch position, but there was something wrong.  The doors were still closed!

"Ensign Thorne to shuttle bay, what's going on?  Why aren't the doors open?  I'm on orders to launch!"

[Shuttle bay to Ensign Thorne, stand down for launch.  Launch clearance is denied.  Bay doors won't open.
 Sorry Ensign Thorne.  We'll get you out as soon as we clear the FAB]

Clear the FAB?  Jaya tapped on her console to bring up an image of the fighter assault bay.  The doors were closed there too!  The pilots were scrambling on the deck and the fighters were moving to launch, but they couldn't get out!  The alert klaxon rang out and Jaya found herself aglow in yellow light.  'Shit.  I need to be out there!'  She tapped her combadge.

"Ensign Thorne to Lt. Veradin, what the hell is going on?  I'm ready to launch in the shuttle, like you requested, but there's something wrong with the bays.  The doors won't open and we're running on auxiliary power."

The badge chirped.  Jaya looked down at her breast.

"Lt. Veradin?"

Nothing.

"For fuck's sake!  What the HELL is going on!?"  She kicked the ground beneath her feat.  She needed to get a message out but apparently comms were down.  Everything was down.  Her answer came seconds later, over the shuttle comm system.

"Fighter bay, shuttle bay, scramble, scramble, scramble.  Weapons tight. Disconnect your computers from Thea immediately! Use on-board computer systems to link up all available craft, answer on this low-band frequency, and extend your shield bubbles to cover the vectors as best you can for radiation protection."

"SHIT!"  She let the expletive slip as she quickly disconnected her shuttle from the Theurgy.  Whatever was happening affected everything on board the ship, including the fighter planes and shuttles.  How was that even possible?!  She switched to low-band frequency and listened to the reports as the pilots scrambled.  Something bad was happening.  Real bad.

She heard them call out their launches one by one on the channel.  At least someone was able to get out.  The shuttle bay doors were still shut tight in front of her and the techs seemed suddenly occupied.  Jaya turned on her intercom and tried not to yell.  "Will someone PLEASE tell me what in the actual hell is going on out there??  I need these doors open so I can launch!!"  There were few things worse than knowing what was needed of you and not being able to do it.  This would make the second time today that she'd felt that way.

"Sorry Ensign Thorne, but you're on your own.  Hostiles have beamed aboard the ship. We have to deal with them before we can get your doors open." The reply came from a technician on the ground over the same low-band frequency.

Jaya kicked her console.  That was not what she wanted to hear.  She couldn't get the doors open herself either, which meant she was going nowhere fast.  She punched the com channel.  "This is Ensign Thorne.  I'm on lockdown in the main shuttle bay.  Doors are shut and unresponsive.  Flight crew reports hostiles aboard the ship.  Aborting shuttle launch.".  She pushed away from the shuttle controls and powered it down.  Fuck this day.  For a split second, she wished she had pressed the release button on her escape pod this morning.  But self-loathing wasn't her style either.  And this shuttle had a weapons cache. 

Jaya hustled to the equipment lockers and flung the first one open. "Fuck!"  She tried the second locker with similar results.  The third and fourth proved just as useless.  Why were there no weapons on the shuttle?  "FINE, I didn't want to be here anyway!"  Jaya stormed out the shuttle door, all the way to the weapons locker for the shuttle bay.  It was unlatched and when she flung it open, several phasers were already missing.  There were two remaining and she grabbed one of the Type II Hand Phasers.  "I'm gonna find you, you sons of bitches!"  Whoever just boarded her ship was about to have a really bad day.

LT JG Alessia Garcia, Callsign "Angel", Wolf 13 - Flight Leader (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/thumb/9/9b/Alessia-Garcia-04.png/250px-Alessia-Garcia-04.png) |  Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Auctor Lucan , @Triage , @DocReno , @SummerDawn , @Nolan
[Show/Hide]
"Dragon to Angel. I look forward to flying with you again,"  Dragon's voice brought a sudden smile to Angel's face.  At least Dev wasn't angry with her.  Quite the opposite it seemed.  She'd talk things out and explain herself to Dev when this was over.  The feeling was mutual though.  Flying with Dev that first night had awakened something inside her that refused to go back to sleep.  Given the opportunity to do it again, she probably would.  She hoped that opportunity would come sooner rather than later.

Even Chris's promise of tea in the future was reassuring.  She had made friends, and more, here on the Theurgy.  She would fight for them, die for them.  She would protect them at all costs.  Whatever enemy they faced, she would stare down and she would win because she also had a reason to come back.  Hope.  It was a powerful ally.

The reason for their scramble became apparent as they formed over Vector 2.  Dozens of saucer-like ships were in position, facing off against the Theurgy.  They looked familiar, but unlike any craft she'd seen in a long while.  No.. that wasn't right.  They were there at the Battle of Starbase 84.  But weren't they allies?  What was going on?  She had a bad feeling about this, but she wasn't about to start a war.  Alessia checked her bearing and held a center point over Vector 2 to start the shielding process.

"Talon, we're in position.  Start shield modulation and extend to protect this vector.  Link our emulation frequency with- Madre de Dios, Que es esto?!¹"  Alessia stopped mid-sentence and stared out her cockpit viewscreen.

There, in the blackness of space where swirls of colorful gasses and the piercing brightness of stars had once been now stood an enormous vessel.  It dwarfed the Theurgy, making her own fighter seem like a toy in comparison.  Where had it come from?  Surely something that big couldn't just appear without notice.  How had they missed it on their sensors?  "Talon.. are you?"

"I see it.  Running checks now. This is bad, Angel.  It has no emission trail.  At least, nothing I can track.  Don't ask me how, but it's completely undetectable to our sensors.  Scanning the ship now.  Angel, I can't get a fix on their weapons systems or if they're housing any fighters, but I can tell you that this ship is like nothing we've ever seen before.  Now would be a good time to start praying to that god of yours that they aren't hostile."

Then the com chatter started.  K'ren verified her position, and Meony responded.. and then lost it.  Husker tried to bolster the pack, and his words would have been well received had Fury not spoken up.  Angel's heart skipped a beat.  Dragon was gone?  How was that possible?  Before she could process it, she saw the Bandits that Fury spoke of.  Dozens of them.  What was happening? 

"Talon, can you get a read on our fighters?  I need to know who's here and who's not.  And what can you tell me about those Bandits?"  She had faced threats before, both big and small, but nothing that made her feel as hopeless as this did.  If this was a hostile vessel, they had no where to run.  The Theurgy was broken apart and their own comrades were missing.  She had a very bad feeling about all this.

Talon pulled up the squad and charted their positions among the stars.  His mouth fell open as he got the stats back.  "Neko is deadstick, Hardtop is deadstick, Icarus is deadstick.  Dragon would be deadstick, but Fury is RIO-piloting her valravn.  I don't about the othes.  What the hell is happening to our pack Angel?  Where did they take our friends?" The thaan's voice was laced with anger.

"I don't know, but we'll find them.  We'll get them back.  But right now we have to- Talon? TALON!!"   As Angel spoke, a bright light flashed in her peripheral vision.  She turned to look at her RIO just as a transporter beam dematerialized him out of her ship.

Then the Bandits opened fire.

She watched, helpless and numb as her wolves were cut to pieces.  Her RIO was gone.  Dragon was gone.  So many others were just gone.  And now this.  She was going to give them hell.  ..As soon as she was certain the Theurgy was safe from radiation.  Pissed as she was, Angel had orders to follow and she'd be damned if she broke rank on a suicide mission.

"Wolves, this is Razor. Break shield formation and commence defensive maneuvers for your vectors. Let's see wh-  Fuck this shit! Weapons free! Defend your Vectors at ALL COSTS! Be advised pilots, those beams will cut your ship up like heated metal through ice. Avoid any contact if possible and make your shots count! Good hunting! Ravon out.""

It was her turn now, and she knew her pack would be just as angry as she was.  She opened a channel.  "Vamos, mis lobos.²  Let's show these motherless sons of bitches what we can do!"  She'd been flying her valravn solo for the last two days, and it seemed like today would be no different.  Reports were coming in from Meony and Husker, and Angel was grateful for the tips and to hear their voices.  Not everyone had been taken yet, so they still had a chance.

Angel switched her phaser pattern to pulse and engaged the approaching swarm of ships.  They fired first.  She twisted out of the way and fired back.  Her phasers danced on their shields, but didn't penetrate.  They had to be outnumbered at least ten to one, but Angel primed her torpedoes anyway.  If she wore down the shields enough, a well placed EMP blast might throw their systems off.  The trick would be detonating her torpedo when her target was near enough to other enemies to make it worth it. 

Angel fired again as she dodged incoming fire.  She was hit by glancing blows on her left, but she charged anyway.  Even in the burst pattern, her target didn't seem to be weakening at all.  But her valravn was already taking a beating.  She blew past her attackers in the initial joust, then circled around to tail them.  Her hand was steady on the phasers, as the enemy ship wove in and out of her firing arc.  She was tailing a pack of three and wearing down the middle ship slowly.  Too slowly. 

From behind, someone got off a good shot on her right wing and her fighter's warning systems flashed onscreen.  She quickly brought up a new panel on her console and tapped to open a vent.  Her systems cooled off and the overheating warning went away.  She fired her phasers again and again, aiming for center mass of the middle ship.  She was relentless in her chase.  Finally, she saw the shields flicker, just for a second.  Angel let her Hell-suite fly amidst a peppering of phaser fire.  The Hell-hound cluster bomb impacted first, and mini explosions errupted all along the ships shielding.  It was followed almost immediately by a Mk I Hellbourne torpedo.  Once they were away, she launched her EMP torpedo into the mix.  The goal was to weaken the shields enough that the Hell-hound cluster bomb took them down, which would allow the Hellbourne torpedo to directly impact the craft and the EMP torpedo would disable any remaining targets in the direct vicinity.

As the explosions rippled through space and engulfed the three enemies, Alessia shot past them and circled around to join up with Meony.  She had no idea if her gambit had worked, but even if it had, she'd just used half her ordnance trying to take out maybe three ships.  There were dozens if not hundreds of enemies swarming them.  The outlook was grim.  "Witchking?  Catscratch?  Do you copy?  If you're out there, watch each other's wing.  Meony, I'm on yours.  We do this together."

---

1. Mother of God, What is that?!
2. Let's go, my wolves.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie Hellcat] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, Lone Wolves

Daniel watched as the gargantuan alien vessel loomed over the Theurgy, he stared in wonder and amusement for a moment before taking in the full situation.  The Theurgy looked to be in combat mode so whoever these aliens were they weren’t allies.  Out of one situation and into another.  “Look at the sheer size of that thing…”  Knight said from behind him.  Daniel really wanted to look at it again but he knew that if he did he’d be staring at it forever.  “Knight, find me Commander Ravon in this mess.”  Daniel said, he needed to keep his RIO focused on the task at hand.

The Sabine seemed to have the right idea and contacted the Theurgy, hearing Lieutenant ch’Rayya’s voice was reassuring, he maneuvered his fighter alongside the Sabine to provide cover for the craft in case that ship took shots at them, though he wasn’t sure that his shields would even be able to take a single blast from the weapons that monster likely possessed.  Hearing the Lieutenant’s orders he decided that he’d be better off joining the other Wolves in the air.  “Sabine, this is Salvo, breaking off from tactical escort, good luck on your delivery.”  He said as he broke off and began to fly towards the nearest group of allied fighters.

As he glanced back at the monstrous beast he noticed smaller craft being launched from it.  ‘Ordnance?’  He thought to himself before running a sensor sweep, what came up on his display was not ordnance and in fact a fighter-sized craft.  However his thoughts were interrupted by Knight speaking to him.

“Salvo, I’ve found Commander Ravon.  Displaying his relevant position to us.”  Knight said as Daniel looked at his display.  What Daniel saw he couldn’t quite believe, these small craft could cut through a fighter with ease.  “Thanks Knight, let's say we join the fight.”  Daniel said as he maneuvered his fighter towards Vector One.  "Ready when you are Salvo."  Knight replied.

Daniel opened a communications link to Ravon’s fighter.  “Salvo to Razor, requesting orders.”  He said as he neared Vector One.  He ran a quick systems check while waiting for Ravon to respond.  His pulse phasers were still offline, that’d be something he’d need to bring up to Chief Covington once this whole mess was over; but the rest of his weapon systems were online and ready.  Even his external weapons were ready, the pair of additional photon torpedoes launchers and the pair of mass driver turrets.

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Wolf-07, Element Leader | Cockpit | AC-409 Valkyrie Mk III “Sassy Slayer” | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Even Angels Cry, @SummerDawn, @DocReno @Masorin & @Havenborn
[Show/Hide]“Lemme know what ya think, suh!” said Meony to Thomas Ravon, and signed off in time to respond to Alessia Garcia, “Mah very own Ayn-jahl! Ah hear ya, sugah. Together nao. Oh hey look, it's Salvo! He's in da faht now!”

Her heads-up display and tactical map showed Daniel Havenborn's fighter, and that of Tessa May Lance's. It felt good to see two additions rather than more fucking subtractions in their ranks. Even as she gunned her craft in evasive maneuvers, careful of the ever thickening crowd of overpowered bandits, she was lighting up the path before her with phaser bolts, still holding her payload of warheads and missile weapons in reserve. No point using them until they had a more definitive solution to dealing with the strength of those shields.

Meony was pretty much the cowgirl she dressed up as, and her fighter reflected her nature. She'd chosen to equip her Valkyrie, which she called the Sassy Slayer, with two Twin Mount Turrets, one on either external hard-points of the Valkyrie, and an additional torpedo launcher on each wing, the left pod carrying five EMP torpedoes, the right carried five Hellhound cluster bombs. Meony once told Jimmy she called it the "Thor" loadout, since it was the equivalent of dishing out thunder and lightning, something the mythical god of thunder was famous for. Taking stock of this and the fighter's standard armaments, which was two pulse phaser cannons, two fore and aft Type VI phaser arrays, a retractable Type I tetryon pulse phase cannon and two micro torpedo launchers, Meony began to formulate a personal strategy and plan of attack to test the bandits.

“Ayn-jahl!” said Meony, calling on Alessia, “Ah'm gunna foh-wahd ya a maneuver, aight? Ah call it da-EY AHM FLAHN 'ERE, YA BITCH-TASTIC JERK!!!” she had to abruptly spiral her fighter to avoid a collision with a fucktard bandit, and sent two angry red beams of aft phasers to show her extreme prejudice against royal morons. “Ah call it da Broncho Bustah Man-oo-vah, transmitin' t'ya. We're GONNA FUCK YA IN YA FACE WITH MAH TORPS AND FAY-SAHS UP YER FUCKIN' ASSSS!!!”

She squeezed the trigger, firing all forward facing phaser cannons, arrays and her tetryon cannon into the bandit that nearly clipped her wing as it dashed ahead, and she managed to dent its shields a bit, the multitude of energy beams and bolts taking its toll on the fighter, but it still wasn't enough. Even so, Meony was confident the bastard was now beginning to rethink the wisdom of cutting off the path of a Texas redneck gal. “Sorry, hon,” said Meony to Alessia, “but Ah really hate when people cut in front o' traffic and Ah'm the one they cut. Stupid-fuckzoids. Anyway, we mess wi' these fuckers, flah up-an'-dahn raht thru 'em all da way ta th' end, and we fa-ah every en-ur-gee weapon we have, ya dig? Front an' back! Watch for incomin' and weaken shields. Ah reckon we'll have a readin' on their shield strength at least, and see if we cain't fahnd no weaknesses? Whaddaya say?”

The idea was to scatter the enemies, keep them too busy worrying about the two of them to think about attacking the vector they were protecting, and also weaken the enemies if possible to allow for their remaining fellow wolves to follow up and mop the remaining bandits, if possible. But before she could get her wingmate's response, Meony caught movement on her tactical display and frowned, “What da fuck...hey, are those Ass-urines attackin'?!?”

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Kestrel-Wolf 01 | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Havenborn  , @DocReno  , @Triage  @Auctor Lucan  , @Doc M.  , @Even Angels Cry 

With little to no effect by his weapons on the fighters, Thomas his mood became more aggravated by the second. The chatter exploded as well on the comms as More fighters engaged in combat and got away with scathing hits on their own ships without proving any real challenge to the hostile fighters. Husker's message stood out as he called out that the fighters had a similar shielding system like the Reavers they had faced from Calamity. A nightmare that was far too fresh in his mind, he switched his own phasers to burst as well. "Good shout out Husker." he sent through a private channel to him as his ships did a loop in order to evade incoming fire from the fighters.

It became quite quickly apparent that they stood little to no chance against these fighters. Sure in one on one combat they might be able to outmaneuver them and wear down their shields, yet as the situation presented itself right now the sheer amount of hostile fighters would slaughter them off entirely. The fact that more fighters were flying deadstick was even more infuriating as it brought down the fighting numbers of the wolves to a bare minimum once more.

Tancredi called out to overpower their weapons to at least try and score a hit. Thomas considered the option before he replied "Wolf 07 be advised, overpowering your phasers might score you a few hits on them but you'll effectively lose the power to systems which you'll probably need to maintain evasive maneuvers. If you think you got a shot give it a try, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it." he replied to Tancredi as he admired her way of thinking yet dreaded the idea that these ships had the similar if not better shielding than Reavers. His eyes shifted to Vector 01 for a second as he wondered what the brass was planning. Would they stick around to get slaughter? Or would they bolt with a tactical retreat?

In the meantime Salvo reported in to Ravon and a smile covered Razor's lips as he got the contact on his HUD "Welcome to the suck Salvo." Oddly enough though there seemed to be missing a fighter in the escort and once Thomas identified Goldeneye as one of the other fighters he could only wonder what happened to Zrinka. Yet now was not the time to elaborate on that. "Salvo, join up with Angel on Vector 02. I'm placing you in charge for Vector 02's defense. Lance you're with me and Husker on Vector 01."

Finally life seemed to return to the vectors as they started  to converge closer to another and formed a more defensive posture. It took only moments later before the point defense systems were activated and a fantastic yet deadly light show began to break loose inside the Azure Nebula. Thomas was grateful for the activation of the point defense systems as it granted the wolves a bit more time and a slightly easier position to weave and deflect any incoming fire from the assailants. The bad news was that active defense systems were usually targeted rater quickly by hostile forces. Their time was running out!

To add to the bad news Tancredi's message about the Asurians attacking had worried Ravon as he scanned the area around him to see four more saucers. Two of them heading to Vector 03 and Vector 02 the others that he had seen had already rammed into the Theurgy, one of them being stuck in what seemed to be Spearhead lounge. "Fuck sake..." he dodged a beam barely as his ship jerked closer to Vector 01. "Flight leaders on Vector 02 and 03 be advised, you have Asurians approaching to your vectors on high speeds. Intercept and destroy before they ram our ship!" he called out over the squadron channel before he returned back into the fray.

In the meantime Tovarek drones launched out of their respective bays as well as shuttles that were en route to retrieve the deadstick fighters. It would be a suicide action to cover them and Thomas stepped up on his game to harass any more hostile fighters to have them focus on him and the other fighters. Henshaw reported in with a message for to the entire squadron, thus Thomas simply patched her through to the channel.

[All pilots be advised, drones have been launched in order to provide our escape. Provide cover to them and prepare to launch to warp after their engagement. I will forward the coordinates for your exit strategy. Henshaw out.]

Thomas felt some relief as a tactical retreat sounded like music to his ears. Continuing this fight would simply be their demise. He addressed his pack after Henshaw "You heard the lady. Wolves, form up on the drones and provide enough of a distraction so they can get their job done. On me!"

His ship dipped down into a nose dive as it picked up speed and seemed to go on a crash course with the Tovarek drones as the bulk of them had been launched and positioned themselves for their warp assault. The fighters and drones would venture under the massive beast as they caught a glimpse of the huge engine exhausts. The response of the enemy fighters was instant as they detected the threat. Most of them breaking away from the vectors while some still harassed the point defense and main weapon systems. Thomas looked around him how much of his pack would still be around him for this final desperate assault.

[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tessa_May_Lance,_callsign_%22Goldeneye%22) | Cockpit | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie ]  Attn: 1) @chXinya 2) @Triton 3) @Nolan 4) @DocReno 5) @Hastata-Nerada 6) @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

Tessa deactivated the mag-locks as her Valkryie and the Sabine hurled themselves into the fray.  The problem with trying to get to the Theurgy was the fact that that was where all of the hostile ships were pointing their sensor scans and weapons locks.  And there were so many potential bandits out there…

“Okay Sabine, I’m on your six,” Tessa broadcast in a surprisingly professional tone.  ”Clear the way and we’ll try to keep them from following you.  Salvo and I got your back…”

A masculine voice cut in over the channel:

[ Sabine, this is Salvo, breaking off from tactical escort, good luck on your delivery. ]

“Okay I got your back,” Tessa corrected herself as her Valkyrie and the Sabine hurled themselves towards the three separated stardrive vectors of the Theurgy.  She was heartened to see so many of the new squadron out there, but why where so many of them flying away in different directions like they were leaving the area?  If they were fleeing the battle why were they flying so erratically?  It was as if all of their inertial compensators just stopped working and their pilots passed out from the g’s from too tight of a turn.  It was as if for all intents and purposes Wolf-02, Wolf-04, and Wolf-06 were flying without any pilots at all.  Were they dead?

And worse yet were all of the enemy fighters.  Aquamarine bolts of light were striking at the remaining Lone Wolves and the Theurgy's separate stardrive vectors.  Increasing the magnification on visual she saw small silver craft about the size of a Valkyrie or a Valravn.  There were just so many of them, and they seemed incredibly maneuverable.  Thank goodness there didn’t seem to be any fighters blocking her and the Sabine’s flight path…

The thought had come too soon.  Materializing out of nothingness, directly ahead of them, were four enemy fighters of a construction that Tessa had never seen before.  They were sleek silver fighters that resembled manta rays moving backwards, but Tessa only caught a brief glimpse of them before they passed Tessa’s Valk and the Sabine within meters of colliding.  Worse yet, according to her aft sensors, somehow the four alien fighters managed to turn themselves around so that their noses were now pointed at the unprotected aft sections of their targets.  How had they managed to do that so fast?  Their movement had been unnaturally smooth, more like a holodeck simulation than the movement of a solid object that had to bow to momentum and physics. 

”Keep going Sabine, I’m going to draw their fire,” she ordered as her Valkyrie shot ahead of the wounded gunship.  “Two can play at this game,” Tessa muttered as her fighter dipped down and circled back to charge at the Sabine and the enemy fighters.  As she passed up the Sabine heading straight for the enemy fighters, she fired at them with everything she had.

The aliens were peppered with shots from her tertyon pulse phase cannon as photon micro torpedoes exploded as they hit their fighters.  And… nothing happened.   Zip.  Bupkis.  Nada.  It was as if she was spraying them with a garden hose.  That big explosion was merely the ignition of the sirillium gas in the nebula, the alien fighters were unscratched.  Whatever the enemy used for deflector shields, it was centuries ahead of Starfleet.  

Tears welled up in Tessa’s eyes.  The dilithium shipment had to get through.  All other concerns were secondary.  Even if it meant sacrificing herself.  There was nothing for it; all Tessa could do now was make a kamikaze run and crash right into them.  With luck, even if their shields held, their sensors might be temporarily overloaded by that big fireball Tessa would make when her fighter exploded.  Grimly accepting her own demise, and hoping her sacrifice would not be in vain, Tessa May Lance screamed her battle cry and charged at the lead fighter in a collision course at full speed:  “AAAH!  MOMMY-MOMMY-MOMMY!  I DON’T WANNA DIE!”

The four alien fighters spread apart, letting Tessa by and then got back in formation in less than two seconds.  It was as if their pilots had been choreographing that maneuver ever since flight school.  Their shields seemed invulnerable and they were so maneuverable that they could fly circles around what Starfleet had, and if Tessa wasn’t lucky she would find out what their weapons could do.

“Eep!” Tessa squeaked as two of them broke off chasing the Sabine to head in her direction.  Without hesitation she shunted all power to movement and made a wide arc as she raced to the Theurgy.  There was always a chance that one of the Theurgy’s guns could penetrate their shields.  In the meantime she had to maneuver as quickly as she could to avoid getting hit. 

To her credit, her eccentric flying style seemed to confuse her pursuers at least at first.  Eventually the law of averages caught up when a freak shot from one of their weapons hit her in the impulse drive.  The weapon that hit her was one of the Savi’s graviton beam emitters and it hit her square in the gravitic field produced by the AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie’s Twin-Tandem ITD-900 Series Class V Gravitic Impulse Drive.  Rather than cutting her fighter in half it knocked her forward as if her Valk was a billiard ball struck by a pool cue.

“Aaah!”  Tessa screamed as her fighter spun out of control while hurling through space, somehow missing the drones the Theurgy had released.  Despite her efforts to right herself, it was no use.  Her impulse drive was overloaded and entirely nonfunctional.  Thankfully her fighter’s reactor core was still functioning ensuring that when she went splat there would be a fireball commemorating her untimely demise.  She was heading for the Theurgy, the dreadnought’s vector 03 stardrive section called the “Stallion” to be exact, and if she couldn’t get control of her spacecraft there was a real danger of her damaging the ship with an explosive impact.

Although her thrusters seemed to be straightening her out so she could point her nose in the direction she was going, they didn’t seem to alter her course or speed very much.  She was still headed towards the Stallion way too fast for someone with no brakes.  “No wait!” Tessa exclaimed as her gloved fingers played over the settings for her propulsion system.  “If a warp bubble warps space to let me go faster, maybe it can warp space to let me go slower!” she continued as she set her warp speed down as far as it would go.  “Engage!”
 
A warp bubble formed around her Valkyrie, only to collapse nanoseconds later.  It did the trick though, and it was a good thing because the vector 03 stardrive section was looming close in Tessa’s cockpit window.  By using her thrusters she managed to avoid colliding with the nacelle and found herself bouncing up the pylon to the Stallion’s hull.  She activated her tractor beam to stop herself and used her magnetic landing gear to secure her fighter to the upper section of the Stallion’s pylon.  Breathing a sigh of relief, she checked her Valk’s diagnostics:  Impulse out, Warp Drive Out, Reactor Core at 22 percent, aft thrusters inoperative.  She was out of the fight, but at least when the Theurgy went to warp, Tessa would go with it.

[ PO1 Vincent "Fury" Ferris (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tactical_Conn_NPCs#Ens._Vinnie_Ferris.2C_callsign_.22Fury.22) | Valravn Cockpit | Wolf-11 | Vector 3 | Azure Nebula ] Attn: Tactical CONN, @Mathis & @Even Angels Cry
[Show/Hide]Fury couldn't shake the feeling that he was driving a 20th century automobile from the back seat, and that he was in some kind of ancient destruction derby. The Valravn was an impressive machine, but without the computer support installed in those Mk III Valkyries, flying it solo from the rear seat was.... inconvenient. He'd considered climbing into Dragon's seat mid-battle, but knew he'd never make it there before one of the alien fighters caught up with him. At least the burst firing solution was deterring them a bit, but so far, Fury still had no kills.

When he'd heard Ojanpera and Flint were gone, Fury couldn't shake the feeling he would be next, given his personal predicament. They had been sixteen pilots - eight White Wolves fighters - that defected from the Orcus, but with the losses so far, Dragon and Talon included, they were down to ten. Nonetheless, he was still holding a defensive perimiter around Vector 3 together with Terror and Sniper... when a warning from their new SCO came though... about the Asurian saucers engaging the Theurgy.

"This is Wolf-One-One, copy that!" he said through his teeth, ending a barrel roll by yanking his stick back into a climb, which took him out of the sights of three pursuing alien fighters. No more had he reported in when he saw one of the saucers, quick as bloody hell and on a direct collision course with the Lower Shuttle Bay. "Contact, moving to intercept. If someone can draw the fire from me, you'l have all my holo credits. I've lost one wing and keeping it together by the skin of my teeth here."

No more had he set an intercept course on the Overseer before it shot past him, seconds away from impact. "Fuck," he said and squeezed the trigger to his remaining torpedo launcher, making it cough out the last seven mirco torps, sending them in rapid pursuit of the saucer. Whatever Asurian pilot there was on that Overseer was almost as quick as his vessel, since it swivelled mid-flight and fired backwards. Good aim or sheer luck, the large beam emitter managed to hit one of Fury's torpedoes, which set off the rest in a chain reaction - making for pretty fireworks between the Valravn and the saucer. When the conflagration cleared, Fury saw the Overseer ram straight through the shuttle bay doors on Vector 3 - successfully boarding the Stallion. "Dammit! Computer, give me the Vector 3 battle bridge. This is Wolf-One-One, you have hostiles in your bay, over!"

That was when his pursuers got through to him. An aquamarine beam struck down unto his and Dragon's Valravn from on high, severing his port-side arm and cutting a deep gauge into the second one. Fortunately enough, there were no micro torpedoes in the loading channels that could detonate - all of them spent in persistent survival.

I'm loosing limbs here! he thought in fear of his life. Yet regardless of his plight, orders came to defend the launch of drones. Fury had no idea what those new Tovarek-class drones were supposed to do about their situation, but he didn't question orders. The call came directly from Mission Ops, addressing all fighters, so there was no need to wait for confirmation from Terror or Razor. Evidently, the window of time was narrow, just like the chances of his survival. If he was allowed to go to warp after seeing it through, he wasn't going to second-guess the use of drones against the white and black beast. "This is Fury, copy that!"

Yet as if the day wasn't sour enough, Catherine Palm announced more bad news.

[This is Catscratch. I just lost one Asurian saucer. It's landed inside the Fighter Assault Bay. I've informed the battle bridge.]

Perfect. There were even hostiles inside our wolf's den, he thought. Fury narrowly avoided colliding with a Mk III Valkyrie that ended up mag-locking itself to one of the Stallion's pylons. This, while he climbed towards Vector 01, where the drones were launching from. He throttled up as best as his clipped fighter managed. During this climb, he realised something, and as it dawned on him, his eyes widened....

...the white and black behemoth ship was turning towards the Theurgy, at a speed that was in stark conflict with its sheer size. Whatever engines it had, it could make the whole thing turn on a dime. That, on its own, was frightening enough, but what made Fury swear silently under his breath was the sight of the three protruding cannons on the thing, and how it was getting the three Theurgy Vectors into its sights.

"Fury here, are you seeing this?" he screamed, but no more had the words left his numb lips...

...than the behemoth opened fire.

It was as if time stood still, paused by the yield of the three blasts. All fired in unison. One thick lance of energy drilled straight through Vector 03 - emerging on the far side within the seconds that the beam lasted. The second beam had gone for Vector 02, which Fury was passing, but whoever was at the helm of that Vector had managed to clear it from the beam's path - the outer hull merely frayed where the beam had scratched it. The third beam went straight into Vector 01, but the Helmet was not an easy target, making the beam pass through the holes of its hull. Even there, the one at the helm knew what he was about.

"There is no way we can fight that thing..." was all he could say to himself off the comms, "Why the hell are we to carry drones into the fight? We need to retreat."

---

OOC: Attn: @Mathis and @Even Angels Cry about the Savi precept ship opening fire against the Theurgy as described above. In your posts with Derik Veradin and Jaya Thorne, you get to do the manoeuvres that reflects the description above, if you want!

Another post with Liam Herrold coming up. :)

[ CPO Liam Herrold (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Liam_Herrold) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]His heart beating hard in the onset of the battle in the bay, Liam had heard Ji's plan, and when she put her hand to his cheek, he smiled to her despite the situation. "Good plan, just stay out of their sights, okay? I do want that dinner, you know?"

There was no time for more than that, as he ran off, crossing the flight deck at a sprint. He could see Sithick when the smoke from the blast cleared, having engaged the boarding party directly. He saw how the monstrous Gorn tore a limb off the male shooter that had almost killed Covington. Forcus! Liam was almost by the ECM crate when the female boarder came into view - the one with a shattered visor. She stepped out of the smoke in Liam's direction, and she covered her scarred, pale face with her arm, as is the bright lights of the fighter bay was hurting her eyes. It looked like she had trouble breathing too. Had the boarding party killed the lights to protect their eyes? Such a strange notion when staring down the sights of the female alien's weapon...

As he dove into a roll across the deck, feet away from reaching cover, Liam's last thought was on Ji, hoping she'd make it, before the alien opened fire. The sound he heard as he covered his head was the staccato rapid fire of a mass driver weapon, and he was surprised that the small hand-held thing the alien carried had such advanced tech. As a weapon system expert, he wondered where the magazine was stored on it... until he looked up.

It was not the alien that was firing, but the mechs with the trolley, having powered up the twin-mount and smiting the distance of the fighter bay. With four rounds per second launched from each barrel, sending a steady stream of 30 mm osmiridium shells, the barrage tore the female alien into three parts. Thick blue blood splattered across the deck and pieces of the black exosuit landed on Liam. He hoped Sithick hadn't been hit in the billowing smoke, but he could see two surviving aliens getting back on their feet, having survived the ECM detonations. No more had they got back to their feet before the mechs with the trolley smote them down too.

Finally, Liam managed to get behind cover, but still far from the ECM crate. He had a vantage point that let him peak into the maintenance bay where the Cinsaj sat. He could see the seventh alien, the tallest one. It was doing something to the hull of the Reaver. Was he attaching something to the plating? Whatever he did, the alien was stopped by the green tractor beam that Ji fired from the fighter bay's overhead rig. The alien turned its head to look outside, clearly displeased. There was something wrong with the way it stood. Did it have three legs? No more had Liam asked himself what the alien would do next..

...until it drew its weapon and took aim against the tractor emitter. Three beams it took, then the overhead rig had been cut and fell down to the deck, dangerously close to...

"Ji!" called Liam, just before the rig with the tractor emitter crashed down. With light blue eyes wide, he stared at the disjointed heap of metal. He didn't even see how the tall alien activated something on his suit, which made both the alien and the entire Reaver fighter get beamed out of the maintenance bay. The last alien standing had accomplished its task, and the Cinsaj was gone.

Liam might have missed this fact, his eyes for Ji alone, but he couldn't possibly miss how something large entered the bay through its doors. He turned his head to see the wide saucer set down on the deck - landing gears scratching the metal. It had to be about thirty meters wide, narrowly fitting through the bay doors. It may have landed, but its weapon systems were still online, with one giant beam emitter shifting like an eye in its socket - choosing between targets. Afterwards, Liam wasn't surprised that it picked the trolley with the twin-mount. It fired the same kind of aquamarine energy as the alien boarders did with their hand-held weapons - only the Asurian saucer's beam had a vastly higher yield. Afterwards, there was virtually nothing left of the trolley, the weapon system, or its two unfortunate operators.

As if the Asurian's weren't content with using their saucer's weapons, an airlock opened as well, and out of it leaped an ageing Asurian woman (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Command_NPCs#Hara_Sar-Dia) with a blade on her arm and a rifle in the other hand. Five more Asurians emerged behind her, similarly armed, and rallied to the woman's call.

"For Asuria!" was her battle cry, emphasised by the second blast from the saucer's beam emitter. which carved the far bulkhead open like a knife slowly passing through flesh.

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/1/1f/KRK-9009_Overseer-class_Research_Saucer_Detail.jpg)

[P02 Sithick (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sithick) | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan , @Blue Zephyr ,
[Show/Hide]
With arm secured in hand, Sithick already on foot chasing towards the larger bug creature, it was armored, and while it wasn't the first thing that Sithick had ever seen that was taller than him, this was by a large margine. Sithick had been the runt of his war group as a child slave, but this was at least ceveral centimeters taller than the tallest Gorn slave he had ever met. That did not intimidate him as he ran into the alcove where the Cinsaj was and the creature was, the fighter suspended by a tractor beam. Sithick nearly brought the gun up to fire, but everything was too quick, and he had to stop when the fighter was freed and the rig crashed down.

Next, he was aiming right at the creature however his lack of knowledge of the weapon he was holding prevented firing as he couldn't figure out the trigger fire response until it was too late and the Cinsaj, and the creature were both gone. Sithick let out a hiss of frustration at having lost the ship, and failed in his objective.

It was however not a moment where he could stop or focus. He had a weapon in his hands, and he needed to know to use it, yet another boarding party this one more human looking had come aboard there ship, and he watched as the makeshift gun was torn apart by the saucer. The weapon in his hands took some studying, and was clearly not designed with a larger reptilian hand in mind.

If he had that larger bug creatures gun than that would be one thing, but this did not adjust so he was forced to press on the dead fingers of the arm he had removed in order to operate the weapon. Still there was one target he really wanted to shoot at, and once he had figured out the basic mechanics of the gun after taking a moment to study it he knew how the creature had operated it.

Turning it towards the tall screaming woman at the front of the party was easy, as was priming the gun. Holding it steady, he braced for kick back, as he fired, but in sheer defiance of all physical laws felt none as the aquamarine burst of energy flew towards his target with insane accuracy.

Given time... he could adjust this weapon. It was within his expertise, and it was one of if not the most singular powerful gun he had ever held. The Gorn felt a different kind of love flutter in his heart for this thing,  not what he felt towards Lahkesis or Vivian, but rather something more curious. "I want ten of these."

LT Talidenai "Terror" zh' Idenna & LT JG T'Zantha "Sniper"| Air space around Vector 3| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Auctor Lucan @Doc M.

“Come on Fury, we got this.” Terror said into the channel as she had to adjust the rain of her fire to hit where Husker had found was the right spot to hit them, the targeting icon went red and she watched with a rather satisfied glee as the enemy fighter suddenly exploded into thousands of molten shards.

“Terror, that monster of a ship is changing its course and we have what appear to be smaller versions of those saucer ships incoming at twenty klicks!” Shocker said from his spot.

“Good eyes…” she started to say when suddenly she saw how quickly that monster of a starship was moving and that was followed by the rain of fire that it suddenly unleashed as her mind silently noted Fury’s words as she watched one the larger and for the lack of a better word *THICKER* energy weapons used by the smaller ships bore right through the vector that they were protecting, the Zhen’s eyes going wide under her helmet in complete shock and for a few seconds, “Lieutenant Terror” was once just Talidenai zh' Idenna again, a small child looking up at her first Alpha Female Makra on her home world, its massive ripping talons sheathing and unsheathing as it growled down upon her...the first time that she ever felt fear in her entire life…

She was less than six years old then…

Then the moment passed as she started to feel very enraged as her more violent passions suddenly raged through her body and once again, she was TERROR again as she heard her RIO start offering up prayers to his Prophets. “This is not a good time to be begging for forgiveness, Reshi.” she growled lightly.

“I’m not, Terror. I was making offers of prayers up to the Prophets for the bountiful mercy that they have given us this day...truly, they want people punished for being wicked.” Shocker quipped.

Terror couldn’t help but smile at that as she locked onto another enemy fighter, this time an Asurian fighter and unleashed a hell of energy into it which caused it to flare out of existence before its pilot could even blink.

“Terror to Sniper, thoughts on the situation?” Terror asked her lover.

<I think that while the situation looks dire, I now fully understand Phanatos old comments about target rich environments.> came back Sniper’s comments through the squadron’s channel as the albino vulcan threaded her fighter through the chaos. <Also am I seeing things or are the Asurians attacking their allies?> she calmly asked before ashing another hostile fighter.

Terror was in no position to reply but she did find the entire situation strange. “It doesn’t really matter, they made the biggest mistake of their lives this day.” she growled hotly.
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[LT JG Cameron "Witch King" Ward & Ensign Tallanyreen "Aria" sh'Kandros| Air space around Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Even Angels Cry @Triage


A few minutes before the enemy dreadnought fired on the Theurgy, Aria was keeping her eye on the situations around them because the traffic around second Vector had gotten very heavy, very quickly.

<Witchking?  Catscratch?  Do you copy?  If you're out there, watch each other's wing.  Meony, I'm on yours.  We do this together.> came the voice of Angel, their flight leader.

“Roger that, Angel. Catscratch, I need you to focus...we got you.” Aria replied into the channel, her professional mind trying to stay focused when suddenly Catscratch’s slightly panicked voice cut through the channel.

<This is Catscratch. I just lost one Asurian saucer. It's landed inside the Fighter Assault Bay. I've informed the battle bridge.>

Aria’s eyes widened at the sound of that since first the report about one group of hostiles and now a second one?!

"WOO!!" cried Witch King, ramming his throttles to the firewall. "It's GREAT to be ALIVE!!" as he ran another enemy fighter to the ground as Cameron was normally very quiet and taciturn in the field but something about today was drawing something darker...heavier out of them all.

As Aria watched him start to attack another enemy fighter like a cat with a mouse, Aria could only shake her head. {Memo to self, thought Aria, {increase his medication.}

But even as she thought that, an alert screamed in Aria's face at which point she looked at the origin of it to see the white and black behemoth of a warship turning at a speed that she couldn't believe as she saw three cannons protruding under the "waterline" of it before each muzzle suddenly had a tremendous lance of energy fire from it.

"FUCK ME!!!!" Witch King roared as he suddenly flipped their fighter underneath the huge funnel of aquamarine energy so close to the twenty two meter long fighter that just the bleed off from such a powerful blast of graviton energy caused the Valravn's shield systems to strobe past the red line and simply fry out for the time being. "Aria, what's the damage??"

Aria would have responded but she was more focused on the present situation of trying to figure out where the beams were going, namely the one that almost hit them as Witch King brought their fighter around to see the very beam in question boil a hole straight through Vector Three, her heart suddenly feeling like it was somewhere else as her mind went back to an event that happened earlier that very day.

Three days ago someone had come up with a matchmaking board for the workout partners and Aria had enjoyed working with one Eliska Bremmer, enjoying the human from Nova Kosice's company and just generally being around her that it allowed the normally serious minded Shen to feel at ease which she enjoyed.

This was made more interesting when she had stumbled over trying to flirt with her, accidentally asking if Eliska would like to have a drink from her which made her blush shades of blue that must have been interesting to see.

But the other woman hadn’t been offended but simply gave her a warm smile and said “we’ll talk.”

But now after seeing that, Aria could only let out a deep growl of anger, as her blue eyes narrowed to mere slits. “Kill them...kill them all!!!”

Witch King didn’t say a word as he simply went about his dark duties.
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OOC:
Husker's post to come.

Makra is the Andorian version of the Kodiak bear.

[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton| Theurgy "Air Space" over Vector 1| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Nolan @Havenborn @Even Angels Cry @Doc M.  @Auctor Lucan

Even as the losses on their side were mounting, Husker simply kept his mind on the matter at hand as he was used to dire situations like this, before the Harbinger had met up with the Theurgy he had witnessed his entire squadron be whittled down in a rather quick and brutal fashion.

The sole survivor of Dor'GhItlh Squadron found a dark comfort in this, he wrapped himself up and drew on the pain of the memories of that dark time.

Green eyes, normally India Green in color shade, were now a Midnight Green as the targeting icon highlighted another Savi fighter that soon became so much blue flame and molten shards under the hail of phased energy pulses.

Another fighter quickly tried to swing in and around him but on pure reflex, Husker shunted his forward momentum backwards as his Valkyrie flipped backwards and then at the apogee of the flip, he let loose with a another full salvo of phaser bursts that caught the ship into its own blue fireball.

The systems of his fighter alerted him to the damage that he was taking when the graviton weapons caught him at the right and wrong moments but he was in his dark place-when the enemy was removed from the field, then the fight could be repaired.

Husker noted that an enemy fighter was coming straight at him at the same speed that he was but suddenly breaking abruptly for some reason which meant that the Asgardian would overshoot the hostile and possibly leave his Valkyrie's power planet wide open for the weapons.

His gaunetleted fists tightened around the controls just enough that one could've sworn that they heard the metal creak had anyone been there to listen for such things.

Instead of slowing down or trying adjust his heading to prevent an overshoot, Husker simply leveled his ship out and before their respective shields could even reach the same zipcode, he pulled his bird up hard before rolling away which allowed him to roll his spinning fighter in a manner around and into the swee spoot.

The Savi pilot and his computer only had just enough time to calculate the insanity of the move before a spinning wave of phaser bursts followed up by the next to last of the micro-torps from the Valkyrie sliced his shields before the torps exploded against the spaceframe of the fighter.

As he did that, he could hear the flow of voices coming through the communications network:

[All pilots be advised, drones have been launched in order to provide our escape. Provide cover to them and prepare to launch to warp after their engagement. I will forward the coordinates for your exit strategy. Henshaw out.] came Cameron's voice, betraying none of the nervousness that she must be feeling due to the situation they were in.

[You heard the lady. Wolves, form up on the drones and provide enough of a distraction so they can get their job done. On me!] was Razor's voice, trying to rally the pack to help provide assistance to the survival of their carrier.

[Clear the way and we'll try to keep them from following you.  Salvo and I got your back...] was Goldeneye's voice, surprisingly calm and professional.

[Come on Fury, we got this.] was Terror’s voice, ever the professional…

[WOO! It's GREAT to be ALIVE!!] came the excited tone of the pilots that Terror had told him about, the odd one...Witch King perhaps??

and while the talking flowed around him when suddenly one voice pulled him out of his darkness, a panicked voice…

[This is Catscratch. I just lost one Asurian saucer. It's landed inside the Fighter Assault Bay. I've informed the battle bridge.]

Valkyrie designated Seven Two Four Two C suddenly was spun around in a tight angle, his dark place bleeding away as the man within looked in the direction of the second Vector…

...right in time to see the three massive aquamarine beams slash through the azureness of the nebula to barely miss the first and second Vectors but bore a large hole through the third like it was sunlight simply going through an unbroken wave in the ocean.

The dark place once again washed over the man, but instead of the usual cold that he was used to there was a much more...searing heat to him mixed with an icy ball of dread fear settled even deeper into his stomach.

Fury’s words cut through the comms, demanding to know why they didn’t just retreat.

Eyes narrowed.

There was no emotion in the man’s voice when he spoke into the squadron’s channel, “We don’t retreat, Fury. The best way to understand someone is to fight him, make him angry. That's when you see the real person.”

Husker’s eyes narrowed hard as he moved his fighter to cover the drones in his Vector’s quadrant. “Time to show them the real us, yes Razor?”

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]
@Auctor Lucan  @Masorin

She loved that he didn't question her plan.  He just went with it.  She would have been willing to listen to another plan, if he had one, but apparently he didn't because he told her he had wanted that dinner and to not let the aliens get her.  With her heart thumping heavily in her throat she rushed off to her own job.  Sliding into position where the computer console was.  She knew that it was probably a long shot but anything she could do that would help could be a boon.  Seconds gave them a chance to react or attack.  She wasn't sure what Covington's plan was, or anyone else's they weren't a united front other than the whole 'don't fuck with our ship' front.  This crew was a family, they didn't just work together they were not going down without a hell of a fight and casualties a plenty.

She couldnt spare her eyes to see how Liam's progress across the deck was going.  At this moment she had a job to do.  She nearly relaxed, nearly, when the green beam shot down from the ceiling.  She focused as much power into the power conduit as she could in the hopes that she could make the damn thing as strong as possible.  She hoped that it would work.  If she could hold the ship in place then she would most definitely be able to save the ship for the moment. 

Ji grinned. Success you thieving bitches. she thought as she turned to observe her work for a moment.  She watched as the alien ducked out to the side clearly looking rather pissed off that she had thwarted her attempts to leave the bay.  Ji wanted to taunt the stupid alien that decided she should steal something that didn't belong to her.  Only then she rose her weapon and fired at the tractor rig that was on the ceiling.  No! 

The Chief watched in horror as the beam flickered and stopped right as the rig began to break from the ceiling and came barreling towards her.  In the back of her panic ridden mind she could hear her name called out.  The tone familiar, and yet her sudden abject fear of being crushed did not allow for her mind to make the connection on who had called out for her.  It spurred her into action.  Waking her mind up from the sheer shock of the situation that was coming down towards her.  She jumped as fast as she could, without really preparing her body for the fact that it was going to impact the deck plating with all her weight.  She crashed into the deck plating and let her body .. thanks to the flight suit... slide across the deck with some momentum and behind another computer console. 

The massive machinery crashed heavily into the deck, pieces, parts, and debris scattering all over.  Pelting her with shorn screws, nuts, bolts, and metal pieces.  One of which was sharp enough to pierce her suit right at her hip.  She cried out as the pain suddenly made itself known.  Finally, the chaotic crash was over, though nothing about the flight deck was quiet at this moment.  She could hear the tat-tat-tat of something over and over again she hoped it was one of their guys.  She was about done with these aliens.  As Ji looked down at the wound in her hip, the blood seeping around the metal coloring her suit orange she hissed.  It wasn't in the bone, just the soft fleshy area right above her pelvic bone. 

Ji was no slouch and she doubted it had hit anything vital.  Maybe the spleen or something equally useless.  Gods I don't need another Nicander visit.. she swore to herself as she reached down and pulled the piece of metal out of her body.  She cried out and lay on the deck plating for a moment.  Sweat breaking out on her forehead as she allowed her body to feel the pain of pulling the serrated metal out of her body.  She cast it angrily to the side and just concentrated on breathing for the moment.  Once the worst of the pain subsided she knew that she needed something for the wound.  She reached down, the stabs of pain, less but still rather sharp as she moved and tore the leg of her flight suit off from the knee down.  Tearing the fucker into strips she quickly field dressed the wound before she rose up carefully.

It's .. it's gone...

She only had seconds to think about the fact that the bay she had fought so hard to keep full was now glaringly empty.  Because moments later a massive saucer type ship soared into the shuttle bay and her eyes wide followed it as she tried to figure out just the hell it was.  What fresh hell.. I swear today is a day I will not soon forget.  she sighed as her dark eyes followed the damn saucer as it slid down their maintenance bay coming to a stop.  She watched in horror as the beam elicited from it's weapons bank and eviscerated the two men and the gun they had been using to mow down the aliens before.

The door opened and Ji rose her brow as five of those fuckers came out armed again and calling out something about Asuria.  Did we... do something to them?  Did the big bad Theurgy people pick on them and call them short or something? she wondered as she stayed fairly hidden behind the debris of the tractor beam system while she watched everything that was going down.  I wonder if Liam can get those ECMs ready and we can mount an attack on that damn thing.  I wonder... how many life signs are on the ship.  If those five leave it.. maybe I can get on board and use their own weaponry against them...

Ji knew she was thinking dangerously, but there was just no way that the Korean woman was going to go down without a fight.  Her mind was constantly rolling with the ideas of what she could do, how she could help, how she could buy them time.  The five turned and began to head for the massive hole in the bulkhead that they had just shot.  They're going to infiltrate the ship.

She wasted not a damn moment.  As soon as she could move she started to.  Low and quick she hunkered down.  The pain was real, but it kept her focus sharp and she pushed it to the side as much as she could.  She didn't have time to mess with her pain or her wound, it would not kill her .. probably.  Sithick came out of the smoke and began to open fire on the bastards.  Thank you Frog-man, I owe you.. green booze or something. she thought as she snuck behind the saucer and mounted the ship quickly.  She mounted the ramp and slid into the ship.  She had no idea what the layout was but most ships were about the same and she knew that the weapons and who controlled those would be in the front. 

Ji made her way forward, already in a fighting stance, her taekwondo training kicking in as she moved, her eyes never stopped moving.  She hoped to incapacitate who ever was up at the front and take over the weapons.  She could mow down the fuckers that left the ship with their own weapons.  That was the plan anyway. 

[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie Hellcat] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, Lone Wolves

As Daniel maneuvered his fighter towards Vector 2 he watched as the battle unfolded, the enemy fighters could take hit after hit from the Valkyries and only when extreme force was applied did they finally manage to be destroyed.  They’d run out of ordnance and energy for their weapons before the hostiles ran out of fighters to throw at them.  “Damn if it takes that much firepower to just damage one we’ll be here forever.”  Remarked Knight as he watched a Valkyrie try to destroy one.

“Understood Razor, moving to Vector Two now.”  Daniel said as he switched communication channels to those fighter in range of Vector 2.  “All fighters in range of Vector Two, Salvo has lead.”  He said as he watched more of the enemy fighters swarm around Vector 2.  As Daniel was about to line up and try his luck he received the message from the Theurgy directing all fighters to support the drones that were being launched.

“Looks like we’ve got a change of plans Knight.”  Daniel said as he found the nearest cluster of drones and began to provide covering fire to distract the hostile fighters, intending to make himself the target instead of the drones.  He targeted the nearest enemy fighter and launched a salvo of phaser fire, mass drivers and a group of torpedoes.  He repeated the process again firing another salvo of phaser fire, mass drivers and the last of his torpedoes hoping that the enemy fighters would focus their fire on him and not the pilots under his command or the drones.

[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

It had been a good thing Eliska had planned to get back into her exosuit very shortly after the moment they had dropped out of warp.  And that she could do it quickly.  Because no sooner had she gotten the gauntlets sealed that the Sabine lurched violently and the violent wind of explosive decompression nearly knocked her off her feet.  But that was what magnetic boots were for.  And the strength-amplifying servos in one of her arms.  While the other hand was occupied in donning her helmet even as the Sabine went from a survivable atmosphere to a total vacuum. 

And it was on days like these Eliska Bremmer was grateful for the long, grueling hours spent training for EVA operations, including controlled exposure to hard vacuum.  It was not so much that the training allowed her to keep her head; it was far simpler than that, really.  The reflexes learned under this form of training formed automatic reactions, and the only thoughts that occupied her mind were an all-encompassing need to protect her self from the vacuum, and make sure she could remain functional.  And so she did, explosively expelling every bit of air in her lungs to protect them from the decompression, and closed her eyes to try and keep as much moisture as possible within them as to be able to see when she would be under pressure again.  And, blindly, she donned her helmet and sealed it, and one-handed she activated her suit's life support system, and life-giving atmosphere was restored to her... just in time for the ship to recover from being hulled multiple times and her own life support to start reasserting itself. 

And while things were being settled, she armed herself again.  Her own pistol was in its holster, and she had the last remaining phaser rifle on the ship.  And while ammunition was low, it wasn't that critical.  Not when they had a starship full of ammo to re-bomb from now.  But at least, she had enough for anything but a sustained engagement against an ass-load of giant spiders that could survive in vacuum and still be feisty in near-vacuum... and could only have been dealt with en masse when the corridor in said near-vacuum turned into the barrel of a gun all of the sudden... 

But, before long, she and Mariner had been beamed out of Sabine, and just outside the broad doors leading to the fighter bay.  From the briefing they had received, the initial boarding party had been dealt with, but an Asurian ship had forcibly boarded and they were expecting ground troops any second... and that was when the bulkhead next to her erupted with a blue beam and a blast of shrapnel.  Well, that certainly looked like a good cue to get moving all right. 

Storming into the shuttlebay, Bremmer was just in time to see half a dozen Asurians disgorging from their ship and charging forward, one of them howling their own war cry. 

"Pushing through!"  Eliska herself had called out, her rifle tightly pulled into her shoulder as she headed towards the incoming Asurians.  There weren't many left who were anywhere near the action in the bay itself.  But that no-nonsense CWO who had been there when Captain Ives addressed the crew of the Resolve had been nearby.  He had armed himself and certainly held his phaser like he meant business and knew how to handle himself, but the arrival of actual Security personnel had held him back behind the cover he had picked for himself.  Because Sten Covington was competent, and he knew how to handle himself.  And he was trained to be in actual scraps.  But there were times it was just better to leave things to the professionals. 

And Bremmer was just that, and she opened fire on the line of incoming Asurians, her finger pulling the trigger with the rhythmic perfection of a metronome... but eventually, given the relative closing speeds and the Asurians' predilection for melee weapons, eventually it would go to hand to hand... and that would be interesting. 

[ CPO Liam Herrold (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Liam_Herrold) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]When the Asurians boarders had rushed forth through the fighter bay, Liam Herrold had escaped their notice. He had been hiding behind his cover, unarmed and unable to oppose them despite how much he wanted to do something about them. His immediate plan was to let them pass, and them make a run for that ECM crate - to throw the countermeasures after them.

Yet just as he was about to make his move, Ji emerged from out of the latticework of the tractor rig! He could not even credit the fact that she was alive before she went head to head - injured and unarmed - with the boarding party. They had blades and rifles both! It did seem, based on the first blows traded, that Ji was quite able to hold her own in a fight, but Liam doubted she'd lasted as long as she did if it wasn't for Sithick, who started to fire against the boarders with the gun he had acquired from the black-armoured aliens.

With both of them there, he couldn't throw the ECMs in their direction, lest he'd kill Ji and the Gorn. Nonetheless, he ran for the crate and picked up one in each hand. When he rounded on the ensuing fight in the middle of the fighter bay, he saw reinforcements arrive. A man and a woman in Security exosuits, and while it was impossible to make out their faces through their visors at that distance, Liam was happy to see them there - feeling that the battle was turning in their favour.

No more had he got the notion before the giant eye of the saucer's beam emitter adjusted its aim and fired anew - the thick beam scourging a line towards Sithick's position and then continuing towards the two in exosuits at the farther side of the bay. Liam swore, looking at the damn thing that was wrecking the hangar, and bit his teeth together. "Okay, you bastards... You want to play?"

He did not call out, not asking for cover fire, since he didn't want any attention from the Asurians as he made his move. Mid-sprint towards the saucer, he armed his two ECM units with his thumbs, not slowing down for a moment. He was bathed in aquamarine light as he passed the beam emitter, light blue eyes never leaving the point of his mad dash. Behind him, he could hear the fight continuing, with blades against metal and weapons fire, but he dared not look back, hoping Ji and the rest would make it. The fuse of the ECM units was short, but he only needed another few moments.

When there were less than two seconds left, he cried out... and threw them both into the open airlock of the saucer.

Liam dared not look if he managed to hit, throwing himself to the deck and covering his head.

What followed was a detonation like the ones heard before, only this time, the two consecutive blasts tore up interior bulkheads of the saucer and cleaned out the majority of its innards. It rocked on its landing gears, likely killing the pilot since the beam emitter abruptly died - the exterior lights of the craft flickering out.

It left only the Asurians still standing, and when Liam dared look back, the old Asurian woman was still on her feet - still fighting and firing against the Theurgy's crew...

---

OOC: @Triton @Blue Zephyr @Masorin & @CanadianVet , please divide the kills between yourselves! :) Five Asurians in the boarding party and four of you, but five counting the NPC Covington. I suggest one kill each? Seven days count-down begin now for all four of you, with no posting order set. Go!

[P02 Sithick (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sithick) | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan , @Blue Zephyr ,
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The gun was powerful, Sithick's aim was less true however his first time firing the gun was inaccurate and his shot missed the old assurian woman by a few inches, probably ripping off a few of her hairs, before the ship opened fire towards him. The lance of energy streamed towards Sithick and he barely had time to throw himself towards the wall of the cropping where he had sat, the stream of energy burning away at the area he had been seconds prior as he hid himself and made himself as small as possible before the attack moved to a different area of the ship.

However the attack didn't last much longer after it continued towards the back of the fighter bay, going for two security guards in exosuits. When Sithick emerged from under the desk he  was not surprised to see holes in his ship. Holes he was going to have to patch... again. He sighed it was like they couldn't keep this place in one piece for more than a day!

Anger surged through Sithick as he got to his feet and looked over the Assurian boarding party, the gun he was holding dropped, and Sithick did what he had done back when he had been a child, when battlefields had been his home.

He charged forward. His yellow eyes flickered with anger as he charged towards one of the boarding party, the other seemingly stuck watching the the Gorn come closer, probably terrified as the large 7 foot tall monster's claws scraped the ground with every step towards him.

SIthick reached his target and grabbed the being with a claw around it's chest, a sudden theraputic sense of anger release washing over him as he threw the other against the hull of the deck, smashing it and watching it bounce before his mouth snapped around the creatures leg, and the assurian was thrown upwards into the air, before being violently slammed back down to be picked up a third and final time the force of the lifting breaking the creatures bones as Sithick flung them wide hurling them against the wall, where they stayed in a mess of a heap that once resembled a humanoid.

"Stop, blowing holes, in my ship!"

[ PO1 Vincent "Fury" Ferris (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tactical_Conn_NPCs#Ens._Vinnie_Ferris.2C_callsign_.22Fury.22) | Valravn Cockpit | Wolf-11 | Vector 3 | Azure Nebula ]
Attn: Tactical CONN, @Mathis @CanadianVet @Triton @chXinya @Brutus
[Show/Hide]By sheer luck, Fury was still flying his Valravn from the back seat, shaken by what he had just seen. Vector 3 hadn't blown up, so the behemoth ship must have missed any engine parts that would have otherwise compromised the warp core. Vector 2 was scarred, but still moving, and Vector 1 was unscathed. He could detect the drones launching from the Upper Shuttle Bay as he heard the reply from Husker.

[We don't retreat, Fury. The best way to understand someone is to fight him, make him angry. That's when you see the real person.]

From where Fury was sitting, it didn't look like they were making these aliens any angry at all. Was Husker referring to the pack? To him? Well, he had earned his callsign for a reason, only he had not been aggravated enough to show him why-

That was when the alien fighters caught on to the new development, and the squadrons out there began to diverge on the drones. They must have foreseen something Fury didn't quite grasp yet, but he knew that he had been charged to ward those drones. Those were his orders, and the goddamn aliens were about to make his day worse than it already was. "Not on my watch..." he said off the comms and throttled up what was left of his fighter, missing a wing and a launcher as it was, with deep gouges in the hull plating from enemy fire.

[Warning,] said his computer inside his helmet, [Plasma levels dropping. Core integrity failing. ETS evac recommended.]

"Fuck you, I won't run," he said, surprising even himself as he had just wanted a tactical retreat. It was too late for that now.

[Acknowledged.]

So what if he was leaking plasma? It wasn't as if it mattered at that point. The brass wanted those drones to do something. Fine. The aliens were already targeting the small, unmanned things as they emerged from the bay, one by one blowing up or being cut apart. He bared his teeth and went in, leaving any kind of formation behind. His thumbs squeezed down on the triggers to his oversized Type VII emitters, and he sent fiery lances of orange energy into the face of the opposition - deterring them and making them break formation.

"Arrrgh!" he cried, wanting more speed out of his dying fighter, wishing Devyrie was there to keep the core from breaching, and pushed for maximum impulse speed. He set for an intercept course that would flank the first wave of alien fighters, shooting straight into their formation. They had likely thought he'd break away, and had to scramble to get out of his path. Their mistake earned them several busts of phaser beams into their shields, and he actually got his first kills. Not because of his phasers penetrating their shields, but because two alien fighters flew into each other - both torn apart by the collision.

[Warnin-]

"Shut up!" he barked and twisted his fighter around for another pass, going for the second wave of aliens that converged on the drones. The trickle of unmanned crafts had stopped, and there were only five of them left. Four, as another drone was cut apart. Fury screamed and went for the aliens closest to the surviving drones, but that's when the Behemoth opened fire again.

This time, it was the torpedo launchers on the alien dreadnought that sent a massive barrage against the Wolves and the Vectors of the Theurgy. The readings screamed 'TRI-COBALT', which Federation starships only had a handful of. Fury's tactical systems went haywire with warnings about incoming ordinance, over thirty torpedoes closing the distance... and yet he was no longer afraid. With his face twisted in ire, he earned his callsign the second time that day, whilst targeting as many torpedoes as he could.

One, two, three... He caught two with a single beam. Six. His polarised visor shielded him from the detonations, and his TVD targeting system traced his eye movements. He found himself in a barrel roll towards the seventh rapidly moving torp, and it was getting away from him, but he caught its tail with his last beam - making it detonate before it reached the Theurgy. He was too far into enemy space. At that range, the other wolves might pick off a few, and the point-defence system of the Theurgy might take care of a few more. But without shields, they could not afford a single hit against either of the vectors. The shockwaves of those torps being shot out was enough to cause hull breaches.

It was then that Fury understood the purpose of the drones.

A single one had survived, and through the debris, Fury saw the light as it jumped to warp.

One moment, he'd seen the pinprick vanishing, and the next, the Behemoth ship's shield and hull had both been ruptured. A metallic gash marked where the drone had collided - right into the dark aft section of the alien dreadnought. The blast was delayed, and Fury had to squint against the light. It's massive engine section was wrecked, and he could hardly credit what he was seeing.

The elation he felt at the sight was stuck in his throat, since a black alien fighter went for him. Twin beams of green energy cut into his Valravn. While the cockpit was breached and the core lit up behind him in pending detonation, he reached for the ETS... and was thrown forward by the shockwave.

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OOC: Thirty-two minus seven makes for twenty-five tri-cobalt torpedoes to target in rapid mid-flight towards the Theurgy's Vectors. Whatever the wolves can't be quick-thinking enough to shoot out has to be taken care of by the point-defence system phasers. Neither of the Vectors can - unshielded - sustain a single hit by a tri-cobalt impact. As you might have read, only a single drone made it through. Fury's fate is unknown.

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Wolf-07, Element Leader | Cockpit | AC-409 Valkyrie Mk III “Sassy Slayer” | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Even Angels Cry, @SummerDawn, @DocReno @Masorin & @Havenborn
[Show/Hide]“Aw hell...” said Meony when she saw the tri-cobalt torpies, “...AIN'T IT TOO MUCH TA ASK FER A FAH-KIN' BREAK?!?”

The Sassy Slayer spun like a corkscrew on steroids in a forward motion, firing at bandits and torps alike, narrowly avoiding enemy fire as she began to plot a intercept course for the torpedoes. They couldn't risk even one of those warheads impacting against an unshielded vector. These Savi were pretty savvy with their weapons and technology, and while both the numbers and firepower far outstripped anything Thea and her crew had presently, they weren't yet completely defenseless nor were they out of options. So long as the redhead saw and held even the tiniest flicker of hope, she wasn't going to give up. She called up a line of attack through torpedoes and layered in a playbook for the rest of the remaining fighters that they could pull up and follow if they saw fit. It was a malleable plan that could be adjusted as the split-second updates of new positions and situations arose for each pilot.

For Meony, she had her attack plan, and escape route as well.

While her large array of warheads were no use except to an unshielded enemy fighter, they certainly would have no trouble against the tri-cobalts. Punching the Valkyrie's thrusters for all available speed, she let fly with a full spread of her pulse phasers and beam emitters, relying on the computer's auto-targetting systems to compensate for movement and maximum effect that her own eyes and mind would have trouble handling, while she maintained control and accuracy for the pulse phasers. When she was halfway through her course, she targeted one of the torpedoes with her cluster bomb, and laid out a trajectory so that it would take out several other warheads in one go, then fired, along with a hail of micro torpedoes, each dedicated to one torpedo.

“Take out them torps!” said Meony unnecessarily to the rest of the fighter elements. Her eyes caught a flicker on one of the Valravns on her HUD and a quick glance told her it was Fury. She wasn't able to discern where he was amidst the chaos, and bogeys were coming up behind her like hornets to the last honey pot in the field. She was out of time and she had to run. Breaking from her attack course, she spiralled away, and ducked right back amidst the bandits, firing only her energy weapons the whole way, and threatening to dance them to hell if they crashed with her. Now she requested an escape route for the Fighter Assault Bay on Vector 02.

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Kestrel-Wolf 01 | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Havenborn , @DocReno   , @Triage   @Auctor Lucan  , @Doc M.   , @Even Angels Cry

With the drones on final approach a new threat loomed for the surviving wolf pack and their home base. The tri cobalt torpedoes launched from the Versant were a major thread to the Theurgy and as the icons appeared on Razor's HUD he had to think quick to relay a new order to the pack. The drones had come this far and would probably have to fend for their own at this point as survival of the ship outclassed the importance of the drone mission.

"All Wolves, this is Razor, break away from the drones and pick those torpedoes off!" he ordered as he jerked his fighter into a steep climb before giving chase to torpedoes that were headed for Vector 01. His eyes narrowed as the Savi fighters shot past him, barely scraping his hull against theirs as the evasive maneuvers for their weapon fire remained consistent. Once the Fighters were past him, he dropped his hellbore torpedoes. The torpedoes not launched towards the tri cobalt warheads, yet their propulsion simply made them slow down and just float in Thomas his wake. It appeared to be malfunctioning ordinance at first sight, yet they were primed. They remained their for a few seconds, long enough for a few Savi fighters to catch up to Razor before they detonated. Unsure if the blast would've killed them off , Thomas throttled up to max impulse speed as he chased the warheads that headed to vector 01. The orange bursts of phaser fire connected with the five torpedoes and the shockwaves had sent him into a spin as he flew too close to them in the end. His systems screeched warnings as he pushed his stick down to spiral out in to a steady trajectory.

The rest of the wolves would have to do the job together with the point defense system as classified information trickled in via a secure channel. The continuance protocol had been started and that meant that the vectors would be moving out soon. Thomas glanced over at the RV coordinated before he called out once more to his pack "All fighters, return to FAB ASAP. I repeat, return to the fighter assault bay at once! No time for heroics." Thomas wouldn't land his ship until all the rest would've landed. He turned around to cover the escape of some of the wolves, harassing the fighters that remained whilst the damage of the single Tovarek drone seemed to be sufficient to damage the Versant slightly.

Thomas punched in the RV coordinates in the meantime in case he wouldn't be able to link up with Vector 02. Mag locking would be tricky enough at these speeds not to mention whilst sustaining enemy fire, it would be a near impossible job to do so. He scanned the space around him, registering the remaining wolves as hell had broken loose in the Nebula. Now however was the time fora tactical retreat. There was no time to loiter around.

[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Fighter Assault Bay | USS Theurgy ]
Attn: @Nolan,@Triage, @chXinya, @Top Hat, @Brutus, @Doc M., @FollowTomorrow, @CanadianVet, @Hastata-Nerada @Even Angels Cry & @Auctor Lucan
[Show/Hide]If only given an impromptu briefing or even a last-minute warning, Ensign Jimmy Mariner would've eagerly awaited coordinates to the alien dreadnought to bust out Heather from her predicament. Still, there was no sense fighting in a burning house. It was the Australian first-responder's job to put out the fires aboard his home... and on that note, Jimmy resisted the urge to give Sera an idle invite to 'fire-dance' sometime as he responded to his call of duty. However, with Bremmer nearby, Mariner instead briefly revealed his face to the pilot and winked at at her as he uttered an innocuous invite, "Another round, another party." <Another time, another place.> Mariner re-polarized his impeccably-repaired HUD and prepared his two pistols in time for the beam-out.

Mariner stood a foot behind Bremmer in 'Klingon-style' back-to-back transporter configuration to cover more ground and avoiding a flank in the process. With Ida's phaser in one hand, a repaired Disruptor pistol in the other, Mariner was keenly versed in the unofficial combat art best-called 'Meony-style' and he was was truly itching for a fight. This style was a rarely-used but often-requested opportunity that rarely saw use outside of the style creator's Ancient West holonovels. With a gun in each hand, he could contend with multiple armed opponents through multiple firing lines while covering his surroundings with punishing fire. It was sloppy, but effective. And fun.

"It ain't a party if you're not dancing!" Jimmy barked in glib humor at Zyrao before the transporter buffer shut him up.

Jimmy didn't have to wait long after his beam-out to find targets for his pistols. When the Asurian weapon perforated the bulkhead nearby, Jimmy reactively dashed out of harm's way and took up a better firing position to counterattack. He got some distance from Bremmer to cover more ground and to get away from the firing arc of that weapon.  As a half-dozen enemy reinforcements arrived, Jimmy scored some hits against the boarders. His two-toned akimbo fire sang in concert with Eliska's steady, rhythmic firing pace. Making a war face under his HUD.. As Mariner fired, he hoped he could draw attention away from some of the 'squishy' non-security Bay personnel, providing cover fire for them to make a run for it (or hopefully, join in).

Fortunately, Jimmy's wish was as satisfied as was his passive need for a reminder of home...
Except the crocodile was the one holding the rifle for a change. Gritting his teeth Jimmy singled out a straggling Asurian warrior, probably at least a foot taller than him and fired one Disruptor shot shot as a challenge to the death toward the apparent leader of the enemy strike force. The Asurian let off some sort of primal animal roar and charged right at Mariner.

With his yan sword at his back, Mariner had more confidence than usual, knowing he had a weapon that wouldn't run out of ammo. For the second time today, Jimmy engaged in a duel to the death. Mariner was an agile combatant and had fought many opponents with various types of blades, more of an expert in the basics of KA-BAR C.Q.C. and sabreur fencing obtained from the Ushaan-Tor-Happy Tarsi.

"All security personnel not assigned to secure areas arm up and head to Main Engineering or Fighter Assault Bay to repel boarders.  Set phasers to kill." But it was then when Commander Cinn's voice came through on a security channel.

Oh! Okay. Bad news for you, goat-head.

Instead of reaching for his sword, Jimmy reactively raised his phaser pistol and thumbed two buttons to set it to its highest setting and fired off two consecutive blasts at the Asurian's muzzle. The alien warrior collapsed on where its face would have been had the Ensign not blasted it right off. Messy business.

"Ole." Jimmy quipped, taking a firing position to best compliment Bremmer, who was validating his confidence in her. It wasn't that he was avoiding a fight, far from it: He had a job to do, and he had an example to set regarding combat efficiency. He knew nothing about the 'Hornies' and had no time nor patience-- nor pity, for that matter, for these abductors. Mariner found and secured some cover providing his colleagues some flanking cover fire. The Gorn could clearly fight, but he spared no expense making himself useful by peppering the enemy with two weapon types, very mindful of his weapons' fire, not one to risk hitting any combustibles behind his intended targets. He thought he'd spotted a humanoid make its way into the enemy's dropship but could only continue to cause a diversion if there was a bigger plan at play.



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[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tessa_May_Lance,_callsign_%22Goldeneye%22) | Cockpit | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Dorsal side of  Vector 03 Starboard Pylon ]  Attn: @chXinya,) @Triton @Nolan, @DocReno @Hastata-Nerada @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

Clinging to the dorsal section of the Stallion’s starboard pylon, there wasn’t much Tessa could do besides make feeble attempts to get the systems in her Valkyrie going again.  Watching the conflict in the sky was just too scary; the threats could come from three hundred and sixty degrees.  There’s nowhere to run when the battle is all around you.

Almost before she could get started, her fighter was shaken as the Stallion shuddered under the impact of enemy weapons fire.  Tessa hadn’t been looking as she had been diagnosing her injured Valkyrie, but she was looking now.  From her position in the cockpit, all she had to do was look to her right to see the hole in the deck some tens of meters away.  The particles of detritus and the plume of deutronium leaking out of the hull bothered her.  What bothered her even more was the wide cone of debris that was shot into space. 
 
“Shields!” she cried as her gloved hands pecked frantically at her console.  “Shields!”

She instinctively ducked and whimpered as a basketball sized chunk of duranium bounced off the green semi hemispherical that appeared out of nowhere and then vanished into invisibility less than a second later.

Okay, she had a deflector screen protecting from projectiles and debris, but the weapons the enemy was using seemed to be slicing right through.  It was only because the shot that grounded her had hit the gravity field caused by her impulse engine was Tessa’s fighter still intact, but the feedback had overloaded engines.  Tessa was going to have to reroute her plasma systems if she wanted a chance of getting a shield that could deflect a particle beam weapon or a torpedo.  Not having the courage to go outside, even with a deflector shield up, Tessa decided to start with what she could do from the cockpit.

[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]

As she had expected, Eliska Bremmer quickly found herself too close for her rifle to be useful.  She ought to have remembered just how fast they could be, what with bunking with one of them herself.  And she also knew they were strong.  In fact, if it wasn't of her exosuit, she'd definitely think twice about getting within arm's reach of one meaning her harm.  But, encased in her armoured exoskeleton?  She was much more confident of her odds of survival. 

Her fire had little effect on the aggressors.  But then again, it was meant to make them put their heads down.  But, it would appear the concept of hunkering down so they could open fire with their own ranged weapons failed to register and closing in aggressively seemed to be more their speed.  But, it did have an effect; from a compact mass, they had scattered and would be coming as individuals instead of a concerted wave.  At least there was that...

But there was not much time to think as one of them came at her with a wrist-mounted blade and the first swipe knocked the rifle from her hands, and the second, much closer than the first, drew furrows against the armour of her chestplate as she stepped back and severed the sling that kept her connected to her weapon.  But it did not complicate matters much, and Eliska too another step back, her right leg leading and her hands crossed by her left hip.  Schlussel, she thought to herself, and wait.  And when the next attack came, a thrust for her faceplate, her hands shot forward to intercept the incoming strike, and upon contact one hand wrapped around the wrist and the other went further forward yet to capture her aggressor's elbow and she brutally bent him over forward into a vicious arm lock, and a hard twist of her hips led to the Asurians letting out a howl of pain as his shoulder was dislocated, but that scream quickly turned to a gasp as the Human further manipulated the disabled arm to drive the hard-mounted blade into its owner's side, and she she pushed him back, her pistol flowed into her hands and she fired once, twice, thrice and each shot, set to kill, struck.  The first was just up from the navel, the second dead center of the chest, and the third directly into the Asurian's nasal cavity.  Heal from that, was the vicious thought that crossed her mind. 

[Ensign Chris "Husker" Slayton| Theurgy "Air Space" over Vector 1| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Nolan @Even Angels Cry @Triage @Havenborn @Doc M.

<All Wolves, this is Razor, break away from the drones and pick those torpedoes off!>

Husker's eyes narrowed sharply in confusion at Razor's order but it was rendered moot because at that point his sensors finally cleared enough from the ambient energy of the nebula to show him that on top of the still active hostile enemy fighters, there was now an array of twenty four tri-cobalt torpedoes heading towards the various Vectors of his carrier as he shunted some of the energy from his shields into his engines as he started to run down the closest tri-cobalt, his sensors screaming at him about the hazardous energy bleeding off of the torp as well as subspace shearing but he ignored it as he locked on his phasers and unloaded a full salvo into the ball of energy, destroying it before he swung his fighter to the right to avoid the back blast before he started to make his way towards the next torpedo.

But he wasn't fast enough as some of the subspace shearing caused by the weapons premature detonation caused his some havoc on his systems, especially his shields which he noticed the alert and saw that they were down to thirty percent which didn't matter much against these hostile fighters but it meant a whole hell of a lot against the energy put out by those torps!

In that moment, the icy calm that Husker was feeling was broken as he said "I won't let her down. I have a date to keep." in a focused but warm tone, forgetting that he was on an open channel.

At that moment, an alarm screamed at him as he barely dodged another enemy fighter and that cold, black "ocean" engulfed him again as his readings showed that the hostile was coming back around to trail him at which point there was a hail storm of aquamarine bolts that came flying at him at which point he dedicated himself to jinxing and juking his bird about with several beams catching his fighter easily while others cleanly missed but one lucky shot sheared its way through a set of systems at which point his computer decided to finally voice its opinion.

"Warning, primary energy bus for tactical systems offline. Rerouting to secondary bus, weapons offline until rerouting complete." the Valkyrie's computer intoned to him in a manner that made the mono toned computerized voice sound like it was really saying "Okay, whatcha gonna do now, mister big shot?!"

Husker's eyes narrowed as he tried to keep his fighter from being shredded by this enemy while keeping his eye on the target in front of him at which point something came unbidden into his mind as a fragment from an old conversation entered into his thoughts.

{"Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. A normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop heart."} an accented voice ghosted into his ears from his mind's eye which caused Chris Slayton's lips to curl into a tight smile. {"Make the bastard chase you. He will follw."}

Husker then quickly shunted the unused weapons energy to his engines and then shoved his fighter's engines past the acceptable redline conditions, knowing full well that he was risking a impulse coil burn out but he had a promise to keep and he wasn't about to let someone down.

"Forgive me Ji for what I'm about to do." he said out loud as Valkyrie designation N7242C suddenly surged forward with a powerful intent with its Savi pursuer close at hand with it's dual colored hail of energy rain following close at hand as the Federation fighter duked between the remains of fighters from all sides of this recent, bloody conflict helped to cut down on how much damage his fighter was put through as he continued to close the distance to hostile energy projectile, its shimmering purple haze getting even bigger as its backwash was powerful.

"Warning. Energy readings at twenty two thousand TeraCochranes and rising. Suggesting immediate course alteration as hazardous situational levels past critical allowed limits." N7242C's computer once more snapped at him.

{That...isn't right...} Husker thought to himself as he thought about what he knew about Tricobalt devices from his time at the academy at which point that's when he saw it as his TVD highlighted the new situation;

Two tricobalts had come close enough to each other that they were now not only on their way to the FAB and Vector Two but also now basically operating as one and if that hit...then....

In that moment, Husker's mind went blank as various alerts starting going off as his shields were starting to be affected by the subspace shearing and warping as he drew even closer to it, his eyes could practically see the warping of his shields as his computer announced that the local area was at forty four thousand TeraCochranes plus his sensors were going kind of a drunk version of loopy but he could easily see that the black alien fighter was practically right there on his tail but then he did something unexpected as he swung his bird around the torpedoes which the Savi followed suit, uncaring about his own well being as he got a clear shot on Husker...only for the human's weapons systems to come back online as he slashed the two tricobalts with a single ruby red beam of energy as he powered past the oncoming threat, the detonation of two tricobalts not only caused a subspace shear that shunted the enemy fighter out of existence but also briefly cloaked Husker from other hostile threats for a few moments.

"Computer, do not give me a status report on what's not working. Instead give me a status report on what IS working." Husker said in a flat tone as he mentally swore never to do something so stupid like that again, he had a reason to stay alive and return to the carrier.

Suddenly, Razor's voice came through the communications system finally with <All fighters, return to FAB ASAP. I repeat, return to the fighter assault bay at once! No time for heroics.> at which point the Asgardian simply let out a groan of frustration as he shunted the excess power from his impulse coils and back into his weapons as he turned his fighter back towards the hanger.
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[LT JG Cameron "Witch King" Ward & Ensign Tallanyreen "Aria" sh'Kandros| Air space around Vector 2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Even Angels Cry @Nolan  @Triage  @Doc M.  @Havenborn @Auctor Lucan


<All fighters, return to FAB ASAP. I repeat, return to the fighter assault bay at once! No time for heroics.> came the voice of Razor through Aria's communications which made her smile tightly. "Witch King, its time to swing our bird around and go home again." the Andorian said tightly.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Cameron said, lining up his phasers on another tricobalt torpedo and sent it to it's fiery doom in the moments prior to them reaching the outer most edge of the Theurgy's point defense line which then opened up on the other torpedoes. "So any problems with joining Terror and the rest of the wolves in joining the Theurgy, Aria?" he quipped in a teasing manner.

<I heard that, Ward.> came the accented tones of Terror herself through the squadron's communication channel. <And I think most of the squadron did as well.>

Aria couldn't help but chuckle at the Laibok native's quip as she shook her head but before she could reply, Sniper retorted with <Terror my dear, you did not recruit Witch King into the project for his tactful nature.>

"Alright all joking aside, how many of these torps and enemy fighters are about still?" Witch King asked himself as he swung his fighter back towards the FAB. "Also does anyone have an eye on Fury since last contact with him?"

Aria checked her own boards, light blue eyes narrowing as the combined TeraCochranes in the area on top of all the gravimetric energy that was being thrown around was playing merry hell with her sensors. "I can't tell, plus I'm only getting sporadic readings from Husker due to all of the excess bleed off around."

<I...'m here...> came Husker's voice in a slightly spotty manner as his fighter showed up slightly due to where he was on the battlefield.

"Husker, how are you doing over there?" Aria asked as she tried to filter out the wavelengths to get a better idea of their fellow pilot.

<Fi...ne, j..ust...rea...lly....ha...te....> Husker's voice came back, communications still being spotty.

"This is Wolf Fifth-teen to Wolf Oh One, we have communication with Wolf Oh Eight but it's spotty, I think his communications system might be damaged." Aria reported in as an alert went off in her ears as the fighter suddenly jerked around as another one of the black fighters roared past with several lances of phaser energy shot out in thanks to Ward's quick trigger fingers as he moved the fighter closer to where Angel's own Valravn was flying. "Angel, Aria. We have your wing."

LT JG Alessia Garcia, Callsign "Angel", Wolf 13 - Flight Leader (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/thumb/9/9b/Alessia-Garcia-04.png/250px-Alessia-Garcia-04.png) | Airspace over Vector 2 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Auctor Lucan , @Triage , @DocReno , @SummerDawn , @Nolan
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"Vamanos, mis lobos! Deprisa!¹ Get to the hangar!"  It wasn't the order she wanted to give, but it was the right call.  The enemy was powerful and foreign.  Their forces were fragmented and scattered.  Their strategies weren't working.  Their weapons barely dented the other fighters.  If they wanted a chance against this new foe, they would have to regroup and form a new plan. 

Angel's bird had followed Meony, on her wing.  Meony's methods were a bit unorthodox, but they proved at least a little bit effective.  But Angel had emptied her payload in an effort to take out only a handful of enemy fighters.  There were dozens if not hundreds out there, and it didn't help that almost half their pilots had been abducted from their ships.  They were out-manned and outgunned.

But they didn't have to retreat with their tails between their legs.

Angel opened the channel to the squadron once more.  "Mis lobos.. I know you're frustrated. Angry.  Desperate even.  But if we are to rescue our friends and defeat this new enemy, we have to regroup. Form a new strategy.  Analyze what we know.  What works? What doesn't?  Right now, the most important thins is that we do not lose anyone else.  Defensive formation.  Protect each other.  Everyone left.. Witch King, Meony, Catscratch, Shinigami, Neko, and you Aria, watch each other's backs.  If those bastardos² chase us home, give them hell.  We ALL make it home, that's an order!"

Whether or not each fighter heard her message, she didn't know.  But she was ready to defend her pack with her life.  Angel fell into place with Aria on her wing as she turned towards the FAB and headed in.  The Bandits did not give up easily, however.  She let her ECM emitter drop while evading the fire they were under, but her wing was clipped by their lasers.  Warnings flashed on her console.  Angel silenced them as soon as they sounded.  The FAB was in sight, she just needed to be a tad closer..

And then the fire she was under stopped.  Praise God and her lucky stars!  Angel didn't wait around to see why.  The hangar was right there.  She could fly in and hope for the best. With the Theurgy damaged as it was from the last fight, she had no idea if the tractor beam systems were functional.  It was time to hail the Theurgy herself.

"Fighter Bay, this is wolf uno-tres³ bringing the pack in.  We're coming in hot and are taking fire.  Any cover you can give while we land would be great."

In case the Fighter Bay was in better shape now then when they left, Angel started docking procedures and requested a tractor beam in.  But she didn't expect it to be that easy.

---

1. Let's go my wolves!  Quickly!
2. bastards
3. wolf 1-3... or 13

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Kickin' Ass - No Need for Names | Flight Deck of Badassitude | Vector 02| USS Theurgy]

It was not time to be gentle.

It was not time to worry about dying or being hurt further.

What it was time for was taking back their deck, their ship, and getting these big bastards right out of there.  She was not about to go down without a fight and she knew that the others on this deck were much the same.  As she stepped out so that she could hopefully get something done she was ready to put her life down for the sanctity of her deck.  She didn't want to die, but she would go down fighting if that was the choice she had right now. Ji so far, had the element of surprise and that was exactly what she needed right ow.  She lowered herself down quietly.  Gritting her teeth against the pain that seared up her wound from the metal that she had pulled from it.  It was still bleeding, she needed to act before she passed out from blood loss but she was not going to do that just yet.

There was time.

Ji slid her hand to the side and picked up a jagged piece of metal that had come off the tractor beam unit that the asshole had shot down from the ceiling.  It was long like an axe almost, a bit heavy, and had a serrated edge due to being snapped off whatever it had once been paired to.  In the back of her mind she was thinking about the daunting task of having to replicate and rebuild a tractor unit that they had used frequently in here but she was the one that had made it a target and she would be taking it's replacement on her own shoulders.

Slowly rising, she whimpered slightly, her leg wiggled a bit, the pain of the severed nerves radiating through her entire body.  It was the kind of pain that was nearly all encompassing but she wasn't going to let that take her down.  No she was going to make sure that she at least got a last fight.  A last attack or something.. she would not lay down and let the world fade.  She didn't have medical right now, she didn't have Nicander to remind her that she needed to take care of herself, in his overly creepy way.

The Asaurians were massive, and she didn't really think she, a human, would easily survive and attack by one.  She slid her legs around, into a taekwondo fighting stance.  Since her leg was injured she knew that she could not stand on it alone which meant it would have to be her fighting leg, therefore it was in the front of her front-stance.  She held the piece of metal, her weapon, up as her hands blocked her face from any kind of incoming attacks, and then she launched.  Pulling herself back onto her good leg her injured one bent at the knee level and strong and then kicked out at the back of the large Asaurian.  It hurt, and badly too, she didn't cry out in attack she cried out in pain as it radiated once more from the nasty wound in her leg.

A fresh spurt of blood colored the once yellow leg of her work suit.  The suit that was turning more and more red by the minute.  She used that moment though, launching herself forward as the Asaurian had stumbled and turned in surprise.  She was aware of others around her.  Sithick, he was alive, that was good.  She had sworn she had seen Liam somewhere but she couldn't figure out where at the moment he had gone.  For now, she had to concentrate on living. 

She didn't have but a second to think, she launched into a flying round kick, the same wounded leg going for the damage blow so that her only good leg would be able to give her the power.  She spun and hit the thing right in the shoulder, where someone else's head would be.  She landed and fell, with a cry of pain as the landing jolted the wound.  Another spurt of warmth fell down her leg, coloring the deck beneath her a bright hue of red as she fell down.  Hitting her left elbow smartly on the deck plating beneath her, the arm went numb as her funny bone connected heavily with the plating.  She looked up.  The alien was pissed off now.  She couldn't even think about all the other people and what they were doing.

Liam.. where is Liam.

Her mind drifted to him for only a second before the massive alien stepped up closer, towering over the young Korean woman that lay on the ground working up the courage and giving her nerves time to settle before she tried to finish this beast off.  The great beast looked down at her and reached down to pick her up.  Only Ji was not as helpless as she might have probably seemed.  She gripped the serated metal piece that she had gotten off of the wreckage and she curled her leg underneath her and quicky jumped up to meet the Asaurian.  Right in the face.  She allowed the large piece of metal and the force behind her body to impale the head and brain of the massive alien.

The only thing she didn't account for was the fact that the alien was going to fall down on top of her.  And it did.  Only further impaling itself on the large piece of broken metal.  She grunted as she now found herself pinned underneath the weight of a huge alien being and unable to do much more than hope that at some point someone would see her and help her out.  She closed her eyes, hoping that between the blood and the fact that she was currently underneath a dead invader of the ship.  She hadn't seen Liam move, nor throw the ECM into the ship.  She jumped when the massive explosion rocked it from the inside and made pieces of it fly all over. 

Fuck you, thinking you can mess with our ship you bastards. Ji thought tiredly as she forced her eyes open.  She couldn't hear anything at all.  Her ears were ringing heavily as she tried to wiggle herself out from underneath the alien beast but she couldn't.  The pain was just too great.

I don't want to die here. she thought to herself.

“Liam.” she called out weakly.  She could not lift the alien on her own.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie Hellcat] Attn: Lone Wolves

As Daniel was flying cover for the drones, weaving between hostile and allied fighters, his computer began to warn him of something new, several dozen new, smaller objects were being launched from the enemy warship.  “Salvo, we got ordnance inbound.  Fuck me sideways, Tri-Cobalt signatures detected!”  Knight exclaimed as the warning came up on both of their screens.  Tri-Cobalt weapons were banned by Federation Law, not that he expected these aliens to adhere to that law, even his own people didn’t adhere to it although his people hadn’t managed to create Tri-Cobalt weapons yet, give them another hundred years and they probably would though.

“Knight lock onto the nearest cluster of ordnance and prep the mass drivers, we’re going hunting.”  Daniel said with a grin, he had developed a plan, knowing that their weapons barely scratched the enemy fighters; maybe he could turn their own weapons against them.  “Salvo, nearest cluster is at three-o-clock, range one-thousand meters and closing.”  Knight said as Daniel nodded, he fired a few bursts at an enemy fighter, getting its attention as he flew his fighter towards the cluster of torpedoes.  “Five-hundred meters and closing fast.” Knight called out.  Daniel slightly adjusted his course, making it look like he was going to make a strafing run on the warship itself.  By now another fighter had joined its friend in chasing his fighter down.

“Torpedoes are in firing range.”  Knight said.  Daniel said nothing as he concentrated on watching the two enemy fighters, this was all about timing, he had to wait for the right moment when the torpedoes were past him and in explosive range of the enemy fighters but they had to be far enough outside the explosive radius so as not to get caught and die with them, although it’s not like he’d have long to regret the decision if he didn’t time it right as they’d be dead.

Knight watched as the cluster of five torpedoes passed them, another moment and they were about to pass the hostile fighters as well.  Daniel quickly activated the mass drivers and began to target them.  “Angle the mass drivers.”  He said as he heard Knight acknowledge him and a heartbeat afterwards hearing confirmation that the mass drivers were in position.  He fired a burst at each torpedo then shunted power from all his weapons into the shields and engines as the torpedoes exploding taking both the enemy fighters with them in their wake.  He turned his fighter back around watching as the other Wolves managed to score some hits against the incoming torpedoes as well.

All fighters, return to FAB ASAP. I repeat, return to the fighter assault bay at once! No time for heroics.

Hearing the recall order Daniel locked in his trajectory towards Vector 2, though he slightly out of position so he wouldn’t be the first to land, he began to look for his flight element.  Neko’s fighter was nowhere to be seen but he managed to spot Meony’s and Husker’s, both of them were heading back to the hangar.  “Knight, see if you can find Neko’s fighter.”  He said and after a few moments Knight responded.  “I can’t find her Salvo, maybe she’s already landed.”  He said as Daniel nodded, he hoped that nothing bad had happened to her.

[ Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Wolf-07, Element Leader | Cockpit | AC-409 Valkyrie Mk III “Sassy Slayer” | Azure Nebula ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @Nolan, @Even Angels Cry, @SummerDawn, @DocReno @Masorin & @Havenborn
[Show/Hide]“Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fahkin fuck!” said Meony, she received a lock-on alert, and saw beams firing all around her, none of them she fancied touching her craft. The shields would be as good as oxygen in the vacuum. “Da hell are these things made of?”

Juking her fighter left and right, she did her best to dodge fire, returning her own with her rear-facing weapons, but she already knew the bandit shields were as thick as Sinead's honesty and Jimmy's personality combined. So, she killed her thrusters and twisted around, allowing the momentum of her ship's initial direction to carry her onwards to the Sword's Fighter Landing Bay, while she took a second to flip off her pursuer, then gave him a cluster bomb to the face to remember her by. The warhead detonated point blank, with the scattered explosives going off everywhere, and actually made the fighters peel away, to rethink their life choices, when she saw something on her radar. One of the fighters was listing as damaged and out of the fight, but not making any attempts to return to Vector Two.

“Well Ah'll be a monkey's aunty!” said Meony, “Dat's gotta be Golden-ah's skybird. Hang on, gal, Meony t'da rescue!” She spun her craft and powered for the third Vector, where Tessa had parked her craft, apparently hoping to ride out with it when they jumped to warp, but her readings of the Valkyrie's damage said that was a one-way ticket to getting nuked in what was essentially a microwave hull casing. That wouldn't be pleasant even for a masochist. She took scans of the vector, and everything around it, including the bandits and the big ship, making logs and individual records and folders for Command to review if they liked, then she keyed in a hail to Tessa and said, “Howdy, hon, looks like ya need a hand there. Ah'm gunna scoop ya raht up with meh, okay? Don't do nuthin' 'cause this is already nuts. Disengage remaining power t'yer magnetic clamps, we gotta get back t' th' Sword, an' we're runnin' late. Hang on t' yer underwear!”

They were surrounded by debris from all the battle damage sustained by Thea. It was enough to make Meony wince and hope the sentient ship didn't register pain, or that would be very painful. It also made for a flight hazard, but Meony was nothing if not creative in a situation like this, except she now had a rather unique conundrum as she carefully maneuvered her craft and yanked Tessa's Valkyrie hard enough to dislodge it using Sassy Slayer's tractor beams, and then the southern belle gunned forward, weaving awkwardly through the debris field, while Meony triggered auto-targeting with her phasers front and back, discouraging hostile pursuit or approach. Pulling Tessa clear of the Stallion, Meony could only hope the ride wasn't rough on her wingmate as they made for the Fighter Assault Bay.

“YEEEE-HAW!” Meony crowed and grinned while hailing Tessa, “Betcha nevah learnt this in th' Academy! Hang taht, we're comin' up on th' Sword, gunna let them tractors take ya th' rest o' th' way in! Hey, when Ah clear yer lahn o' saht, overcharge yer weapons if ya can and punch holes in them fuckers!” With a last push forward, Tessa's craft got caught by the Sword's tractor beams, and Meony spun her ship around on its axis, killing her thrusters, so that it drifted backwards, whilst facing the torpedoes and bandits. Grinning, she took hold of her steering yoke, and squeezed on the firing triggers.

She gave Angel's message an “Uh-fuh-mative!” in reply, and continued firing phasers while she was still facing backwards in the tractor beam's tow. Overcharging the beam arrays, she managed to core through one bandit's shields, and a micro warhead earned her first actual kill. “TAKE DAT MOTHAFUCKA! AN' TELL 'EM MEONY SENT YA!”

[ Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02, The Sword | USS Theurgy ]

The Sassy Slayer was brought in and parked. Popping open her canopy, Meony powered down and clambered out of the craft with all the grace and efficiency of a drunk donkey, missing the step ladder completely and rolling down with a heavy thud, “Hot damn!” She hopped back to her feet, taking off her helmet and pulling her cowboy hat on, she studied the bay, and the scene of carnage. “Dafuq happened 'ere?”

She noticed a dead horny, and there were bits of Federation under him, so the redhead scampered over, curious to see if she could help. “Aw fuck! Ji!”

Eun Sae Ji was calling for Liam, but the redhead couldn't see him anywhere. “Hang on, hon,” said Meony. Using her suit's augmented strength, she carefully pulled the Asurian corpse off the woman, “Oh geez...dat don't look too good.”

She studied the woman's wounds, and started removing her suit's first aid kit, taking our the medical tricorder first to scan the woman's injuries, and see what was the necessary steps to take. “Ye're gunna be fahn, gal, Ah gotcha. Callin' fer an EMH an' all'at. Now hang on, dis is gunna tickle...”

Understatement, and even the best care probably won't spare her friend any pain, but it was better than being dead. Meony was no medic by any means, but she could staunch more bleeding and slap on plasters until real medical help arrived. She looked around warily, alert for more attackers even as she continued following the tricorder's recommendations and instructions on the necessary treatments to apply with whatever she had on hand. Not too long ago, Silim Parnak had saved her life in this manner too, using whatever her suit provided to treat the worst of her injuries. “Good news is, Ji, Ah don' think ye're gunna die. Bad news...well, Ah think dat can wait.”

Even as she went on, she quietly prayed everyone made it back in one piece, especially the Resolve crew survivors.

[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tessa_May_Lance,_callsign_%22Goldeneye%22) | Cockpit | AC-409 Mk III Valkyrie | Dorsal side of  Vector 03 Starboard Pylon ]  [Attn: @chXinya,) @Triton @Nolan, @DocReno @Hastata-Nerada @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

While trying to ignore the battle around her, Tessa continued to reroute the connections in her fighter to bypass the damaged sections.  She was startled when her Valkyrie was pulled off the hull and was soaring through the debris ridden nebula.  Looking up she discovered that she was being towed by another fighter, tethered to an identical Mark III Valkyrie by a tractor beam.

“What?” she squeaked.

As they soared away from the Stallion, Tessa heard the drawling voice of Ensign Krystal Tancredi, callsign ‘Meony’, the current Wolf-07 over the comm system.

[ Howdy, hon, looks like ya need a hand there. Ah'm gunna scoop ya raht up with meh, okay? Don't do nuthin' 'cause this is already nuts. Disengage remaining power t'yer magnetic clamps, we gotta get back t' th' Sword, an' we're runnin' late. Hang on t' yer underwear! ]

“Er, um, okay” Tessa stammered before she realized she wasn’t sending.  As she activated her communications gear to send an acknowledgment back, Meony sent another hail:

[ YEEEE-HAW!  Betcha nevah learnt this in th' Academy! Hang taht, we're comin' up on th' Sword, gunna let them tractors take ya th' rest o' th' way in! Hey, when Ah clear yer lahn o' saht, overcharge yer weapons if ya can and punch holes in them fuckers! ]

“What do you?  Oh…” Tessa cooed as she understood.  Meony had turned their fighters so that their aft sections were caught by the Sword’s Fighter Assault Bay tractor beam and their fore sections were still pointed out into space.  Allowing them to fire at targets while they were being reeled in.  Tessa doubted that their weapons would have any effect on the enemy’s shields, but the very least maybe the shots exploding off their deflector screens would momentarily blind their sensors.  “Got it.  Roger that Meony.” she said as she fired her phasers.

---

[ CWO1 Sten Covington (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sten_Covington) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy]

The Asurian that had come for him was huge.  Marv had been killed by the aliens in the black armour and wasn’t going to be much help in fighting these horned homewreckers that had come aboard to wreak havoc in his fighter bay. 

Chief Warrant Officer Sten Covington maneuvered his phaser rife to face the threat that had sidelined himself and the Klingon, but it was too late.  The huge Asurian son-of-a-targ jumped his bones as if the burly Brit was a bride on her wedding night and the homicidal space satyr was the lucky groom.  Trust Sten to bring a gun to a knife fight.  But Sten wasn’t that kind of Chief of the Deck, he liked to be introduced before being completely rutted.  So he clamped his enormous left hand around the attacking Asurian’s wrist and seized the horn the right side of his assailant’s head with the other.  

You see, there was a little trick that Sten learned during his long career of bar fights.  You grab someone by the head, and the rest of their body will follow.  Lying on his back, Sten didn’t have quite as much leverage as he would have liked so he decided that he would try to roll the two of them over.  You could call the deck chief sexist if you wanted, but Sten liked to be on top. 

Grunting and groaning on the deck, Sten and his attacker that he mentally nicknamed Parfum de Goat because his distinctive odor, no doubt made a homoerotic display as they writhed, twisted, and struggled on the floor.  There was no escaping it; Parfum de Goat was a romantic soul and he had taken a shine to Sten and wasn’t going to let him go that easily.  Sten could really tell that his new playmate wanted to leave him breathless the way his free hand seized the deck chief by the throat and cut off his air supply. 

This was bad.  No air meant that Sten was running out of road.  The picture was bleak, but there was no point letting this son of a camel’s whore see it; so Sten let go of Parfum de Goat’s horn and went for his eye.

That had the reaction that Sten was going for.  Parfum de Goat forgot all of his combat training and did everything he could to protect his face.  He had even let go of his machete, a wicked curved blade that resembled a Terran kukri or the Klingon mek'leth, so he could use both hands to deal with the threat.  Well, that was fine, because Sten liked to use both hands too.  

Now both of his hands seized this attacker by the horns, and fortunately for Sten his attacker had great big curved ram horns he could really get a hold of.  Rolling around, Sten managed to get on top and then put his full two hundred and ten pounds on de Goat while using the horns like the handles on a tricycle.  Another thing he had learned in his long years in Starfleet is that sixty-six pounds of torque twisting a humanoid’s neck at a sharp angle usually broke.  It took a little more than sixty-six pounds of torque, but with Parfum de Goat’s handlebars for leverage, Sten turned a hard left and heard a satisfying “crack” sound followed by an equally pleasing death rattle.

Spent from his fight, Sten rolled off his horned homoerotic foe to lie on his back on the cool, cool, deck plating.  He opened his eyes to see Petty Officer Suvok looking down at him with a hint of concern that young folks get for old farts. 

”Chief?  Are you injured?” the Vulcan asked him.  ”Do you need to go do sickbay?”

“Sod off, you mint blooded pixie eared rectum,” Sten wheezed as he forced his battered and broken body off the deck.  “There’s no time for that; there’s way too much work to be done.  Find out who else need help and direct traffic so those birds comin’ back in don’t run someone over.  What are you still standing here for?  Get movin'.”

The fighters were returning and Sten’s aged and aching body had been cracked, smacked, whacked, and almost hacked.  He had been thumped, bumped, dumped, and whumped.  Right now forcing air down his injured windpipe seemed like too much work, and so was standing upright for that matter.  For a brief moment, Sten Covington thought that he might be getting old.  But all of that could wait.  There were dead and injured on the deck, debris to move out of the way, and the birds were coming in.  There was just too much to do.

---

OOC:  Added Tessa to this post.

[ LCMDR Leon “Striker” Marquez | Main Bridge | Deck 1 | Vector 01 ]

Marquez exchanged a regard with Keval when the Andorian prepared himself to be beamed out. It was at that time when he gained access to the combat report that crossed onto his desk. At once, Marquez considered that one of the Parasites had been a member of the crew, or there was an enemy infiltrator, but that was for Security to work out at a later time. “Welcome home, away team. Well done. Send copies of your reports to your vector captains. Mariner: You’re reassigned to your next posting, stand by for vector beam-out. Continued good luck. ”

“Take your time, boss! We still got a few cabrones making a mess of things on V-2.” Jimmy replied, with intermittent weapons fire heard through the comm cleaning up the now-smoking fighter bay once the Asurians’ numbers and escape avenue were both dealt with as the Starfleet defenders fought on. “Give me notice when you’ve transporter locked.” Jimmy transmitted in the clear to whoever would handle his transport.

Leon worked the point-defense arsenal on Vector One’s firing arcs, providing what assistance he could spare against the incoming torpedoes as the number of deployed fighters decreased, even though at least two fighters, including Salvo momentarily stood their ground before they engaged docking procedures. In their stead, Marquez designated high-priority targets with white cubic ‘3D’ indicators highlighting the most vulnerable of incoming torpedoes; What he or the fighters couldn't immediately shoot down, he painted as high priority. The number of these increased as the torpedoes made their way to Theurgy.

Leon counted down the number of incoming warheads, adding his weapons focused fire to weaken undamaged warheads or finish off damaged ones. “Tricobalt contacts still inbound, Captain.” Marquez listed as the final incoming warhead count approached. “Vector 2 powering aft weapons.” Leon noticed the Second Vector was powering its aft complement as it aligned on its escape course.  Having the Helmet’s maneuverability allow him to cover multiple firing arcs, as the vector prepared its own escape.

[ ENS James “Jimmy” Mariner & Ens. Krystal "Meony" Tancredi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Krystal_Tancredi,_callsign_%22Meony%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02, The Sword | USS Theurgy ]

“Thanks, Theurgy.” Jimmy replied, crouching as he made an outer sweep of the bay’s perimeter, looking for other Asurian contacts in the wake of their shuttle’s explosion. This included the sight of one Asurian towering over a flight crewmate. Mariner flanked as fast as he could for a better shot without hitting the woman, but the creature had collapsed as the wounded female officer unexpectedly killed it.

The situation seemed contained as the bay became occupied with returning fighters; he steered well away from those, lest he get flattened. He reloaded his phaser with a spare clip, “A 3-second heads-up will do.” The Asurian threat was policed enough,that explosion could’ve been bad… but it sounded like a plan Jimmy would’ve himself done.

Mariner spotted a familiar sombrero as moved to the crewmate he didn’t get to defend in time, but she had obviously taken care of her herself, as evidenced by the dead carcass holding her in place. Jimmy made his way to them, crouching and ducking to the sound of weapons fire to catch perhaps a moment with Meony as he knelt at her side and helped lift the heaving creature up enough to let the crewmate escape. Jimmy strained but was able to help the crewmate get out from beneath the Asurian.

Jimmy knelt beside Ji and lent what medical assistance he could offer, as usual, making light of the situation. “The bad news is… you’re not a red shirt, so I think that uniform’s ruined.” Jimmy made eye contact with Meony but was more intent on getting her friend out long enough to get them all out of immediate danger. “Good news is you might’ve out-scarred Meony here.” chuckling, he had a moment to hold his gaze on Tancredi now that he undoubtedly had her attention. He only had less than a moment at most to spare, but at least he was indescribably relieved they both so far had survived this week of hell and was going to let her know it. He would have a three second warning if he was lucky, so the first 0.7 seconds would seem almost like an eternity.

Meony spared a moment to show Jimmy the relief in her eyes, as she weakly uttered his name, appearing on the verge of collapse, before she leaned into him and kissed him, then turned her eyes back to securing Eun Sae Ji's injuries. She was about done, and now they only needed to await the arrival of actual medical teams. She was still not too keen on moving the woman without a proper stretcher.

Jimmy barely had time to catch his breath before Meony literally stole it. Not one to let himself lose to his best friend, the Australian stole it right back with interest. That was the blissful moment he'd been expecting all day... it was very pleasurable beyond description, but there were matters at hand. "Got you something too, luv." He handed her a datarod. She'd know what files to go through, music, clips of his exploits and scans of the planet and items of note he'd obtained-- even a scan of how to properly fix and maintain a disruptor; souvenirs compliments of Zyrao. There was also his 'in-case-I-don't-make-it-back' recording. "I've only got a 3-second notice before I gotta giddyap. No offense, but there's a war goin' on."

“Don't Ah know it,” said Meony in a sardonic tone. She looked at the datarod in her hand and then back at the man, and many unsaid things were exchanged between them with their eyes only. There was so much she honestly wanted to express, but in the heat of the moment and the excitement, not to mention the sheer adrenaline rush they both felt from their own forms of battle, she only said, “Jim, be careful, and come back to meh.”

One messy hand rested lightly over his, and the words I love you permeated the air around them without her uttering it, but she knew he knew. She didn't say it because it felt too much like goodbye, thusly she preferred not to say it unless it comes like some twisted karma to fuck them up even more. “Go, go! Ah'll be fahn 'ere. An' thanks.” she lifted the datarod and then slipped it into her suit's storage pocket shell.

During his away team mission, he'd thought of countless things he promised he'd tell her if he ever saw her again after that nightmarish image of seeing her laid out in sickbay by those accursed cultists. The memory of holding her hand was enough to keep him going, he felt that stubborn pulse of willingness to live, and that kept his eyes and mind clear for the events of today. Right now he was getting energy enough to last indefinitely.

Jimmy quivered in a distinct cringe he couldn't hide. He was too thick-skulled to be a telepath but right now, he could almost feel Meony's thoughts as he pulled her in for a brief but tightly-gripped hug; it was a miracle their armor didn't dent. Before he could make one on his euphemisms or memorized one-liners to praise her, he received his 3-second beam-out warning. At least his morale was high. Jimmy stepped back, locked eyes with Meony and dematerialized out of the hangar bay, but he was able to muster two words amid the electronic hum transported him out to Vector 03:

"I know."

[ Lt Cmdr Thomas 'Razor' Ravon | Azure Nebula ->Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | The Sword | USS Theurgy ]

Circling around Vector 01 Thomas unleashed the rest of his ordinance to cover the hasty retreat to the fighter assault bay. He could see various things unfolding before him while the engines of his ship were working on a maximum to get him back to Vector 02. He could see Tancredi Towing Lance's Valkyrie to the fighter assault bay and saw their ships vanish just as he recognized them on the HUD. He looked to the rest of the pack that scurried back, Angel, Havenborn, Husker and the rest of the pack. One by one the contacts vanished into the landing bay and Thomas reported in to the bridge "Bridge Ops, be advised, all fighters have made it home, initiating landing now, ETA 2 minutes." he called ahead as he lined up his approach. The point defense systems causing enough sparring fire to roll, pitch and barrel roll in whilst the chasing ships of the Versant broke away.

Finally after a bumpy ride Thomas his ship reached Vector 02 as his eyes widened when he saw the Asurian saucer parked to the end of the hangar bay "What the fu-" his words cut short as he made a rough landing onto the deck. The gear grinding on the deck and undoubtedly causing deck damage. A sharp turn to the side allowed him to slow down, yet the terror wasn't over yet as the deck was riddled with debris, bodies and junk. What the fuck had been going on here. The fighter eventually came to a stop barely scraping the hull of the other landed fighters to the side and just an inch short of digging the nose of his Valkyrie into the saucer. They all seemed to be piled up in a bunch in the hangar bay. Ravon powered down the systems before any more damage would be done to the ship be debris being sucked into the ship.

The canopy opened up and he stood up in his ship to oversee the chaos. Ravon didn't say a word as he simply looked around and did a head count of the pilots who had still made it. It was somewhat hard to get a decent image of what was going on and all they could do now was help the cubs of Convington into clearing out the fighter assault bay so they could park their fighters, get maintenance done and figure out what they had to do about the saucer that pretty much took up needed space in the hangar bay. The jump to Warp was made swiftly after that and Thomas jumped down before he looked at the other pilots "Alright guys and girls, lets get this deck cleaned up. Groups of two."

The debriefing of Lance and Havenborn would have to wait. They were going to have to explain to him why they were missing a fighter and what had happened on the away team. The debrief of the rest of the fighter squadron would also have to be postponed. Their focus right now would have to be on cleaning up their den, all the rest would come later.

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OOC: Alright, this post is meant to wrap up this thread entirely. A 7 days response times starts from today. Feel free to write up your landing aboard the chaotic fighter assault bay and/or help out where you can to those in need.

[ Tessa May Lance, callsign:  Goldeneye (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Tessa_May_Lance,_callsign_%22Goldeneye%22) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 02 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy] [Attn: @chXinya,) @Triton @Nolan, @DocReno @Hastata-Nerada @CanadianVet, @Auctor Lucan.

Tessa crouched in her cockpit and tried to steady her shaking nerves.  The fighter assault bay was a mess.  One of the alien saucer shaped space craft was blocking the way but Meony had managed to guide her around it.  Then Razor came in like a bat of Hell, turning broadsides in an attempt to slow itself down coming right at her.  “AAAAAAAH!” Tessa screamed.  “Stop!  Stop!  Stop!  Puh-leeeze!” she cried as she waved her hands in desperation as Razor’s Valk skidded across the debris laden floor and getting closer with every nanosecond.  “Whoa!” she gasped as it slid to a stop, nudging her fighter, causing her cockpit’s inertial compensators to activate.  Apparently they were damaged too, because she was still shaken around in her cockpit like a tambourine during a musical performance.  “Oy!” she groaned as she tried to decide whether to get out of her fighter or stay put and see who else was coming in. 

Everybody was ignoring her and moving around on the flight deck checking the wounded and finding out who was dead.  Tessa couldn’t help but think of the time the pilots from the Harbinger attacked, boarding the flight deck after they had peppered with fire from their fighters…

Tessa was startled with her cockpit was opened for her.  “Huh?”

“Well what do you know, you’re still alive,” Chief Warrant Officer First Class Sten Michael Covington declared.  “You gonna come out and join the rest of us?  For a moment I thought your fighter was empty like the others.”

“Empty like the others?  What are you talking about?” Tessa asked as she climbed shakily out of her fighter and planted her unsteady feet on the deck.

“Before the Sword went to warp the tractor beams managed to pull a few of our birds outta the black,” the grizzled deck chief reported.  “Only their cockpits were empty.  Not shattered, perfectly intact, just empty.  Don’t believe me?  Take a look at Hardtop's, Neko's, and Icarus’ birds, they’re right over there.  When we opened them, there was no one inside.”

“How could that be?” Tessa protested.  “They couldn’t have beamed out.  Didn’t they have their shields up?”

“That they did lass; we had to deactivate ‘em using their prefix codes,” Sten nodded.  “It looks like somehow, the bastards managed to figure out a way to send a transporter beam right through a deflector screen.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Not even those bastards from the future could do that.”

“Golly!  If they could send a transporter beam right through a shield what hope do we have against their weaponry?” Tessa gasped. 

“Not much Goldeneye, not much,” the deck chief agreed gloomily as he glanced around the hangar bay.  Even with the Asurian saucer aboard there was still plenty of room for the remaining fighters.  So many of them hadn't come back.

---

OOC:  I think we should pretend that all of the unexploded fighters have been retrieved, because Starfleet isn't going to send any replacements.

OOC from GM: Excellent! I changed it so that it was Hardtop, Neko and Icarus' fighters since Dragon's RIO Fury piloted that Valravn until it's destruction. No worries, awesome post.

[ CPO Liam Herrold (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Liam_Herrold) | Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 2 | Deck 16 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Fighter Bay Ops
[Show/Hide]After the detonation inside the airlock of the Asurian saucer, Liam's ears had been ringing. He'd looked up, having been pelted with the innards of the alien ship where he lay prone on the deck. There were fighters inbound and a glance back into the bay had told him the fight was winding down. He couldn't see Ji anywhere, nor hear anything over the noise of the fighers, all having to skirt around the big saucer in their way.

Liam knew he had to check inside it, to make sure there was no one left to operate those green beam emitters, if they were even functioning any more. Two ECM detonations, which were virtually equivalent to micro torpedoes, inside the hull armour of most crafts would tear it up pretty good, and he was lucky he hadn't made some kind of propulsion core blow up. In that case, he'd been dead meat, and so would the neck of Vector 2. He'd acted on instinct, needing to do something, and he'd gambled. Perhaps too high, some would say afterwards. Get up, Liam. You have to check. Have to make sure.

So he climbed to his feet, dusted off his arms and leapt up to the edge of the airlock, pulling himself inside the saucer. He was painfully aware that he was unarmed, trying to ignore the roar of fighter thrusters outside as the Lone Wolves returned to their scourged den. It was impossible to hear anything. No way to hear if any Asurian pilot was alive in the debris field that remained inside the saucer. He put one foot before the other, light blue eyes searching the rubble. What had once been separate compartments now had gaping blast-holes, shadows dancing with the light from the viewports as more fighters landed.

What are you doing, Liam? You should have waited for security to handle this... he chided himself, hearing his heart beating loudly in his ears. He swallowed, unable to make out much in the dust that still swirled in the wake of the two blasts.

The roar came from behind him, and it was no Valkyrie.

Liam rounded on the source with wide eyes, and with his turn, his elbow caught the arm-mounted blade - deflecting it from his torso. Though lucky, the surviving Asurian still rammed his head into his face instead, sending Liam staggering through the scrap metal that remained of the saucer's bridge area. He ended up on the debris-strewn deck plates, with the Asurian leaping on top of him. Liam got his leg up in time, caught the heavy mass of the assailant before he landed. The blade came for his head, but since Liam had his leg separating them, the sideway slash passed just shy of his eyes. Fighting the panic he felt, Liam pushed the Asurian away with both legs before there could be any second slash. His opponent seemed hurt, limping as he caught his balance, but came for Liam again.

This time, Liam was back on his feet. He had merely basic Starfleet hand-to-hand training, but he managed to catch the forearm that held that blade, twisting the strike upwards to escape certain death a third time. Instinctive survival drove him as he punched as hard as he could into the Asurian's face. The assailant seemed too adrenaline-filled to care, trying to cut Liam again with a guttural roar. Only when he tried...

...the blade remained stuck in the ceiling.

Eyes wide, Liam struck again, and again. In part terror and part instinct, he lay his punches and kicks to the opponent as rapidly as he could. The Asurian just wouldn't stop moving, trying to catch his wrist. Liam cried out and continued...

...until his assailant stopped moving, dangling from the tight brace around his forearm - the blade still firmly stuck above him. Liam wasn't sure what bled the most, his knuckles or the Asurian's face, and he might have felt some kind of triumph if his face and hands hadn't been hurting so much. He looked around once more, breathing hard, and then left the Asurian where he was.

Once he was down on the deck again, he squinted at the bright light, making his way to Sithick and a group of pilots. He gave a nod to the Gorn, and then spotted Ji. She was getting medical treatment from one of the security officers. It was Mariner! The Resolve officer didn't see him though, but it seemed he had taken care of a nasty cut in Ji's leg with a dermal regenerator, stopping the bleeding for her. While Mariner seemed to have a moment with Meony, Liam went to Ji's side, not wanting to disturb them. His focus was on Ji anway.

"Hey," he said, reaching for her, ignoring his bleeding knuckles. He was crouching by her side, taking her closest hand into his. "Are you okay? Medical should be here soon. I was so worried I'd lost you..." His blue eyes fell on the dead Asurian only feet away - the bloodtrail on the deck making it evident that Ji had been the one that sent him to meet whatever maker the Asurians might believe in. "Seems like you are quite able to handle yourself... and my worries were entirely misplaced."

He gave her a grin, before catching Petty Officer Bremmer's eye. "Eliska, there is another Asurian inside the saucer that needs to be... secured. Is that what you guys call it? He's... hanging out in what's left of the bridge."

Activity was picking up, and there was a lot to do, but he stayed at Ji's side as long as he could, until Covington called for him.

"Be safe... I'll see you soon," he said, wanting to kiss her, but didn't, since there were too many around. He'd visit her later. "I promise."

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Deck 16 | Flight Deck of Death | USS Theurgy]

Ji didn't feel good. 

There was darkness beginning to encroach on the edges of her vision.  She wasn't sure if it was the two ton horned beast on top of her, or if she had really lost that much blood.  It was hard to figure out, but for the time being she was just trying to remain conscious.  One thing the massive beast on top of her was doing was making the pain a whole lot worse.  She wanted to close her eyes, but they were currently searching for a flash of yellow.  Anywhere.  Somewhere.  He had to have made it.  They were both in danger and neither of them were going to go down without a fight.  But neither of them were really fighters, in that sense.  Ji was well versed in taekwondo but there were times when that wasn't enough.

Like today.

Someone was coming, she could hear them, and she didn't think it was another Horned Beast because the steps were far too light.  Her dark eyes shifted up to see Meony leaning over her cursing about the state she was in.  Ji couldn't see it, which was likely a good thing.  Ji gasped as the large thing was removed on top of her and her lungs could finally inflate fully.  That didn't help the pain it just radiated in a completely different way now.  Still, she was conscious and the blackness started to recede which meant that it was the weight of the dead animal on top of her wound more than the wound itself.

Probably good news. she thought to herself, mostly to reassure herself she wasn't probably going to die.  At least, not yet.  Meony was scanning her and Ji's eyes tried to focus on the woman which helped her compartmentalize the pain.  She gasped as Meony began to treat the wound with whatever was in her kit.  She gripped the side of her work suit with her fists and squeezed as much as she could trying to get herself through the pain of being treated.  She kept reassuring her that she would be alright, Meony was good people, though her accent made it hard to understand her sometimes.  It was probably the same when Ji got angry and her Korean accent took over her Common.

Good news; she wasn't going to die.  Bad news; well they would get to that later.

Ji let out a tired and pained snort of a laugh.  “Pretty sure this entire day is bad.” she whispered softly through the pain of having someone treating her wounds.  New voice, her eyes shifted to find Jimmy over her.  Her eyes assessed him a bit as he tried to make light of the situation.  Swallowing heavily, her throat was dry, she could use something to drink but right now she wasn't exactly worried about that.  “Fuckin' horned bastards, owe me a new suit.” she whispered hoarsely and let her eyes close for a moment.  No no you can't sleep Ji. she reminded herself and forced her eyes back open.

The two beside her seemed to turn into themselves and that was fine, Ji was apparently waiting for Medical to give her the all clear.  He was there, her eyes found his face, and all the air escaped her lungs in a big gasp of relief.  He was alive.  His hand took hers and she clutched it for dear life.  “Hi.” she whispered.  Understatement of the day, for certain, there were so many things she wanted to say.  Unlike Meony and Mariner, Ji and Liam weren't in love, not yet, but she felt that the possibility was there given time and less battles.  But, he was there, and whole, and it was the most amazing thing she had seen all day.  Her eyes just drank in his face splattered with blood here and there meaning it had fought and fought hard.  She was proud of him.

“I'm.. I'm okay.” she whispered softly, just glad he was there.  He was okay.  He was safe and sound and hadn't died in the large explosion.  “I'm so glad you're okay.  When the explosion happened I couldn't see you and I thought maybe.. but no... here you are and I'm so glad to see you.”  She wouldn't have cared if he had kissed her, she was beyond caring at this point but she knew that everything between them was only hours old.  She didn't want to rush it.  Rushing it scared her off, the sudden thrust of commitment made her want to run for cover.  She wanted the slow burn that moved gently.  A candle started with the flame at the top and slowly over time it would burn down deeper into the candle.  That was what she was hoping to find.

It seemed he had to go.  His eyes flashed up and then back to her.  Where she lay waiting for medical.  He had a more serious look on his face.  She knew she could guilt him into staying with her but that wasn't who she was.  She could handle it.  Most of it was fine, she just needed a go ahead and a pick me up from medical.  He told her he would see her again, and promised that, her smile was his biggest answer.

“Me too.  I'm still hoping for that dinner.  You're not going to get out of it.” she teased a little bit and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.  “See you soon.”

He left to go do what he needed to do.  She closed her eyes and it seemed only seconds, though she was sure it was minutes when the Medical arrived. 

“Hey Chief, how are you holdin' up.”

Ji's eyes opened.  “Well, I'd like to get back to work, Doc.”

The woman, human, smiled and gave a nod.  “Lets check you out then.” she said as she ran a medical tricorder up over Ji and began to check the wound.  She ran a dermal regenerator over the wound and checked for the bleeding.  “Looks good Chief I'm going to give you a hypo of something that will help with the pain, swelling, and give you a boost of energy.”

Ji grinned.  “Sounds like my kind of hypo can I just keep a stock of those in my pocket?”

The Medic grinned.  “I don't know, you already have a habit of pushing yourself too far.” she teased.

Ji chuckled.  “Ah well what's the point of life if you aren't busy living it.”

The hypo pressed against her neck and she felt the brush of air that delivered the medication to her system.  Almost immediately the pain faded and Ji felt good, better, ready to go.  She sat up slowly because she didn't want to rush and get light headed.  For a moment she sat there and just surveyed the destruction of her deck.

“Holy fuck...” she whispered her dark eyes searching her sanctuary and finding nothing but carnage.  “I was right, it's a bad day....”

[LT JG Cameron "Witch King" Ward, Ensign Tallanyreen "Aria" sh'Kandros, LT Talidenai "Terror" zh'Idenna & LT JG T'Zantha "Sniper"| Fighter Assault Bay| Vector-2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Even Angels Cry @CanadianVet @Triage @Havenborn @Nolan @Doc M. @Masorin @Blue Zephyr @Triton @Auctor Lucan

As the fighter finished its landing cycle and the cockpit popped, Cameron pulled off his helmet, droplets of sweat flying slightly from his short hair as the edge of the helmet caught it. "Good grief, Talla..." the man from Calamity said as he surveyed the carnage.

Aria couldn't help but nod in agreement as she swung down from her seat in their fighter, her own eyes taking in the sights before them with the smoldering wreckage of what was the invading saucer to the mounds of bodies this way and that. "Reminds me of my bad old days..." she mused softly.

Cameron heard his RIO's words and reached out to gently squeeze her shoulder reassuringly as he knew exactly what she meant as he was the only person that she could trust with something so personal. "It's only going to get harder as we go along, partner...but we got this." he said with a smile.

Before anything more could be said between the two, both Terror and Sniper came around the corner with the albino Vulcan sporting a noticeable trail of green blood which clashed against her pale white forehead which brought a concerned look from Aria which Sniper waved off with "It's nothing, I took a turn much too sharply and slammed my head hard enough inside of my helmet." she explained.

"As long as you get it taken care of soon." Terror said, gently reaching out and touching the other woman's forearm.

Sniper took in the gesture and then bowed her head in response, "I will endeavor to do so at the soonest, ma'am." she said quietly.

The former squadron leader of the White Wolves looked around at the fighters, seeing that Husker's was one of the last ones in at which point the Andorian looked over at Cameron and asked "Do we have a count on who we lost?!"

Cameron slowly nodded, "I have a partial list, ma'am. From what I can gather from those that came with us we've lost Dragon, Fury, Strider, Flint, Shinigami and Tide." he explained to his former SCO, knowing that while it was the wrong person to make such a report to that by the same token she was the one who knew these people best.

The woman known as Talidenai zh'Idenna quickly reached out and grabbed the wing of Witch King's bird as she emotionally and physically sick after the human had named off several of the people that she had personally recruited into the program back on Luna for the Valravn fighters.

While she felt the death of the pilots under now former command during the previous battle at the starbase when Metalhead took command of those who didn't join her and the rest, these latest ones who were the core of her little family...

Sometimes it just felt like too much.

T'Zantha saw the look on Tali's face and reached out to offer her own version of moral support as she placed a hand on the Zhen's left shoulder, bowing her head with closed eyes and tried to let some of her strength flow through the bond that they shared and into her.

Tali blinked away the tears as she reached over and squeezed her lover's hand tenderly even through the gauntlets.

Aria looked around and noticed the security ratings as a painful thought suddenly snapped through her head and quickly said something about "Igottagobe..." before she quickly headed out into the odd maze of metal and flesh around them, her blue eyes scanning the area with a powerful need.

As Cameron watched his longtime partner in crime and RIO run off with an intent for some reason when he blinked hard and then turned to look at Tali once more, “Also, we picked up a report that Talon went MIA while he was in Angel’s bird.”

Now this bit of information caused even T’Zantha to raise both of her eyebrows before she looked over at her partner as the two women were on at least somewhat friends with the other Andorian and his human counterpart. “I must admit that this news makes me very worried, Cameron. Do you know what happened?”

Cameron shook his head, “I’m afraid not, Sniper. General theory is that it has something to do with the Savi..I mean their fucking tech is pretty damn tight.”

“Yes, tight indeed.” T’Zantha said as she turned to ask Tali something only to see her walk off a little bit.

Tali actually was moving over to glance at Angel’s bird as she took in the human’s fighter, streaked with its own battle damage like all of the others in the bay and found it very disconcerting that Sehl was missing...sure he was known for a romancer of the so called “stronger sex” but he was a Than that she could count on in a pinch.

Plus he was Angel’s best friend in the entire ‘verse and she felt bad that their Heavenly Badass was without her own personal guiding light...and she almost pitied the Savi if they were the ones who took Sehl…

…ALMOST…
/////////////////////////////////

[Ensign Chris “Husker” Slayton| Fighter Assault Bay| Vector-2| USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Blue Zephyr @Even Angels Cry

Once his bird hit the deck and was done cycling its landing sequence, Husker reached up and unlatched the seals on his helmet before pulling it off as he looked around at the sheer carnage of the FAB and wondered how many people had died in the cavernous bay before him.

He popped the canopy of his bird before setting the helmet on the edge of the cockpit before levelling himself out of it, wincing slightly as he felt something twinge where there should not be a twinge before swinging himself out of his fighter and onto the deck below.

Bits of various aliens and their technology lay strew about, but he jumped slightly with his left hand snapping to his phaser as he heard more weapons fire before tracking it to the remains of the alien saucer that laid there, a bright beam of blue energy lancing outwards from somewhere deeper within the Asurian craft which made him wonder who was still fighting...or if their fighting for the day was truly over?

As he looked around, he counted the number of fighters that was left and it made his heart sink deeply as memories of the bad old days on the Harbinger crept into his heart as he slowly looked around, seeing the now familiar form of his new friend Alessia and her fighter off to one side which allowed him a moment to be thankful for that as he also saw Tali to one side, her face tense as she too looked at Angel’s bird.

He thought about everything that he had been through both today and over the last few weeks and years and he hated that his newest friend was having to be exposed to the darkest of dark and he actually felt hurt that she had to see such things in her lifetime.

As he turned his head around and took in the view of the rest of the bay, he spotted Ji sitting off to one side...looking broken, battered, and beaten but most importantly unbowed and even though their agreement to try and see if something could work between them was only not even a day fully started he couldn’t help but find himself respecting her even more, the eyes that had first drew his attention was filled with a kind of sorrow that was understandable.

Chris slowly made his way over to her and gently knelt down next to her on one knee, his face showing how tired and worried he was did nothing to show the honest and pure relief at seeing her alright as he took in her bloodied appearance with the mixture of both what appeared to be her blood and another species on her jumpsuit.

“I was worried about you…” he said, his tone low and honest as he tried to find the right words before he gently reached out and gently squeezed her forearm as he didn’t want to do anything romantic but by the same token he also wanted her to know that he was happy that she was alright. “I’m glad that you’re okay, Ji.”

[ PO2 Eliska Bremmer | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]


Bremmer had just recovered her rifle from the deck when she heard Chief Herrod speak to her.  There was another one of those horny bastards in there?  "You got it, boss-man," she replied after taking a deep breath.  Damnit, she needed a break but it didn't look like it was going to happen just now.  And then, there would be equipment maintenance and return, mission reports, and whatever needed doing after the battle the ship had just been through, whatever the hell that was. 

So there was no telling when, or if, she'd see her rack anytime in the near future.  And now, there was going to be even one more fight.

Carefully, with her weapon in her shoulder, she went up the saucer's ramp.  This was the worst kind of approach, one where she had no idea of the layout, where she did not know where to find the opposition, and had no idea what kind of state he was in. 

The Asurian warrior was just coming to.  He couldn't believe how badly he had screwed up, jamming his sindt into the deckhead like some wet-behind-the-horns dumb shit recruit.  And then, the Human he had dead to rights pummeled him into unconsciousness.  That was a shame he couldn't allow himself to live with.  At least not without exacting retribution first.  But first, he had to free himself, and that was not going to happen with just one arm.  So, he reached up and freed himself from his weapon... just in time to see an armoured figure turn onto the control deck.  A human warrior?   A legitimate one?  It had to be.  It carried a rifle, and it moved like it knew what it was doing.  So, he dove to the deck to scoop up a fallen gravity gun just as the human saw him. 

Bremmer had come nearly face to face with the Asurian just as it was making for a weapon.  And, with a curse of her own, she dove to the side even as he too opened fire. 

From outside the fighter, all that could be seen were the lances of Asurian weapons fire and the lurid glow of phaser blasts, and the shrieking of energy weapons poured from the open hatch and damaged hull.  And then, it stopped.

And, what might seem an eternity to an onlooker, Bremmer walked down the ramp.  Her rifle hung from her right hand, her helmet from her left, and she was breathing hard.  Her battered exosuit looked a little worse for wear and sweat made much of her hair stick to her head, and more dripped from her frazzled braid.  "One hostile down.  Ship is secure."

And, upon stepping off the ramp, she allowed herself to collapse to her backside as she sought to bring her heart rate back under control.  "What a fucking day."

[ LT Daniel Havenborn, Callsign: Salvo | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie Hellcat] Attn: @Nolan, @Doc M., @Triage, @Even Angels Cry, Other Lone Wolves

Daniel could see the remaining fighters making their way to land in the FAB.  He was still a good ways out though due to his interception of the torpedoes and the hostile fighters.  “Knight shunt power from all weapons to shields and engines.”  Daniel said as he began to power down all non-essential systems, including life support.  Their suits were rated for vacuum after all and this wasn’t the first time he’d done this so he was fairly used to it.

“Engines at one-hundred and twenty percent Salvo, although I don’t know how long they’ll last.”  Knight said from behind him.  Daniel knew that the engines wouldn’t last long but he didn’t need them too, he just needed them to last just long enough to land in the FAB.  He maneuvered his fighter through the debris field that was starting to accumulate from spent torpedo casings, hostile fighters, and other various objects that now littered the battlefield.  After a couple minutes he lined his fighter up with the FAB and began to slow down slightly, just another few hundred meters.  Those few hundred meters came fast and he throttled back and dropped his engine power down by fifty percent.  When he was just a few meters from the entrance to the FAB he slowed down another thirty percent and extended his landing gear, this was definitely going to be a hard landing.

He angled his fighter down as when he felt the unmistakable thump of the landing gear hitting the deck he powered his engines down except for his maneuvering thrusters which he used to move his fighter towards his docking cradle, not quite avoiding a saucer shaped ship that was sitting in the bay, he clipped it ever so slightly but it was enough that his console sparked and he could hear circuits fusing and felt his fighter getting heavy as he managed to finally slow to a halt on the deck, just a meter from his docking cradle.  As he attempted to move it in further he suddenly lost all power.  “That’s not good.”  Knight said from behind him.  Daniel shook his head and pulled the emergency release on the canopy, as it opened Daniel stood up and looked around the bay, it seemed like a war had been fought inside of here.  He spotted Meony and Husker and the other survivors but couldn’t see K’Ren which worried him, he’d hate to have gotten her home finally only for her to die here and now.

As Knight stood up and surveyed the scene he looked back at the damage the fighter had sustained.  He let out a low whistle which attracted Daniel’s attention. “Looks like the techs are going to have a hard time with this.”  Knight said as Daniel looked around him to see what he was looking at.  He let out a long sigh as he saw it and understood why the fighter’s power had failed.  Part of the nacelle had plasma scoring that looked bad; it looked like he was going to get that upgrade to his fighter sooner rather than later now.  “Knight, we’ll worry about Hellcat later, let’s go find out what we can do to help out around here.”  He'd have to find out what happened to K'Ren later.

LT JG Alessia Garcia, Callsign "Angel", Wolf 13 - Flight Leader (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/thumb/9/9b/Alessia-Garcia-04.png/250px-Alessia-Garcia-04.png) | FAB | Deck 14 | Vector 2 | USS Theurgy] ATTN: @Auctor Lucan , @Triage  , @SummerDawn , @Nolan
[Show/Hide]
Alessia closed her eyes.  Her pack had landed, and all birds were accounted for.  She couldn't say the same about the pilots though.  They barely had a chance to fight back, but maybe that was a good thing.  This new foe had superior weapons and shielding technology.  The real battle would claim countless lives.  She wasn't ready for that yet.  Right now, all she wanted was a moment of peace.

A few seconds later she opened her eyes and glanced around the hangar.  Chaos everywhere.  The whole FAB was in disarray.  She needed to summon a strength she didnt feel like she possesed.  She clenched her knuckles and whispered a prayer.  "Dios, ayudame.¹"  She needed another momenr of silence but there wasn't time.  She needed to act.  Now.

Alessia clambered out of her valravn and hit the flight deck with both feet.  She snatched her phaser rifle from its home in her bird and changed the setting to maximum stun.  A cursory glance around the deck left no enemies in sight, but she had to be sure.  She did a quick sweep of the immediate area, but found only debris, injured crew and dead aliens.  'Gracias a Dios!'²  She wouldn't need this rifle today.  Instead, she'd need both hands to help clear this debris and rescue any crewmen in need.

Alessia hurried to a cluster of familiar faces: Meony, Chris, Ji.  In the air, she knew what to do.  When she flew, she had all the answers.  But on the ground?  She was just another officer with a phaser.  She needed direction and orders, but she'd settle for friendly faces.  It took mere minutes for the three of them to update Alessia on the situation on the ship.  Apparently these aliens had been after some very specific things.  She shuddered to think what fate the kidnaped crew might face. With any luck, theyd be able to regroup and rescue their stolen friends before anything else happened.

There was little else she could do here.  Ji was in good hands, Chris and Meony made it back alive and the FAB was no longer under attack.  But Alessia wouldn't just wait around for something to do.  There was plenty to help with right here and she needed to get her mind off of, well, everything else.

- FIN

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1. God, help me.
2. Thank God