Star Trek: Theurgy

Episode 04: Simulcast | Chapter 07 "Cost of Truth"

"The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake."

[ Captain Ives | Vector 01 | Main Bridge | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

After Jien gave her order to the Fighter Assault Bay to launch all the drones, the voice of Captain Kendrick was heard, patched through from the Resolve. [Kendrick to the Theurgy the last of my crew should be getting to you any minute now, soon as I'm free I'd like you to feed me the coordinates for the biggest target you have, this warp core is set to breach and I'd rather it... someone else's problem.]

Jien's oaken eyes snapped to Aisha S'Iti, and the Cardassian got the cue immediately, already laying in commands in her console. "Theurgy helm here, I'm on it, just stand by to jettison the core on my mark. I'll aim it for you since you need to evacuate your crew." She looked towards Commander Trent, who had urged that they'd detach from the Resolve as soon as possible, and then to Ives. "I can do it, Captain."

Another voice from the Resolve came through, and since it sounded like it was two people speaking, Jien guessed that it was an Efrosian. They were informed that the warp core of theirs would breach in two minutes. Jien frowned, finding herself in a situation where she had to gamble, seeing how there was a great opportunity at great risk. Weaponizing the Resolve's core might be excessive, though, at least at that point. "Keep track on the countdown for now, S'Iti. Stark, coordinate with your people in the transporter rooms, try to get a lock on their remaining crew."

On the viewscreen, Jien watched the development of the battle. The USS Chester had set a course towards Vector 03, but it was being attacked by two of the fighter pilots from the Resolve. One of the fighters were severely damaged by the heavy pulse phaser cannons on the Defiant-class starship, but the valiant pilot seemed determined to not let it go unpunished. Whoever flew that fighter set his Mk II Valkyrie on an intercept course and crashed right into the Chester's shields, and when the craft's core detonated, the blinding conflagration ought to have made quite an impact on the shields. Interceptors still harried all the Vectors, and Starbase 84 was still firing on them - many beams missing them now when the tactical array was gone. Behind her, Jien heard the chirp of a message arriving, and she could but hope it was the evidence on Hawthorne that the officer on the SS Sabine were to send, and it was Sarresh Morali that got it.

By that point, the USS Orcus had opened fire too. Yet as her pulse phasers hailed odd purple bolts against Vector 02's shields, they did not shimmer by the bombardment, but rather absorbed the energy, which made Jien frown - not quite sure what Captain Slayton was up to. Of course, Vector 02 answered in kind, returning fire. That did not stop Slayton from sending another message, however. [Mister Ives, my government gave you one chance for you to do the right thing for once and surrender but instead you chose to speak the same words as every other traitor to the Federation from Rittenhouse and Leyton and to now you. You say that you speak of preserving the Federation and you speak of infiltrators yet you attack a Federation starbase full of civilian while claiming to be righteous. That is not the actions of the righteous, Mister Ives. That is the action of someone who is a coward and an arch traitor. I actually held out a hope that you wouldn't cause me to do what I must do now..but I see that you leave me with no choice. You tell me to test you at my own peril, you think that this is just some kind of game..this is war, Mister Ives, and you will have to live with starting one. Orcus out.]

Obviously, Slayton mistook their attacks to be upon civilians instead of the base's weapon systems and targeting array, but there really was no point in arguing. At that point, it became obvious what the Orcus was doing, because Vector 02's shield emitters overloaded, leaving the Vector completely bare to enemy fire - the crew at the mercy of hull plating and hope.

It settled Ives' decision. "Do it," she said to Aisha S'Iti. "Target: the USS Orcus. Trent, redirect the fighter elements here to protect Vector 02, and to stay clear of the Orcus. I want quantum torpedoes ready in all launchers."

"Aye, Captain," said the scaled Lieutenant at the helm, and quickly set a new course. "Stark, redirect power to the symbiotic tractor beam, else the Resolve will tear itself loose from us. " Immediately, Vector 01 moved straight for the Orcus - the Resolve still docked underneath her. Even the inertial dampeners couldn't completely compensate for the increased velocity, all aft RCS thrusters propelling them forth along with Thea's biggest impulse engines, and Jien stumbled before she returned to her chair in the middle of the bridge. There was a loud groan felt through the entire Vector from the stress against the docking pylons. "Theurgy helm to Captain Kendrick, stand by to jettison core on my mark!"

Of course, Slayton would try to do something in response, but it would be too late. Aisha was almost upon her already, rolling the wide saucer section over and avoiding incoming pulse phaser bolts. Their point defence system was working at full capacity to target any incoming torpedoes, and it might just be their saving grace that their jamming field was stronger the closer they got. The plasma venting from the Resolve left a fiery trail behind them as they bore down upon the Orcus without any sign of slowing down. "S'Iti..." warned Jien with her teeth clenched together, not sure the Cardassian would be able to stop in time, all the while the ship shook and the hull of the Orcus became bigger on the viewscreen.

"Three! Two! One! Mark!" called S'Iti and broke off from their trajectory, baring their ventral side against the Orcus - no more than three hundred meters between the ships. She did not slow down either, instead going to full impulse in order to put as much distance as possible from the Vesta-class carrier.

"Trent! Aft torpedoes, full spread!" shouted Jien over the stress of their velocity, "Then come about and give them the same from our forward launchers! Stellar Cartography, what's the ETA of the rest of the reinforcements?"

---

OOC: Posting order in response to this operation above: 1) Brutus with Stark & Morali 2) Kaligos with Kendrick 3) CanadianVet with Trent 4) DocReno with Slayton 5) chXinya with... chXinya. :) I will also be making slight edits to the first post in No Cosmic Justice in reflection of this re-written post. I will be informing about the situation in the newsletter to so that everyone are on the same page.

More posts to come!

[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark and Lt. (jg) Sarresh Morali| Main Bridge | USS Theurgy - Vector 01 ]

It wasn't at all unexpected to Natalie that the captain of the Resolve was still on board. She knew almost nothing about the man, beyond the service record that most of Starfleet had read when the Luna-class explorer had vanished years back. But there was something simply right about a Captain being the last one off the ship, and it meshed with what little she had heard of the man. She wasn't at all surprised by the idea of launching the warp core from the battered ship at some likely target - the Chester perhaps, or like as not, the Orcus. The brunette Operations Chief hated the thought of the kind of damage a warp core breach might do to the men and women of those ships, whom were only doing what they saw as their duty.

She hated the idea of what the warp core breach would do to her vessel if they didn't send it elsewhere, however, and when it came down to it, it was the Theurgy, her people, that mattered most.

"Aye Aye, Captain," Natalie said sharply, pressing her finger into the earpiece she wore as she opened up a channel. "Stark to transporter rooms 1 through 3, I need locks on every person still on the Resolve. There are at least two in main engineering -" she had only heard the Captain and his engineer, "But I assume there are more. I'm sending in a coordinated sensor sweep of the vessel now. Be ready to beam out as soon as the warp core is jettisoned, on my command."

While she issued instructions, new data was being transferred over from the gunship Sabine. Lt. Morali leaned over his own console, pulling up file after file as it came across. The computer let out a little chime as it finished uploading and he immediately began parsing it for something he could use, some thing to give them an advantage. He read through it as fast as he could, his face paling. A curse broke past his lips and his head shot up, mouth open to warn Captain Ives, but by then the Orcus had stripped away Vector 02's shields and the captain had more important things to focus on.

"Roger that, S'Iti," Sarresh could hear Stark's reply even over the den of the battle. The human woman adjusted the ships powerful stealing from Peter to pay Paul as it were. The whole of the Vector seemed to shudder under the sudden strain, as the tractors on the Resolve intensified, and the ships moved in tandem, arcing along the field of battle to align with the Vesta-class carrier vessel bearing down on them.

The Chester shuddered under the impact of a micro-warp core from a fighter, and soon, Natalie thought, the Orcus would suffer the same fate on a much grander scale. "All transporters, prep for beam up on my mark," she said again, as the ships closed the distance. All around them space exploded with light, the burst of phaser and photon fire mixing with the fury and death of those trying to both kill them, and save them. Everything seemed to hang for a moment, for Natalie, to freeze in one crystal clear image, before the ship was banking hard and the Resolve's core spun out, end over end across space.

Her stomach seemed to crawl right up into her throat as the ship turned hard, and the aft weapons arrays opened up. "Energize!" She ordered, shifting the power again, lights dimming in other parts of the vector as she kept the tractor beams in place just a bit longer, and still provided that extra boost to the transporters. One by one the lifesigns remaining on the wounded ship vanished, torn from where they lay, hid, or ran, only to re-appear in transporter rooms across the Theurgy's Helmet.

Only then, did Sarresh manage to get the Captain's attention, his words barely heard, when Ives had moved back towards the rear of the bridge. "Its Hawthrone, Captain. What I'm seeing here is sound." Ens. Henshaw really was walking into a trap, the former Ash'reem thought. And what followed into his mind next was a logical leap, gripping his chest with a fear her did not suspect would arise - If Henshaw was walking to her doom, then so to was Ryuan Sel. While he'd only had one tryst so far with the Bajoran, he felt worry bubble up, nearly blinding him.

[ Cir'Cie | Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Kaligos & Mathis

Being a botanist, however proficient in her performance as such, Cir'Cie's expertise lent meagre aid in a battle such as the Theurgy fought at Starbase 84.

Therefore, it was only prudent that she undertook tasks that complemented her main field of study - volunteering in other departments to do tasks any Starfleet officer could preform. Among them was aiding Operations in the allocation of resources and other assorted tasks. She had been standing by to receive orders, and once she got them, she acted without emotional inflection towards whatever assignment it might be. At the onset of he battle, she had been waiting in the hydroponics lab, and when the battle began, she had aided in bringing injured to the Battle Sickbay on Vector 01.

Her newest orders were unexpected, but simple enough to carry out. The notification had reached her that a shuttle were to dock in the Upper Shuttle Bay, and that the shuttle carried an officer from Starbase 84 that brought sensitive evidence against the base's commanding officer. Intrigued, she had made her way to the unique, U-shaped bay with its tiered landing platforms - a necessity due to the MVAM functionality of the ship. The Vector shook from being fired at, and yet Cir'Cie did not miss a step when she stepped on the platform that the SS Sabine landed on.

With her hands clasped behind her back, she stepped up to the starboard airlock on the unique craft, and waited for the newly arrived to come out to her. Because of the high-velocity movement of the Vector, which the inertial dampeners couldn't completely compensate for, Cir'Cie shifted her stance, but did not otherwise move or concern herself with what was going on in the battle. She could not do anything about it, rendering any concerns moot.

Once the airlock opened, she raised her chin and spoke, eyes halcyon. "Greetings. You are vers Aldnoah and Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak?" she enquired and raised en eyebrow at the level of dishevelment the two appeared to be in, and for her nose, the sharp odour of sweat. Nonetheless, she believed she could be hospitable enough. They had, as far as the message went, been an aid to the mission, not only carrying important intelligence but also salvaging an ejection pod from one the the Resolve's fighters. It currently sat on the platform below the Sabine, taken care of by a triage team led by the EMH Mk I.

"Thea, kindly arrange for emergency site-to-site transport for three people to the Conference Lounge on Deck 01. Energise when ready."

[Acknowledged, stand by.] There was hardly any pause before the A.I. had locked on to them. [Energising.]

[ Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Present Resolve Bridge Crew

When the three of them materialised in the Theurgy's mission briefing room. Cir'Cie couldn't help but noticing on the large live-feed from the Bridge how the Vector seemed to be about to ram a Vesta-class ship. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what tactical merit there could be in such an overly drastic choice-of-action at the current juncture of their mission.

Then again, she was a botanist, not a tactician.

---

OOC: Since Kaligos is next to post, I figured Hi'Jak could be next as well from this vantage point? (Mathis might post with Sera too, of course)

This is also a prompt for free posting in reaction to the development for those present in the room. I think it would be best if Kaligos and CanadianVet posted first, though, then Hastata-Nerada, Vystori, DocReno, Mathis and Arista can chime in freely afterwards. At this point, I may also have been able to set the scene in one of the transporter rooms for Suq, Six and F'Rell with a post of mine with Liam Herrold, but I still think Kaligos and CV should post next.

However, more posts are to come soon for Engineering on Vector 03 and Main Sickbay on Vector 02! :)

[ Nurse Maal | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: 1) The Counselor 2) Zenozine

In Main Sickbay, Maal was supporting Hylota Vojona in the slow progress to the isolation ward, which had been set up as some kind of birthing pool for the pregnant Ovri. Maal had not been involved in any part of the gestation period, besides the conception of course, and it was surreal how quickly the Ovri carried her eggs to term. But when Hylota said to Doctor O'Connor that she wanted him present, then he would be there for her - not having expected that Hylota had truly forgiven him for what he had been forced to do to her brother during the mutiny. He did not quite understand what Hylota meant that it was good he was given an order, but he would not let it distract him.

"Just a little further," he just said, getting out of the corridor and into the area where the isolation wards and the surgical suites were located. He nearly managed to tackle down Doctor Lahkesis Saugn in the doorway, and he apologised to the Teslyliac Duplicate in passing as he pushed on towards the destination. His sole focus was to get the Ovri woman past the doors to the surgical suites and to the birthing pool, as if this great responsibility would be an immediate solution to rid all the pain Hylota was in. Little did he know what was happening in Surgical Suite 02 when the small entourage passed it by.

Reaching the end of the corridor, Maal repeatedly tried to dial his authorisation code while still holding up Hylota, only being answered by angry chirping and Thea's dispassionate rejections. All the while the ship shook from sustained phaser fire, which certainly did not make it easier to concentrate. [Access denied. Security authorisation required. Access denied. Security Au-. Access deni-. Access deni-].

"Arrgh!" he roared, sounding very much like the Klingon he was, despite how he'd been raised with humans, and he slammed his big fist into the bulkhead next to the control panel in panicked frustration.

---

OOC: The Counselor and Zenozine, you are next in this scene! If you'd rather have Hylota dial the security clearance code into the control panel, I am sure The Counselor wouldn't mind if you posted first, Zenozine.

[ PWO Rihen Neyah | Main Engineering | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: MasterRat, DocReno & Nolan

When Doctor Duv gave the order to try and get the fire suppression systems online in the room Lin Kae was in, Rihen Neyah quickly nodded and ran back to where Chief Nolak Kalmil was at - her heart beating quickly in her chest. The stress of the situation, mixed with the acute concern for Lin Kae was getting to her, making her feel like she couldn't breathe. The undershirt was suffocating to her too, the brand new uniform she wore quite different from the overalls she used to wear. Since it was so unbearable, she unzipped the undershirt as far as the closed uniform jacket allowed her meant set to work by her console next to Kalmil again.

Yet she she slammed right into a forcefield erected around the core and Chief Kalmil, bouncing back from it and landing on her bum. She looked at the invisible thing, bewildered at what was going on, and realised the Chief was trying to keep the warp core contained. Even as she looked at his back, the Vector rocked from incoming enemy fire - unbeknownst to them being fired at by the USS Chester.

"Oh, no, nononono," she siad, holding on to the railing for dear life. What should she do now? She had to help Kae. Somehow. With sheer urgency propelling her, she got to another duty station.

"Okay, okay, fire suppression systems, right, right..." She thought she had a handle on the LCARS system by then, but it was hard to concentrate, and she ended up in the wrong system folders all the time - the beads of sweat upon her skin lit by the colours on the touch display. When she finally ended up where she wanted to, all she got was a system failure message. "Right, no panic. I'm restarting the system, hoping it will..."

No, same message. Well, not quite. Now there was only a problem with the forcefield emitter in the room remaining - the same used for the holographic grid. She had repaired the very same emitter in that room after the mutiny, but now it... "Oh, okay, the emitter just has no power. Where is the broken relay, where is it, where is it, where.... There!"

It was a twenty meters down the hallway. But how was she to...? "Chief, please, can you hear me?" she called through the force filed. "You have to help me, or Kae, I mean. I need to repair an EPS relay, and when I tell you, you need to try and activate fire suppresion, okay? I am leaving it here for you like this. I'll contact you soon!" And like that, Rihen ran as fast as she could, away from Kalmil and past Doctor Duv, pausing only to snatch up a conduit replacement part in her sprint, leaping down a short flight of stairs and leaving Main Engineering.

Behind her, Thea spoke to Kalmil on the intercom system, letting everyone hear. [Warning. Warp Core integrity failing because of antimatter containment failure. Magnetic field destabilised. Warp Core overload in ten minutes.] Then the A.I. resorted to more personal advise. [Master Chief Nolak Kalmil, I recommend you climb down the core structural beams and calibrate the magnetic fields manually at the antimatter tank intake. You can still save this Vector of mine. Please... hurry.]

Question was, could he save both the ship and Lin Kae?

---

OOC: Suggested posting order in this scene: 1) MasterRat 2) DocReno 3) Nolan. :)

Furthermore, Doc M. Tessa and Rawley are supposed to defend Vector 03, and they are right now up against the USS Chester. Can you set the scene were the Chester is trading blows with Vector 03 in No Cosmic Justice?

[ Lt Hi'Jak| Sabine | Theurgy Docking bay  ] Atten: Auctor, and Mathis

Jack never did find his underwear, from the time they had landed to the point where the Sabine's door had opened Jack had basically ran around the cockpit and managed to find his uniforms pants and belt but not the boxer shorts he normally had on under them. As uncomfortable as he was going commando he was pretty sure he would be infinitely less comfortable going pants-less so he forwent the comfort of boxers for the outward shell of his normally regulated uniform.

Brushing and patting his hair down he seriously did not want to look a mess right now. Even so he knew he was, the largest offender being his uniforms collar which despite his attempts to adjust it refused to correct. Finally he gave up in time to address the new comer greeting Cir'Cie with a bit of hesitation.

He was standing on a ship of traitors and pirates, standing against the Federation. After today that statement held a lot less weight then he thought it would considering the number of crimes the Federation could probably hit him with, but still he had no idea what was going on. Oddly he had not expected to see a Vulcan among the Theurgy crew. They were usually only swayed by logical arguments so treachery tended to not be in their nature at least until the moment it was logical and then it was their entire nature.

A bit of Xenophobia but these were the kind of creatures that would cut off his arm if it meant saving themselves so he didn't have much love for the Vulcans.

"Greetings." For the moment there was no outward hostility in his voice. When she asked for a site to site transport beam he grit his teeth half expecting to be treated to a visit to the ships brig, but was surprised when he arrived in a briefing room.

[ Lt Hi'Jak| Briefing room | USS Theurgy  ]

"Haven't been in one of these for a few years." He said looking around the ships conference room the display showing the resolve and the situation they were in. Looking around he saw a lot of unfamiliar faces that made him wary to speak to anyone for too long. There was a battle going on outside so one had to assume that this was probably the crew of the resolve.

Unsure of the company he was keeping Jack quickly stepped towards Sera wanting to keep her close. She had proven time and time again that she was a survivor and if he was going to survive today then he was going to keep with her for as long as she would have him. "Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak, pleasure to meet you all."


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

Engineering was heating up. Kendrick honestly wasn't sure if it was the impending warp core breach, a random radiation leak from the number of cracks that had been forming along the walls, or the fact that his ship and home was falling apart but it was causing Kendrick to sweat. As much as he wanted to remain the calm collected captain that he always projected the situation around him was causing him to mutter under his breath, his eyes dark from a day that felt like it was never going to end.

Typing out the last commands and avoiding something that sparked over head. He heard the voice of the Theurgy's captain saying that they would aim the ship and he smiled he was really going to enjoy watching this be someone else's problem. Of course the lack of a boom wouldn't save the resolve. "Life support offline, remaining oxygen levels at 2.6%"

"Thank you computer!" Suffocation was not how Kendrick wanted to die, but it was becoming a very real threat with the number of plasma fires, hull breaches and a number of other things that were currently walking the void around his life. Literally every step he took at this point could be the moment he just died from opening the wrong door and venting whatever area he had into space.

When he was told to stand by he had his hand over the fire button. "Ready and willing any second Theurgy Helm."

"Three! Two! One! Mark!"

Kendrick had never pressed a button so hard in his life. His fist slammed on it after all his paswords and safties were entered. The Warp Core in front of him disconnected and was plunged into the void of space, causing all lights in the ship to go out, a shock wave of power outages through the resolve. The ejection of the warp core shook the resolve, and threw Kendrick head over heals for a moment tossing him backwards as he hit the ground his eyes closed for a moment after hitting his head feeling cold, and tired.

A moment later there was a voice, like an annoying alarm clock, his breathing was heavy, the oxygine in the room warm from plasma fires and smoke now that the ship no longer had power to use the fire suppression system. He coughed choking on the hot air. Opening his eyes revealed an engineering bay transformed by hell.

"Captain Kendrick, can you hear me? This is Chief Petty Officer Kowalski of Theurgy."

Kendrick groaned into his com. Less of an answer more of an acknowledgement as he pulled himself up.

"Kendrick, the room your in is too flooded with radiation, we can't get a clear lock on you're signal."

Kendrick chuckled, how much radiation was he being exposed too then? He was a little too old too worry about cancer at this point. He shut his eyes one side of his forehead was cut, he was bleeding and his left eye was seeing red at this point practically useless. He wouldn't make much of a difference at this point, but he could walk.

"Don't worry about me Kowalski, get my crew off this crypt. I'm gonna... I'm gonna... find an alternative." He coughed for a moment thinking things through, was their even an alternative?

[ MCPO Nolak Kalmil | Main Engineering | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]

Main Engineering hummed with action. Read out of all sorts flickered and flashed on the monitor screens; exposed wires flared to life sending mini fireworks of sparks dancing into the air; small jets of steam hissed out randomly from damaged piping, giving the atmosphere a humid feel. The occasional leaflet of paper or a picture of some false idol leafed its way down the main engineering levels from above. The Deltan Chief was finally feeling he had control of the situation, the gravity wells were holding up, and he was rerouting energy back into a phaser bank which appeared to be reading normal again. The local repair crew reported they fixed the problem.  The only major problem was with the fire extinguish system, and the doorway to the gravity control room finally shocked its self ‘out of order’. He was still juggling with minor issues throughout the ship, but everything was relatively stable considering the situation.

The Deltan was starting to smile to himself as he started to focus his attention on the fire suppression systems. He was mapping and narrowing down to which mainlines were severed, when the ships alarms suddenly started blaring as the USS Chester began targeting Vector 03. Kalmil looked up at the tactical display and reviewed the data from the ship which seemingly appeared out of thin air. He said out loud, “Where the hell did this Defiant class ship appear from? Oh expletive deleted!”

The ship rocked violently as the USS Chester, unleashed its full fury against the ships shields breaking through the ventral shielding and slamming against the hull of the ship itself. This time it wasn’t a computer glitch as the bottom shields fell, again! The concessional blast caused Nolak Kalmil to lose his footing and he fell to the floor. Pain shot from his neck outward and his mind was clouded for a moment from white pain. When he came to moments later he discovered that he had somehow wrapped his legs around the base of the instrument panel. While he stood up he saw Rihen Neyah also returning to her feet. Seeing that she was alright he returned his attention back to the computer console. He heard her shouting to him about the fire suppression systems, but there was little he could do now to help from his position. The problem was the relay systems and perhaps she could figure out a way around it. He was far more concerned about the damage report which was now flooding into his computer console. Everything seemed to be flashing all sorts of new series of data as systems were failing in the area of the recent attack. Worst off it spiked a critical error in the lower part of the warp core. The magnetic field had been disrupted a few decks down by the antimatter intakes. He noticed this just as Thea was reporting the situation to him. To the computer he said, “Thank you Thea, and end silent mode, I now need to hear your lovely voice to help me monitor things.”

The Deltan Chief hits the intercom to the bridge, “Master Chief here, we have a serious problem. Warp Core is nearing critical levels and the USS Chester just ripped open our ventral shields so you know the drill by now.  So you better deal with that vessel and quick. Get any available fighters to protect Thea’s belly first.  I’m doing down to do everything to keep this warp core from going critical and get shields up at the same time. Tactical officer, you better make every shot count, as the old expression goes, we are now running on fumes. Engineering out.” He said keeping his voice calm and cool.

Looking down he saw the work belt still attached to the computer panel next to him. He reached down grabbed the belt and slung it around his body. Next he reached up and unwrapped the towel around his neck. The scars from his recent surgery tingled more intensely as it’s now exposed directly to the temperature of the humid conditions of the area. He reached up and lightly runs his fingertips over the scar for a moment while he thought out his next course of action. Speaking to the computer, “Thea, hold the fort to the best of your ability. Rihen Neyah might try to send you some sort of command or activate code, if possible aid her in getting those fire suppression systems back up, and get that fire in the gravity well room out ASAP. I’m going down on you and tickle your lower naughty parts. Let’s hope not for the last time.”  Nolak Kalmil took the towel from both ends and walked over to the ladder perched alongside of the warp core. Using the towel he gripped the railings of the ladder then hopped on placing the heels of the sandals along the railing sliding down the ladder rather than rung by rung.

While Nolak Kalmil progressed down the warp core he could see some of the actions between decks. The medical team had found Ensign Abner, who appeared to be slumped upon the floor as the medics still appeared to be recovering from the attack by the USS Chester. He couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive as the deck flew by him. The next deck down crew members were struggling with some toppled over equipment trying to move it off another member pinned underneath it. As this scene wiz by he began to grip the railings slowing his decent down. The next level was his destination. Once there he slammed his feet into the ladder rung and he came to a sudden stop jarring his body again. Another sharp pain emits from his neck as he hopped off the ladder and onto the service deck. He wraped the towel around one of the rungs a couple times on the ladder and left it there as he walked around the gangway to the main service panel of the deck.

Standing a mere few meters away from where all the magic happens, the two very large containment tanks which feed into and from the Vector’s two nacelle warp engines. It’s here where the antimatter reactant injectors were located. The large cone shaped bottom of the core extends only a deck or two more below him as he stood at the apex of where core meets the injector. Nolak walked through the somewhat maze of piping and dangling cables, as he worked his way to the service monitor and reviews a couple of data screens before turning to the large core in front of him. To the computer monitor he said, “Okay Thea, I’m here and about to remove the antimatter injection panel and access the core’s gas injectors and magnetic suspension plasma separator. I might need to have you help me a little since I normally do this while the ship is powered down. Not while in full combat mode.” 

He took a couple tools off his belt and took the small scanner and scanned the panel. To himself he said, “Damn, this is going to make my day a living hell. It looks as though there is a small breach in one of the gas injectors.”  He turned and opened an emergency gear locker next to the injectors and took out some heavy duty EVO gloves and breathing mask then puts them on. Making sure his tools are close at hand he began to remove the protective panel. A bright light and a rush of steam and gas rush out of the compartment when the panel was taken off. Nolak shielded his eyes for a moment from the light before continuing his work. The ship rocked again from another strike, this wasn’t as severe as before but it wasn’t making life any easier.

[ Commander Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]

Manning Tactical and managing the battlespace as he was, one might have a hard time believing this was the same Carrigan Trent who had come out a wreck and a mere shadow of himself from the loss of his first and only starship command.  When he was speaking into his boom mike, his voice was low but confident and calm, his hands were moving across his console.  But when he saw Orcus coming about and letting loose a burst of phaser-fire at Vector 2, his eyes narrowed as he watched the shields first absorb the energy, and then collapse.  A quick look at the readings, and he knew exactly what had happened.  Clever bastard, he thought of Slayton. 

Trent had a healthy respect for the carrier captain's abilities already.  But to see him applying them in action, that was interesting all right.  But he had surprises of his own all right.  And mostly, he knew there was no way he could know who was manning Tactical on Theurgy.  But when Arisaka's voice came through his earpiece, loaded with what approached panic as he reported his shields had collapsed, the XO spoke firmly.  "Mister Arisaka, hard skew turn and break off and re-establish your shields.  Donovra, break away from the Starbase and give Vector 2 some cover.  And keep moving, don't let Orcus line up on you like they did Vector 2."  Oh no, you're not going to do this again, though the amputee as he gave his orders. 

As that happened, he was aware that they were lining up for a pass on the carrier, and his fingers moved with fluid ease as he redirected power to shields and re-prioritized point-defence to get them through the carrier's fire, and then the Resolve's warp core was released as the did a very close pass, and as soon as the firing solution for the aft torpedo tubes rang solid, he released the ordnance at the carrier.

A starship's the navigational deflector was an immensely powerful system; it had to be in order  to shrugs off dust, particulates, radiation and random bits of space debris, which at relativistic velocities could impact with the force of nuclear weapons.  But one's shields, meant to protect from the obscene energy levels of starship weapons and extreme-velocity impacts from explosive ordnance were in another order of magnitude altogether.  But even such a powerful system could not deal with the close proximity of a warp core detonation.  Let alone a direct impact.  Some of the most advanced shielding designed by Starfleet could do little but try to slow it down before the energy release completely overwhelmed them, and when the wave of energy struck the Orcus, her ablative armour boiled away, exposed to several times the amount of power it was meant to withstand and the hull beneath could do little to stop what had obliterated both lines of defence.  Outer hull panels were vaporized, as were internal bulkheads and structural frame members bent and broke under the massive transfer of energy.  As the blast wavefront lost momentum, its effects started to lose energy, and instead of incinerating everything in its path, it started fracturing whatever it hit, and entire compartments were swept by shrapnel. 

And then the torpedoes hit.

The quantum torpedoes struck hull directly, and then their own plasma-fueled fury was unleashed against Orcus.  More hull breaches were opened, and a pair of torpedoes striking the port strut, nearly severing it and it was only a few shreds of hull fore and aft that barely held it in place, but it was clear that the nacelle itself had lost power and plasma streamed freely into space from a severed conduit.  Other impacts hit the secondary hull, carving long tunnels of destruction  that reached deep into the carrier's guts, and one that hit the saucer section where the hull had already been compromised by the warp core detonation near her foremost edge left a hole clean through.

But it took a moment for the damage to be compiled by Theurgy's sensors, and when they came back around, the sight of the battered, if not to say butchered, Orcus filled the viewscreen even as Trent consulted his readings.  She did not have a warp signature at the time, a sign that her warp core had been shut down and the decay of her subspace emissions told him that it had not been an orderly, step-by-step process but an emergency crashing of the system to prevent a breach; her sensor emissions had completely ceased, therefore they were no longer trying to maintain weapons lock, and one impulse engine was firing fitfully, the other being little more than a crater where a quantum torpedo had struck.  And the hull was streaming atmosphere, debris, smoke and water vapour, as well as poor souls (or parts thereof) who were caught in decompressing spaces before the forcefields could snap into life.  The power readings were erratic and weak. 

To Trent's practiced eye, one thing was clear: Orcus was out of the fight, and a lesser vessel would have been completely obliterated or turned into a hulk only good for the breakers' yard.  But given enough time in drydock, she would be fit again...  But as Vector 01 came about and the firing solution was green on his board, the XO's hand came down... then stopped before letting loose another barrage, one that would certainly end with Orcus as no more than a cloud of rapidly cooling wreckage.  "Captain, holding off on the second volley.  I am reading no active weapons, no tactical sensor, weak power emissions and no shields left on Orcus.  Extensive structural damage and no warp signature anymore.  Sir, Orcus is out of the fight, and looks like life support is failing.  Recommend hailing them, and offering terms for their surrender."  

As he spoke, there was an undercurrent to Trent's voice, an entreaty to Jien Ives to listen to him, and not actually make him destroy that ship and every member of her crew that was still alive.

[ Liam Herrold | USS Theurgy | Transporter Room 02 | Vector 01 ] Atten: Hastata-Nerada & SummerDawn

Odd, how the feeling of dying - consumed by a roaring cloud of fiery plasma - felt so familiar. That was the last thing Liam thought.

Then the flames were gone, cool air against his face, and he let go of F'Rell - eyes wide. When he released her writhing body, F'Rell's appendages could not quite hold on to him, and he dropped down upon a glass-like surface. The hum of a ship, and a voice was heard, transmission poor in quality. [...about me Kowalski, get my crew off this crypt. I'm gonna... I'm gonna... find an alternative.]

Liam could barely hear what was said, however, because someone cried out if fright. "Jesus fucking Christ!" said the man, and Liam traced the sound to someone standing behind a duty station. Only then did Liam see, as he looked around, that he was in a transporter room, and the officer at the controls had clearly not expected to see something like F'Rell when he energised the transport protocol that had saved them. The T'fanrell filled the air above the transporter platform, and Liam - his jumpsuit singed and smoking faintly in the cooler air - lay beneath her. He coughed, only now realising how much smoke he had inhaled, and crawled off the slick platform.

"What the hell are you?" demanded the officer, looking as if he regretted not having a phaser at hand, and that he expected F'Rell to breathe fire upon him. Liam picked himself off the floor and raised a hand, forestalling anything rash from the man. A CPO, like himself, he saw.

"Wait," Liam said thickly, smoke still in his lungs and making him have another fit of coughing, "She's no threat. Tell me, was that the Captain's voice?"

"Well... Yes," said Kowalski, still not looking entirely convinced about F'Rell not killing him any second, "I can't get a lock on him. Too much radiation. He'll have to get on the Theurgy himself, unless its too unsafe to keep your ship docked with ours, and we have to close the airlocks. Then... he is on his own..."

The prospect of Kendrick dying hit Liam hard, and he looked to F'Rell before returning his attention to the man at the duty station. "Did the rest make it?"

"Yes, we even have one of your fighters' ejected cockpit pods sitting in the shuttle bay. A triage team is trying to cut their way into it now. Unless they are still out there fighting in the battle, or didn't die before we could get a transporter lock on them, we've got them all... except for your Captai-."

"A fighter cockpit?" asked Liam, suddenly getting a bad feeling, the image of Neko flashing before his eyes. "Which fighter?"

"Sorry, I have no idea. Wait, where are you going?"

"Come on!" called Liam to F'Rell, already heading out into the Theurgy's corridor, looking for an LCARS terminal so that he might learn the way the shuttle bay. There was no security guard in place to stop them, and Liam wouldn't have cared either way. He just hoped that it wasn't K'Ren, and if it was, that she was all right.

[Doctor Hayden O'Connor| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]  Attn: Zenozine and Auctor Lucan

"You would never be a bother," Hayden reassured Hylota, "but we should get you where you can be more comfortable," Hayden added as she began to lead the way to the isolation ward, once reassuring herself the male nurse had a steady enough grasp of her. Still, O'Connor made a point to not be too many steps ahead just in case the female Ovri faltered from the pain. Even as she led the way, she hadn't forgotten Hylota's surprise decision and admission in front of the Klingon nurse she was giving birth to his potential children. The paternity of her potential offspring wasn't exactly a secret, Hayden knew, but it was really the first time she'd heard Hylota reference his role in her pregnancy out loud to anyone but her.  If Maal hurt, however, thankfully, he hadn't let the the reality of what was happening prevent him from helping to get her to the birthing pool. With the chaos of the battle still raging, O'Connor was acutely aware they needed to get Hylota to a place of relative safety as quickly as possible. From what she remembered in her conversations with Vinata, it was absolutely critical to the offspring's survival that they emerge into a birthing pool filled with water that contained just the right amount of nutrients and was just the right temperature to foster continued growth until it was time for any potential offspring to hatch.

Mentally reassuring herself she had prepared the area as well as possible in advance of just this event, Hayden reminded herself to stay in the moment and to try to block out the battle as much as possible. As Hylota had already remarked, Maal already seemed frazzled, and although his nurse's training would come in handy, she also knew as a potential father, he had to be filled with all sorts of thoughts and feelings, even if he wasn't verbalizing them. Under such circumstances, she knew she couldn't plan to depend on him entirely as a medical professional, and given the potential for impending fatherhood, Hayden really didn't want to. The significance of what was about to happen aside, O'Connor knew the female Ovri had had mixed feelings about having Maal involved in her pregnancy at all, and she wasn't about to make him her assistant, attending to Hylota at her most vulnerable, just because O'Connor was delivering her first Ovri. This would be a new experience for the doctor, but after everything she'd been told, she knew there weren't too many differences between the Ovri and other laboring humanoids.

Inwardly relieved they had made it to the Isolation Ward without incident, Maal made it to the control panel before Hayden and as she watched him key in the code unsuccessfully, she took a quick mental inventory and realized it must be nerves preventing him from entering the right code. "Here, let me do it," she reassured in a calm low voice as she watched guardedly while Maal vented his frustration and panic. She didn't want to make it worse by commenting on it, but she met Hylota's eyes as she said, to both of them, "Everything's going to be okay."

As expected, in his excitement and distraction, the Klingon nurse must have been keying in the wrong numbers unintentionally, because when Hayden punched in the code, the doors opened immediately, a small breeze of humid air hitting them all as soon as the doors parted. O'Connor led the way into the ward, which had been configured into a birthing Suite 2 days prior to battle in accordance with Vinata's and Hylota's instructions thanks to the holo- emitters in the room's ceiling. Certain features, such as the temperature in the room and the flow of the water in the birthing pool, weren't programmed to set until the door code was entered and internal sensors indicated there were Ovri life signs present. This insured ship's resources wouldn't be utilized until absolutely necessary, as Hayden anticipated based on what she knew of Hylota's gestation, they could be in the midst of battle by the time Hylota went into labor, and O'Connor knew efficiency was going to be key if they were going to survive the battle.

The most resource intense item in the room was, of course, the large rectangular shaped birthing pool in the center of the room. For the most part, it didn't look much different from a regular swimming pool except for its nutrient rich and PH rich water,  its smaller size and its attached reclined chair at one end that was sloped so Hylota's lower body would remain in the water as she labored and laid her eggs. The chair was adjustable, as per Vinata's instructions, with a ledge surrounding the pool so Hylota could have leverage as she pushed. Based on her experience working with other laboring mothers, Hayden had also added additional features just in case Hylota felt like laying in different positions, including a birthing stool, a U-shaped chair that would allow Hylota to lay in a more upright seated position while her lower half was still submerged in water, and a few squat bars to hold onto for support while laying in a squatted position. She had seen both used effectively in other deliveries she'd managed, as both tools allow the mother to give birth with the help of gravity. She'd also replicated several mats just in case Hylota wanted to push on all fours. Vinata had explained laying eggs was not as painful for Ovri females as giving birth to a humanoid child would be, but Hayden also knew this would be the first time Hylota would be laying eggs with potentially viable offspring, which they anticipated would make for a more intense labor and birthing experience, given the larger size of viable eggs and perhaps more complicated positioning.

In any case, Hayden wanted to be completely prepared, so Hylota could focus and not experience added stress which would only compound any physical discomfort. In addition to the birthing pool, another smaller pool was attached to the birthing pool, with an opening joining the two pools. This would serve as a holding area for the eggs as they emerged. Hayden knew in advance some of the eggs in the clutch would be dummy eggs, those which had properly formed well enough to even potentially support life, and nonviable eggs, those which hadn't been fertilized even though they were perfectly suited to become potential offspring. Then, of course, there were the fertilized eggs, those which showed evidence of viable developing offspring. After Hylota released her clutch, it would be important to separate the viable eggs from those which were not, and to dispose of them properly.  Hayden would take care of such a responsibility, but her first priority had to be Hylota. The eggs would be safe for some time, as Hayden made sure the water contained the same collection of nutrients and with that at just the right pH to support life, just like the water in the birthing pool itself.

All of this ran through Hayden's mind like lightning as she turned to Hylota. "How about we quickly get you into a more comfortable gown? Then, would you like to labor directly in the pool right now, or would you like to wait and sit on the labor ball?" O'Connor wasn't sure how quickly things were progressing and she wanted to give Hylota as many options as possible. She would continue to assess the female Ovri's progress discreetly via scans and manual exams as necessary, but the most important thing right now was to give Hylota some control and to help her feel safe. Hayden would need to change in her own birthing pool friendly suit, but she would worry about that once Hylota was properly settled.

[ F'Rell of the Twelfth House | Burning Corridor | USS Resolve ] Attn: Auctor
[Show/Hide]
Bright lights filled her vision as F'Rell felt the fiery plasma surround both her and the humanoid creature she now clutched within her tendrils. But just as quickly as the feeling had come, it left. Suddenly she was feeling... heavier... much heavier. And it was cooler now? There was some sort of loud noise that seemed to follow a strange sort of pattern as well. She twisted around in confusion, suddenly realizing that she had lost a good amount of the gasses which kept her afloat. Before long she started to realize where she was as her snout ran right into a slick glassy surface, which seemed to enclose much of the area around her in close proximity.

Now realizing that she was in a transporter, she tried to orient herself into tight coils and locate Liam and the source of the strange noise, which she now realized to be shouting. Liam at least was easy to locate, he was not far off, and his jumpsuit emitted rather acrid particles into the air. He seemed to be negotiating with the other human who was clearly startled by F'Rell's appearance on the pad. A number of possibilities rushed through F'Rell's mind while she tried to stabilize herself, eventually reaching the conclusion that they must be on the other ship, the Theurgy? The next words uttered by Kowalski, the transporter operator, made her heart sink. So to speak.

"I can't get a lock on him. He's too close to the Resolve's warp core. He'll have to get on the Theurgy himself, unless its too unsafe to keep-" Were they talking about the captain? F'Rell thought she heard some mention of him... This must be the other ship at least, she was sure the crew of the starbase would have seized them first and asked questions later.

Either way, Liam seemed intent on leaving somewhere, and indicated for F'Rell to follow. She saw no harm in doing so, she was basically out of the direct danger for now, and she could do nothing else to help the situation at this point. Before leaving the room to follow Liam, she turned towards Kowalski and sent a few utterances through her translator. "I do not mean to cause alarm." Before snaking out of the door after Liam.

[ Surgical Suite 02 | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Joint Post by Triage & Auctor Lucan
 
On again with the charade... Lucan took a deep breath, slipping into the mannerisms of his host as if donning an old, worn shirt, and he raised his hand to his combadge.
 
"Nicander t-to Surgical Suite 01," he said, the slight swelling on the left side of his face affecting his voice, and he made sure he sounded as beaten as he looked. He might not feel the pain the way the host did, but he knew it well enough to enact it, "I'm next door, in 02. Doctor Maya, she struck me down... I think she disabled the door."
 
The ship shook again from enemy fire, and Lucan wondered who might come to his aid... In a way, since the host was finally suppressed, he had come to relish the opportunities presented. His old self had been all control and no joy, but that was about to change, provided the ship actually made it through. Perhaps this might be his last chance to live out his denied fantasies, taking full advantage of the isolated room once the saviour came to him?
 
[ Surgical Suite 01 | Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ]
 
Like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off, Heather McMillan was no less akin to that when in the midst of excitement, terror and life-or-death situations. On the Theurgy, that was nearly every day. The young woman was of utmost confidence that she would not die of old age but of sheer fright one day, if she were to continue in this manner. Dainty and amazingly inept, she frequently leapt about to compensate for the tremors that would otherwise knock her to the ground. Some had begun to notice she almost preemptively jumped before the ship even began shaking from impacts. That she was able to administer treatments or help anyone at all without causing additional grievous harm was a miracle in and of itself, something for which she was grateful for.
 
Just as she was about to seek out Dr. Maya for further instructions, having lost track of Hebert and Maal, but she had lost track of the diminutive Vulcan as well. It was a wonder that anybody would be able to keep track of anything for long in all this chaos. All races except the Radiant were such incredible and astounding folk in how they were able to handle the chaos like it was so normal. Maybe it was for them, but McMillan would like nothing more than to have a nice quiet dwelling to live in, with her love by her side, and together they would live out in blissful peace and quiet. That was assuming she lived through this next battle, and the next, and the next...
 
The chimes on the Surgical Communications caught her ears and she whirled around immediately. Doctor Nicander! Thought McMillan, Good! I should tal...what? Maya?!? The Radiant felt frightened at this revelation. She thought the Vulcan woman was particularly friendly and peaceful, like her. This sounded uncharacteristic and particularly dangerous. Vulcans were even stronger than humans, not to mention decidedly smarter. If she thought of humans as gods, the Vulcans were something above that. What do I do now??? thought McMillan. Going after Maya would be suicidal, even if she thought she might have a chance of figuring out what happened, what if Maya decided to attack her? It would be sheer murder, and the young woman didn't fancy trying to see who was a faster runner.
 
No, logic dictated it would be more sensible to get help, and to render aid to the good Doctor Nicander first. He sounded hurt, by the sound of his voice, and that was probably just her empathy, but she would be remiss to ignore a call for help. She could always just alert Thea to Dr. Maya's actions, which might help bring more security. So many things to consider. Touching her combadge, she said, "Thea, would you be so kind as to tell me where Dr. Maya is, presently?"
 
[Doctor Maya is in Jefferies tube junction 45-C,] came the reply from Thea, which didn't tell her anything at all.
 
"Thanks, Thea."
 
Next she went over to the door to Surgical Suite 02, and examine the extent of the damage. "Oh bollocks," said McMillan. Touching her combadge again, she said, "McMillan to Nicander, I'm right outside...Dr. Maya made a mess of the door. H-hang on, I'm going to try overriding the controls through an auxiliary, okay? Bloody hell, how am I going to do that? Oh! Uh...Heather out! You weren't supposed to hear that...or that either...uhm...excuse me. Terribly sorry!"
 
Tapping her combadge multiple times, muttering to herself, the young woman finally just gave up and hoped for the best. Otherwise, Lucan cin Nicander was going to get a blow-by-blow action sequence of yours truly. Because McMillan's mouth tended to work alongside her brain with no filters in between. "Okay...okay, first, remove the panel...uhm...was it this one? No, this one...AH! COCKROACH! Oh God...no, just wires...wires! Where's that thing...uh...hey, has anyone got a...a...I don't even know what it's called, just bloody brilliant Heather, and you want to help the doctor? Oh my Lord, I can't even help myself. Oh, there it is, never mind, everyone. Uhm...as you were. I've got this!"
 
Blushing by glowing a furious red and pink, McMillan's body was alight as she set about rerouting the command and controls to open the door. Tapping her combadge, she chimed, "A-al-most done, Nicander! I mean doctor! Doctor Nicander...sorry...uhm...just hold on. Is it bad? I mean...a-are you hurt?"
 
Hearing who it was, the small grin on Dr. Nicander's face drained away. Her.
 
Why did it have to be her? What could he do? He had to keep her out. The host never knew the truth, unaware what he'd found hidden aboard the ship. Her. She was just outside. Cursing under his breath, Lucan edged away from the door and propped himself up against the bulkhead. There was no escape, not unless he went out the same way Maya did. There was no time either. She was about to get in, and there was no way to stop her. He had to strike fast. Quickly, he searched through his lab coat's pocket for an exoscalpel, but he had left it on the tray - out of reach on the other side of the biobed. By the winds, she was about to get in!
 
Working furiously with the wiring, with Bunny the bunny hopping up and sniffing at her feet quizzically, McMillan finally twisted the last wire with a soft grunt. Well we'll need an engineer and a technician to make proper repairs to this thing later, but I'll help out...or maybe I shouldn't...anyway!
 
"Okay! It's done!" said McMillan excitedly after tapping her combadge again, "Is this how the combadge works? Oh God, I hope I'm not just talking to myself here...wait I do that all the time...uh...I mean! Oh, bloody Nora, uh, let's see..."
 
Standing before the door, she looked up at it expectantly, with a half-smile, and when nothing happened, she finally resorted to knocking on it, and it suddenly opened with an almost human sigh. That was odd, she thought, I might have connected to the Holodeck too...and all thoughts left her when she saw the doctor's face. "My word!" She shone with a mild flare of shock, her light extending past herself in soft cascading glows of iridescent light. "Doctor..."
 
She stepped forward, reaching for her medical tricorder.
 
Grinding his teeth together, Lucan saw what he had come to fear since the host encountered the Radiant during the mutiny. Her powers were growing stronger, and she had no means to control it. For him, the light that hit his face was like the caress of cessation, even though he hoped she did not possess the means to fully reach his plane of existence. Her shock equalled his own trepidation, and finding himself cornered, he did what his host did so much better - try to remain calm despite any situation at hand. He wanted to lash out, but he feared she might loose whatever meagre control she had on her powers. "It is nothing, I am fine, I... There is no need to worry about me, just..."
 
"...panic, yes," said McMillan, interrupting the doctor in an uncharacteristic moment. Her body was glowing, but she wasn't concentrating on holding it down. It was more important to make sure he was okay, which he clearly wasn't. Moreover, why did he seem afraid? Why did that make her uneasy? Well, more to the point: What didn't make Heather McMillan uneasy? She moved closer, but making no sudden actions, lest she find herself in a dangerous situation. "Doctor? It's all right to let me at least look you over...I mean...I'm not going to accidentally hack your arm off...I hope..."
 
Something was off, beyond the obvious fact that a peaceful Vulcan had hurt him. It was almost as if she was causing his added distress? Maybe it was a pride thing? Nothing like being a big tough guy, only to get beaten up by a small Vulcan woman, and then promptly rescued by a tiny pacifist girl who didn't know the first thing about...a lot of things. Maybe that was it. She approached him the rest of the way, raising her tricorder to start her readings.
 
Eyes widening, Lucan tried to get away from her, but the solid bulkhead behind his back stopped any such attempt. She was already there, and he covered his eyes, not wanting to see the light. Yet it was not the sight of the brightness that pushed against him, repelled him from his long-earned hold on the host. For years, he had fought to overcome the Câroon and claim his body for his own, yet Lucan cin Nicander had - because of his species' natural immunity towards possession, telepathy or empathetic powers proved the toughest host to claim. It had made him the perfect host in the sense that his mind was intact enough to serve them to the capacity he had, yet he had also been the one hardest to compel. Now, after the attrition had come to an end, he was facing the yore resistance once more, and he his hold was slipping. Breathing coming in short gasps, it felt like he was drowning - returning to the slithering darkness from whence he had come.
 
"I'm sorry doctor," said McMillan, "but I really must insist you lower your arm. You've got head injuries."
 
It honestly took the last reserved of her nerves to speak so boldly to the man. Like just about anyone other than Commander Trent, the doctor naturally intimidated her. Gently raising a frail hand to place on the rock solid formation that was the Câroon's arm, the Radiant gently coaxed him, and at the same time finally began to control her lighting, bringing it down to a bearable level, little more than a visible glow against the existing lighting in the place. "That's better, now just hold still a moment, while I finish the preliminaries."
 
As if waking up from a dream, Lucan met the brown eyes of the Radiant.
 
And with instant clarity, he felt himself returning to his own body - having been pushed away more and more until he could but watch from inside. He had seen it all, and knew what was about to happen. He knew, and he... He could now see how he couldn't allow it. Blinking he looked between Heather and the ceiling where Maya had left. Perhaps he was already too late? No, he had to... Even if he still felt the thing that had possessed him, hiding deep down, he had to defy it. He could not let it happen. Not once more. Not again. "McMillan," he grated, voice thick. He could talk again. At any other time, he would have rejoiced, but not then. "Maya, she vanished through the grate in the ceiling, over there..."
 
He pointed to where the grate was, and then he reached out and put his surgeon's hands around her shoulders. He blinked his pale grey eyes, watery from an odd sense of releif and urgency. He could only see her, and since it was his ultimate nature, he just kept on lying. Kept on manipulating. There was no time for anything else. "She attacked me. Why? If she has been a traitor for this long, she must be after something. She must use the battle to her advantage. Her cover. I fear the worst. We must... we must follow, and stop whatever she is up to. It can't be good. it can't..."
 
She was able to identify the injuries and the appropriate treatments to apply, which she was carefully doing, still fresh with the memory of what she had done to Vojona, and thus she was now twice as cautious. Never know what might be harmful to a Câroon, and she didn't want to accidentally kill him, or she'd have to take her own life, by then. She listened to him and nodded or muttered a response. She was paying attention, but she was more interested in making sure she got the treatments right, and that he didn't strain himself any more than he already had.
 
She squeaked when he rested his hands on her shoulders, and she looked at him nervously. She felt the urgency in his words, but what he was suggesting had her spluttering. "F-follow her?!? With respect, sir, are you off your trolley? She's a Vulcan! A-and you're in no shape for another confrontation with her, and-and-and...I mean... I'm just a Radiant! What can...if we go after her...well...I mean, we should get a few other people, maybe ten or twenty security officers?"
 
Oh, yes, you are a Radiant, and that is exactly why you must come along. I should have known... Lucan thought, but he couldn't tell her why. How was he supposed to tell her that she alone could shed the alien's presence from Acreth? "There are not that many security guards left aboard, and by then, she might have already done whatever she means to do. We'll speak to Thea along the way, and she can alert the guards and send them ahead of us, but if she is one of the enemies, or some kind of saboteur, this battle is her perfect cover."
 
Just as it had been for himself. Truth wielded in untruth. "She will have some kind of plan, but we won't be a part of it. There is no time to argue. If we take away our medical tricorders and lab coats, we are wearing Starfleet uniforms, and we have to protect the ship as best as we might," he said, getting up on his feet and climbing up on the biobed. He reached for the grate in the ceiling and ripped it down. Then he reached his tattooed hand down to help her up. "I will inform Doctor O'Connor and Doctor Saugn, even call Doctor Duv back here, but I can't do this myself. Please, help me stop her."
 
"Oh Bollocks," said McMillan, "you just had to bring that up..."
 
She meant that she now wore a Starfleet uniform and bore the responsibilities of a true officer and all that entailed. She supposed if it all ended and she made it back to Earth to her parents, she would be the very first Radiant to reveal herself to the Federation at large. She wondered how this would affect all Radiant on Earth and across the universe. She didn't have time for much thought as she was soon looking at the offered hand by Dr. Nicander, and how it was against all odds, a tough elemental being of sorts, presently injured and semi-incapacitated save for what little aid she had managed to administer, and her, one of the frailest beings in existence, trying to stop a Vulcan, a being easily double the strength of any human, and rogue.
 
"If you're going to go get yourself hurt again, I suppose I better come along," said McMillan more to convince and rationalize her action of taking the offered hand and climbing once again into unknown peril.

[Ensign ch'Xinya | Theurgy Vector 03 | Deck 15| Stellar Cartography]

Holding onto the console for dear life, Shall rode out the latest round of weapons fire raked Vector 03.  Still strapped to the chair, the Andorian wasn't at risk of getting tossed out of it again but the constant barrages were making it very difficult for him to work.  He'd long given up on trying to use the holographic projections, between the unsteady deck and his balance issues he just couldn't keep it under control.  The large screens in front of him still gave him an excellent overview of the battle, even if he kept it to a tactical view.

Small dots signified the different fighters that were buzzing around like insects, each color-coded to match their respective home ship or base.  Larger symbols marked the different ships currently in the area: Theurgy (split between the three vectors), Resolve (currently overlapped with Vector 01, something Shall still couldn't believe), Orcus, and now Chester.  And of course there was the massive dome of Starbase 84 in the center of it all.  It was almost chaos out there but Shall did his best to keep up.  Of course he didn't forget the entire reason why he was in his lab instead of out on a damage control party, every spare moment he had Shall kept track of the incoming reinforcements.  With the buffeting the Vector was taking make it much harder to pinpoint details, but their subspace signature was unmistakable.

When the Chester started on his Vector it was a bad time for the scientist.  Currently focused on his latest readings of the inbound fleet he didn't have any warning.  Something hit the ship hard, and the Andorian's head dove into the console in front of him, bouncing hard before hitting it again.  Shall wasn't sure how long he was out (if at all), but all he knew a moment later was blinding pain in his forehead.  A moment later the first drops of cobalt blood dripped past his eyes.  Quickly pressing his hand onto the cut (biting back a hiss of pain in the process), he saw the cracks in the control surface where his head met the surface.  "Great, something else to fix..."

Trying to recenter himself, Shall wiped the blood away from his eye and tried to ignore the discomfort.  Changing the control board to work around the damaged panel took a few seconds, and of course that was when the Captain's call came in.  "Stand by Captain." he responded, still trying to regain his bearings.  Shifting the lab's focus away from the battle around it, Shall brought up the latest readings from the long-range sensors.

There it was, a massive conglomeration of warp bubbles, tearing through space and subspace to get to Starbase 84 as fast as they could.  They were close too, at current speed..."Stellar Cartography to Bridge, we've got a minute, maybe a hair more."  His antenna drooped at the thought.  Unless the boarding teams got the communication systems under their control very soon this was the end.  Then it got worse.  Thanks to the much closer range the sensors could make out individual signals among the massive warp distortions, and Shall quickly ran them through the computer to see if anything matched.  A quick count while the computer worked only deepened the Andorian's fears, and the names that started appearing on the screen in front of him only confirmed it.  "By Lor'vela..." he whispered.

"Captain, the incoming fleet is Task Force Archeron."

[ Captain Ives | Vector 01 | Main Bridge | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All

After the Theurgy had made its first pass, fired the two aft torpedo launchers and come about, Captain Ives saw the extent of the Orcus' damage.

She was reminded of how the late Rennan Cooper rigged a remote-controlled Danube-class runabout to detonate its warp core close to the Calamity. The tactic's success was the sole reason why they had been able to make a tactical retreat and allowed the Theurgy and Harbinger to go into hiding on Theta Eridani IV. That had just been one shuttle, whereas this had been the USS Resolve's core, with a wide blast radius. What Jien saw on the viewscreen was the devastating aftermath of a close proximity detonation. Slowly, she rose from her chair.

[Stand by Captain,] came the disembodied voice from Stellar Cartography, but Jien barely heard it. She was seeing how sections of the Orcus' hull had been peeled off, and secondary explosions had vented even more compartments of the ship. One of the pylons, a major structural frame, had been fractured and bent from the stress. The other one, closest to the blast, had all but been severed, hanging on by plating alone. Then, their quantum torpedoes it, and they dug deep into the secondary hull. The lights went out at that point, likely an emergency shut-down of the core. She could even see through one part of the saucer section. Hearing Carrigan Trent recite the tactical readings, Jien could but imagine how it had to be inside it. There would be spaces turning into meat grinders by shrapnel, or ovens from flash-fires and plasma leakage. There would be casualties ship-wide, either from the shockwave, or getting sucked into space.

"Sir, Orcus is out of the fight, and looks like life support is failing. Recommend hailing them, and offering terms for their surrender."

Since Vector 01 had four forward-facing torpedo launchers, she was certain that all still alive on the Orcus would die. Trent did not have to beseech her to stay her hand. Jien felt like she wanted to throw up. She knew she'd had to respond hard and swiftly in order to keep Captain Slayton from disabling the shields on the last two Vectors of the Theurgy. Had she delayed her attack, then the Chester and the remaining swarm of interceptors would have destroyed them without any further help from the Orcus. Yet seeing the outcome...

"Belay the second barrage," she said quietly, clenching her jaw. This was not the time for regrets. As sickened as she felt, she had to remain steadfast. "Captain Ives to the Orcus, if anyone can hear me... While we came here hoping to avoid casualties while we sent our message, your Captain forced my hand. In terms of your surrender, I have but one condition I would insist upon. Namely, that you evacuate your ship and focus on saving as many of your crew as you can... instead of taking up arms against us anew. Ives, out."

Turning from the viewscreen, Jien raked a hand through her hair, if nothing else to keep it from shaking. At that point, Ensign ch'Xinya's voice was heard again.

[Stellar Cartography to Bridge, we've got a minute, maybe a hair more.] Unless the simulcast got out before then, and the shields were lowered so that they might beam back the boarding teams on the base, Jien knew she faced the decision of staying at the peril of her crew, or leaving the boarding teams behind in hope that they would get the message out in their absence. With the Orcus disabled, the base having to resort to manual targetting, and the USS Chester at the mercy of their remaining fighter elements, perhaps they could linger. Jien's hopes were vanquished when the Andorian continued.

[By Lor'vela... ] A whisper of fright on the intercom. [Captain, the incoming fleet is Task Force Archeron.]

The sun was setting behind the planet, casting the space around Starbase 84 in twilight darkness. Their hopes for the boarding teams were dying with the sunlight, but could they truly abandon them? The fact that it was Admiral Sankolov that came, his fleet likely restored by the Orcus' software, put the idea in question. If the teams were left at his mercy, Jien doubted they would face trial. Rather, Sankolov and Hawthorne would have them tortured out of sight, and whatever tactical information the teams held would - eventually - be known by the enemy.

"I need ideas, people," Jien said bitterly to the present crew. "Tovarek, have the drones activate their false Valkyrie signatures and form up to distract the fleet when it arrives. Trent, be ready to send the Asurian signal on my command. Morali, what about that intel on Hawthorne that the shuttle arrived with. Anything we can use? Bridge crew of the Resolve, I know you are listening in, do you know anything we don't? We need options and we need them now."

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OOC: Posting order on this bridge scene (+the conference lounge) is very loose here, so please all you with characters present, chime in as soon as you can write a reply. :) That is, unless I am missing anyone, CanadianVet, Brutus, Nolan, Hastata-Nerada, Vystori, Arista, DocReno, Mathis and Kaligos.

[Hylota Vojona| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]  Attn: the Counselor and Auctor Lucan

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          Hylota tried her best to keep herself focused and to remain calm, she had birthed unfertilized clutches before, it had been easy, just get int he pool and let her body push them out, hells she had been able to control herself and knew she needed to do the laying, but this time things were completely different. She was dealing with quite a bit of discomfort as her body worked to push the eggs out, she could already feel that they were much bigger than an unfertilized clutch, and to top it all off she was not able to maintain her stability, she was sure she could crawl, but she would be damned is she let that be the way she was getting around, she would much rather keep Maal at her side and assisting with transporting her about. Of course with how much he was panicking he was continuously fumbling with his door code and just being unable to act cohesively, this was part of why Hylota was glad he had gotten orders, having an objective set to focus on helped to reduce panic and gave an end goal to work towards, rather than Maal just standing there panicking as he looked for someone to help.

Hylota was getting pretty close to just yelling at Maal her own code to make him stop messing up, but thankfully Doctor Hayden came in to take charge once more. As she entered her code into the door and allowed Maal to guide Hylota inside, Hylota looked to Hayden and gave a thankful nod as she did her best to walk along with Maal. As  she saw the tank she let out a sigh, it was not exactly what she was used to with the Ovri setup, but to be fair she could not expect them to fabricate a special tub for her for a single use and just keep it around to be filled with water at a moments notice, it was just not practical, and at least this setup had some conveniences built in, she would be able to sit and relax through this for the most part.

As they moved into the room proper and Hayden began to talk about the steps that they should be taking Hylota huffed and lifted one of her legs. She had to put a lot more of her weight on Maal, but as she did she reached own and undid the clasp on her boot letting it loosen so she could slip her webbed foot out. Without the boot Hylota was actially surprisingly more stable as her toes spread out wide and she lifted her other boot up to be undone. "I think I can get most of this stuff off on my own, but I will need some help getting over to and getting into the pool." Hylota looked to Hayden and huffed as he slipped her other foot out of her last boot. "I think it would be best if Maal were to be the one helping me with that. He has already proved himself quite the useful structural support." Hylota let out a chuckle and squirmed a little as she reached into the waist of her uniform's pants and began to push them down. "Also please do not waste time on gowns, I am not exactly squeamish about my nudity, and I do not feel that either of you might try and take advantage of me as I am." She began to breath a bit more heavily as she pushed her pants off of her hips and exposed her slit.

Hylota's sex was parted and slick with natural lubricant and her internal walls were flexing rather regularly. "By the mother, M-Maal, please help me into the pool, I do not care if my top gets wet, we can jut pull it off when I am in place, I am sure I will not be needing this again." Hylota let herself be guided to the edge of the pool and as she was helped into place she sighed as she felt the water on her scaled skin. "Oh sweet mother that is so good, I cannot remember the last time I had access to this much actual water." As she no longer needed Maal for support she gripped the base of her top and lifted it out of the water and pulled her last article of clothing off. Her body was smooth and looked  like it was getting smoother as it was exposed to the water, as she threw her top to the ground Hylota began to rub the water over her body. "This feels nice." Hylota let otu a sigh and settled into the recliner in the pool.

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[Vinata Vojona| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]  Attn: Auctor Lucan

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          Vinata was so absorbed in his actions, sorting out patients and assisting with the triage process that he began to shut out the world around him as he focused on his readings and charts. He was going form patient to patient until he realized that his sister was no longer giving out orders or notifying people about patients, looking up and about he tried to locate his sister and Vinata tried to figure out where she had gone...had she gone into labor? Oh by the stone mother he needed to locate her and assist in the birthing. "Dammit Hylota why did you have to come in to duty today." He bit his lip and was about to head off to find Hylota when he heard the door open to the sickbay and he figured he could take care of one more concussion before finding his sister, turning around Vinata was not expecting what he came to gaze upon.

Vinata's breath caught in his throat as he looked at the crewman, the poor man was clearly in shock, his uniform was speckled with burns and small tears all spreading out from about waist height, but that was not made Vinata stare at the crewman, it was the arm he was carrying that caught his attention. This crewman had been caught in what had most likely been a terminal explosion, the explosions usually were small but very hot, and the blast had ripped the poor man's arm off at the elbow and likely cauterized the wound, the shock that it caused, well it was amazing the man had managed to get this far. Vinata was so lost in the sight that it took the Crewman speaking to snap him out of his daze. "I-I need h-help...it came off."

Vinata's eyes widened and he rushed to the man. "Yes, Yes over here, please come here I need to inspect you right away." Vinata was quick to get a hold of the man and make sure he got support, he did not want them to fall down suddenly if the adrenaline wore off. Vinata moved the man to a bed and quickly began to take the vital scans, their body had suffered some small amounts of minor trauma from the shock wave of the blast, lucky for the crewman they were not a major threat, there were also some bits of metal shrapnel peppering his skin, but the cauterization made it clear that they had been red hot when they had sunk in, but the big thing was the arm, there was a lot of damage, but nothing that could not be repaired with intensive care. There was still metal over and inside the wound that would need to be removed, but the bones appeared to be in tact for the most part.

Swallowing hard Vinata began to look around. "A-Alright I think we will be able to save the arm, we just...we just..." Vinata's eyes widened in mild panic as he noticed that most of the doctoral staff was away. Looking about frantically Vinata managed to spot Doctor Saugn and he rushed over to him...at least he thought it was a male in his panic. "Doctor, Doctor I need your assistance sir, please there is a man with his arm blown off, we need your assistance to clean up the wound and begin the process of reattaching it." He motioned to the patient and then looked to Saugn. "Please we must move to save the arm. I will get the supplies we need, we need to clean the metal out of his wounds and then begin the process of regenerating the tissue to reattach the arm sir." Vinata waited for instruction as he prepared to grab the tools they needed.

[ Liam Herrold | Corridors > Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Hastata-Nerada & SummerDawn

Even if he was on an unfamiliar ship, Liam Herrold did know Starfleet ship layouts, and it didn't take him a minute to find a control panel in the corridor and key up the interior layout of the saucer section that he had ended up on together with F'Rell. A quick glance over his shoulder told him that the T'fanrell was still keeping up with him. "Here! I know where to go. This way!"

It was more or less a curved line down the corridor, and he sprinted down its length, barely bumping into anyone since people were at their battle stations. With smoke still in his lungs, he had to pause and take a few deep breaths, cough his lungs out, and let F'Rell catch up with him. She was cast in the Red Alert lights in the corridor, making her iridescent glimmer distorted. Once she caught up, he set off again, the last fifty meters covered as quickly as he could given the state of his breathing. "Here it is!"

Passing through the sliding doors, they emerged on the second level landing platform of the Theurgy's upper shuttle bay. It seemed that because of its MVAM capability, there was no room for a shuttle bay that stretched far into the hull, the layout instead being U-shaped around the negative space where Vector 02 would fit once back in standard operation mode. At the particular platform that Liam and F'Rell emerged upon, there was a single craft sitting on one of the landing pads - a sleek thing (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=SS_Sabine_NX-9846-A) that kind of looked like an old shuttle design, but had undergone a recent refit. The sight of it made Liam pause, frowning at the oddity of it, but he dismissed it right away since there was supposed to be a fighter cockpit from the Grey Wolves somewhere in the bay.

"Maybe it's below," he said to F'Rell, and ran past the sleek gunship and to the railing that overlooked the bottom level of the shuttle bay, and as he suspected, there was a Valkyrie cockpit pod sitting there, with a small team of Theurgy personnel trying to get into it. They were mostly teal-collared medical personnel, so they were having some difficulty. Adrenaline still pumping through his veins, he looked for a lift that would get him down there, and while it was likely at either distant end of the platform, he turned back to F'Rell. "Can you give me a lift down? Its definitely one of ours, and they not even gotten the pilots out of it yet."

He had another fit of coughing, and behind him, the massive shuttle bay doors closed - hiding the development of the battle.   

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OOC: Another post comes up tomorrow for the Sickbay scenes. :)

[ Sera vers Aldnoah (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Sera_vers_Aldnoah) | SS Sabine & Theurgy Conference Room | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Kaligos & All
[Show/Hide]

As the adrenaline began to subside after their somewhat rough landing. Sera quickly went through her normal shutdown procedures and also locked the ship down with her personal passcode. She knew that since it was a Federation ship, any dedicated engineer would eventually be able to crack it, not to mention if they had a universal backdoor override, but it gave her peace of mind nonetheless. As she grabbed her clothes and equipment she wanted on her still, she noticed Jack's underwear near her pilot's seat, but she just grinned playfully to herself and didn't say anything. She'd make him come back for it if they survived the battle, and she got a kick out of knowing he was going commando.

They were greeted within seconds of arrival, or so it seemed, and their greeter initiated a site-to-site transport before Sera had time to object or ask where she was being sent. She would not go to their brig, she had entered this ship on good faith! She raised a hand in protest as the transport began, and then slowly lowered it when she saw her surroundings. They were in a conference room with other, somewhat disheveled-looking crewmembers. Other survivors from that other Federation ship, perhaps? She zipped her leather coat up a bit more to hide the amount of cleavage and midriff her usual outfit normally showed.

She felt and saw Jack come up beside her after the transport and was somewhat comforted by his presence. Their arms brushed each other and she trailed her hand down his forearm for a moment to acknowledge and express gratitude for his presence. They'd known each other for such a short time, but he knew her better than anyone else, and he might need to vouch for her among his people.

Sera took in the room, taking note of each person present. Among others, there was a formidable Andorian who had a commanding, 'don't mess with me,' air about him, two Cardassians, one not in Starfleet uniform, a human female in the same color uniform as Jack, as well as an attractive human male with dark hair. Their eyes met briefly as she scanned the room. He was interested in her, but it seemed more of a threat analysis than anything else.

Sera had been hesitant to introduce herself, content to wait until the battle was over in silence. However, when Jack did, she felt everyone's eyes turn to her and felt compelled to. "Sera vers Aldnoah, captain of the SS Sabine." She'd never called herself a captain before, but her ship was a bit more impressive, and everyone else in the room, she assumed, had a flaming rank, so she might as well give herself one.

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[ Ens. Derik Veradin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Derik_Veradin) | Conference Room | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]

Derik looked up, surprised as three people began materializing in the conference room via transport. As first he tensed, worried about a possible boarding party, reaching for the knife he carried in his boot, but before his hand got down very far, he realized they were not armed, at least not that he could tell. One of the two females looked very calm and at home, so Derik assumed she was a member of Theurgy's crew who had accompanied the other two there. One of the newcomers was an easy on the eyes junior lieutenant in science green to his side was a fierce, and fiercely beautiful woman not wearing a Starfleet uniform. Their eyes met briefly as she scanned the room, she seemed surprised to have found herself where she did. If he was into women, she would be on his radar. Her tattooed hand was exotic and the outfit hidden under the zipper of the coat she was raising looked fun.

She introduced herself and he recognized the name of her ship from one of those that had been involved in the battle outside, having escaped from the station, also being chased by interceptors. They'd had that in common, and he remembered being impressed with what little he'd been able to see of her piloting.

Everyone's attention in the room though was suddenly turned to the brilliant blue-white explosion of a warp core up against the Orcus, tearing into the ship's shields and then hull, like a terrible burn. Derik winced, knowing his ship's core had just done that. The Resolve's heart had just been sacrificed in its dying breath to give them an edge to hopefully survive.

He had no answer for Captain Ives' question of ideas. If he couldn't punch it or fly it, he was more or less useless.

[ Maya (https://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/e/7/maya_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n3n.png) | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Jeffries Tube between Decks Seven and Eight]

Meanwhile, in the Jeffries tube between the Theurgy's security center on Deck Seven and the holodecks on Deck Eight long slender fingers danced across an LRCS screen connected to a junction box attached the conduit powering the network of sensors and holoprojectors for Decks Seven and Eight.  Doctor Maya's large hazel eyes were glassy and unblinking as she typed in the combination Lucan had taught her.  Once she had access to the maintenance screen, she waited until the ship rocked with the impact of an enemy shot against the shields before cutting power to that section of the hologrid as well as the intercom.  If she timed it right, it would just be considered a malfunction caused by a power surge.

[ USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Deck Seven | Security Center | Gym ]

Minutes later, in the gym in the Theurgy's security center on Deck Seven, a panel in the floor opened a short, lithe figure crawled out of the opening carrying a box that was almost large enough to contain a human head. Moving in a smooth yet jerky style reminiscent of an android, the greenblooded physician closed the access panel, sat on the little gym's bench press, set the box beside her, and removed her shoes, revealing feet so pale as to be almost bone white.  She had already discarded her combadge so that her movements could not be traced; it was located several decks below in the Jefferies tube near junction 45-C.  

The little Vulcan then picked up her box, rose from the bench with an eerie smoothness and left the room.  Her footfalls were completely swallowed the sounds of the ship, the thudding of impacts against the deck, and the hiss of the doors as she glided through the head, the locker room, and into the corridor that circled around the chamber where the main security work center was located.  The hiss of the door bisecting the corridor near the deputy chief security officer's office seemed deafening, but no one seemed to hear it over the general quarters alarm and the vibration of the superstructure as the Theurgy's second stardrive vector nicknamed "the sword" maneuvered through the void of space in an effort to avoid a direct hit.

The people in the main security work center would be monitoring the decks of the sword right now, checking for ship damage or injured crewmembers in need of assistance.  The odds of anyone checking a monitor in the security center itself was quite low, especially given the understaffed position the security department was currently in due in part to the late Declan Vasser's aborted coup.

[ Ensign Colin McArthur (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/6/65/BradPitt180.png) | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Deck Seven | Security Center | Security Lobby ]

At the main entrance to the Theurgy 's security center was a lobby with waiting area with chairs and benches to the left and three doors leading to interviewing rooms on the right.  Facing both the waiting area and the door was the aide duty station composing of a console and a chair.  Behind the chair was the door to the circular room where ten security specialists could monitor the ship or get some desk work done.  Curving around the circular room to the left and right behind the aide duty station were two corridors, one leading offices the armory, the lounge, the gym, and the evidence locker, and one leading to the brig.

Sitting at the console at the aide duty station was Ensign Colin McArthur.  A young and gentle soul with a strong moral center, he was still kicking himself for mutinying while under the mental influence of T'Rena, the first officer of the Harbinger who had let her despair at the realities of the corruption of Starfleet push her over the edge.  He could only be thankful that he hadn't really hurt anyone while under her influence and that Doctor Maya had managed to remove T'Rena's mutinous influences. 

But right now his mind wasn't on either of those two women.  Currently he was thinking about the one in the brig that went by the name of Sonja Acreth.  If the scuttlebutt was true, she had killed the Harbinger's chief security officer with her bare hands before killing a half dozen more people before she was finally recaptured.  Colin really didn't know how many people she had killed; every time he heard the tale the body count got larger.  And when the lights flickered he damn near had a panic attack.  He tapped the screen on his console to change the view from the corridors outside to the brig to assure himself that Acreth's cell hadn't lost its force field and that Warrant Officer Devon Striker was still alive.

Sonja Acreth was still in her cell but looked like a lioness poised to spring.  She was waiting for the brig force fields to drop and if they did it was obvious she was going to kill everyone on the way to the door.  Or maybe she was simply staying alert to see if the ship would blow up.  Either way she was waiting for something, and Colin was hoping that whatever it was it never came.

He never noticed Maya sneak up behind him until he felt her cold fingertips on the back of his neck, and then he was paralyzed.  He was awake but couldn't move!   By a heroic feat of effort he managed to blink but all he could do was watch helplessly as the raven haired woman as pale as death moved into his field of vision and stared at him with glassy, unseeing hazel eyes.  One look into those eyes and Colin thought There's nobody home.  He could only sit there with the fingertips from her right hand pressing down on the back of his neck and watch the little Vulcan's left hand open and cover his face with long spidery fingers.  He was almost grateful when her right hand removed itself from his neck to pinch the trapezius nerve bundle between his neck and his right shoulder and sent him into merciful unconsciousness.

[ Maya (https://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/e/7/maya_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n3n.png) | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Deck Seven | Security Center | Security Lobby ]

Once her mind touch had given her the security codes she needed Maya rendered Ensign McArthur unconscious with a nerve pinch and gently pushed him so that he was leaning backward in his chair.  Searching his person, she extracted a small concealable type I phaser from his pocket and set it on stun before turning her attention to the console before her to open the doors to the security gate and the interrogation rooms so that she now had four different ways into the brig proper.  

[ Warrant Officer Devon Striker (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/thumb/6/63/Devon_Striker.png/150px-Devon_Striker.png) | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 | Deck Seven | Security Center | Brig ]

Warrant Officer Devon Striker had the brig shift today and he hoped that the Theurgy's second stardrive vector nicknamed the 'sword' didn't suffer major damage during the fight.  He knew he was being ridiculous, but on a personal level even the destruction of the sword would be better than the brig force field losing power and his being killed by a possessed prisoner who called herself Sonja Acreth.  From his view at his duty station, the row of cells extended out in front him with the doors the interrogation rooms behind him and the main security gate to his left. 

He knew something was up when the doors to the security gate and the interrogation rooms opened all at once.  He rose from his station to glance through interrogation room three to ask Ensign McArthur at the aide duty station a question when he realized that he had turned his back on the row of cells.  How could he be so stupid?  If a power surge caused all the doors to open, what if they caused the force field sealing Acreth's cell to fail?  Whirling, he faced the row of cells and drew his type II pulse phaser pistol so quickly and smoothly that he could have been a holodeck character.  No one was there.  He checked his console.  Acreth's force field was still up.  He breathed a sigh of relief and reached for his combadge to ask McArthur if he had opened the doors.  He had been so sure that a raven haired woman who only appeared human would put out his lights...

...and that's exactly what happened as Maya crept up behind him and pinched his trapezius nerve bundle with her long slender fingers.  He dropped his weapon with a spasm and collapsed in her arms as she gently lowered him to the deck.  She then went back into the room with Ensign McArthur where she retrieved her box and returned to the brig, daintily gliding down the row of cells until she arrived at the one which was occupied.

(https://orig05.deviantart.net/0fef/f/2009/165/3/8/star_trek_spock_n_human_misery_by_schematization.gif)

[ Nurse Maal | Isolation Ward 02 | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: 1) The Counselor 2) Zenozine

At a complete loss with what he was supposed to do, Maal leapt at any task he was asked to preform. So when asked to help Hylota into the pool, he would have tripped over himself and more or less hurled his past Ovri lover into the water. What stopped him was the highly uncomfortable situation where the Head Nurse exposed herself so freely in front of him and the Chief Counsellor. Mouth agape, he realised he didn't really know what he had expected. Of course she had to undress, but the last time he had been with Hylota when so bared to his eyes, the circumstances had been altogether different. The most surreal thing about it all, obviously, was that it had only been a bit over a week ago, and now she was about to have his offspring! Seeing her body exposed in the height of her pregnancy that soon afterwards made his mind reel, and he felt light-headed.

Shuffling his feet, eyes wide, and with his hands shaking, he tried to keep both their balance as best as he might, even if the ship rocked from sustained phaser fire. There was a loud scraping noise too, as if something almost collided into the hull but managed to change course. Weren't they supposed to be protected by shields? Was the Vector's shields gone? The idea that they might all die any moment in the battle were not exactly ideal circumstances for Maal either, even if he did actually keep Hylota upright and managed to lower her into the seat of the birthing pool.

The rocking if the ship kept him unbalanced however, so it only took the sight of Hylota removing her top and tossing it aside, along with the most nominal of impacts of enemy fire, and Maal lost his footing. With an indignant cry, he ended up falling head first into the birthing pool, right next to Hylota, and came up gasping and soaked, his short-cut, coarse hair on end. His mind narrowed down on the blood-curdling crisis he faced. He didn't know whether it was the birthing about to commence, the battle or the combination. He directed himself to Counsellor O'Connor as if she knew exactly what he should do.

"Hurry, Human," he beseeched her, coughing water, "Haul them out of her! Do you need assistance?"

Of course he knew he wasn't making sense, somewhere deep down, but right then, his mind drew a blank on all the hours he'd spent being taught obstetric and pediatric care.

---

[ Doctor Lahkesis Saugn | Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: Zenozine

As well-versed Doctor Saugn was in medical and surgical care, regardless of her lack of experience and short life-span, she was also quite nervous around strangers - especially any new species she hadn't encountered before. Of course, she'd had some dealings with the two Ovri from the Harbinger before, something that had been unavoidable since Hylota Vojona replaced Eve Jenkins as Head Nurse, but the female-looking brother had just returned to duty in Sickbay recently, so Lahkesis only mustered to say "Okay..." before the didgitgrade alien continued to talk about what needed to be done.

Wringing pale non-flesh hands, her mind caught up with the situation, seeing the patient who still was sitting on the edge of a biobed in the ER with his arm in his lap - looking at everything and nothing at the same time. The patient was clearly still in shock. "Okay, the surgical suites are occupied, so we need to stabilise his condition, first, and if we can, we should prepare him for the surgery. You have to... You have to kindly ask and take the severed arm away from him. Once you have it, put it into a stasis container. We'll see how much we can do for him right away, but regardless, the metal must be removed and the wound cleaned. There are more patients coming in, and if such an operation can be postponed without consequences for the patient, that's what he have to do."

Other medical personnel came to her, asking her about other patients, and that was when the Ensign realised she was on her own in Sickbay. Her being the ranking officer, she heard the words of the other staff. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and turned back to the Ovri. "I'm sorry. You have to try and take care of the wound and remove the metal yourself. Do you think you can do that? We have patients with more critical injuries, and the other doctors are unavailable. I can, hopefully, guide you with my combadge if you have difficulties. Do what you can for him, Nurse, but I can't make him my priority right now."

Then she walked away, stumbling when the ship was hit by phaser fire. Not looking back, Lahkesis hoped the Ovri brother was up to the task. She had acted as she had been taught in the Academy, even if it had been an unprecedented situation for her. Lahkesis could but hope she'd made the right choice.

[ Lt.Com. Martin | Conference Lounge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Anyone in the conference lounge
[Show/Hide]


As far as ideas for the day went, Martin had exhausted her supply. She was no longer aboard the Resolve, now within the conference room of an unfamiliar starship with an unfamiliar configuration. She could simply think of nothing else to help the situation they were currently faced with. All of a sudden, her thoughts were abruptly wrenched away as a brilliant blue-white flare erupted into her vision, as the beating core of the Resolve released the full force of its contained fury upon the ship that was assailing them. It was a beautiful yet haunting sight, the last hurrah of the device which propelled her now former starship, tearing apart in a dazzling display of atomic forces and neutrino scatter, like a syzygy of beauty and despair. There was no turning back now, Martin knew that, the Resolve was finished and her crew beaten. Their hope now lay in this last remaining vessel within which both she and her fellow crew currently found themselves.

Martin wrenched her thoughts away from the exploding core and returned to the conference room, noticing that a few new individuals had arrived. One was definitely not Starfleet, though she did seem to have the swirling tattoos characteristic of the natives of Câroon. After briefly entertaining ideas regarding what she could have possibly done to find herself in this disastrous situation, she moved on to the individual next to each other, who appeared... Was this man a hybrid? He certainly seemed to have the characteristic cranial shape of a Human-Klingon hybrid. This one was clearly Starfleet, and Martin wondered what connection he held to the Câroon woman. Whatever the answer, Martin said nothing for now, preferring to absorb the unfolding crisis in grim contemplation.

---

[ F'Rell of the Twelfth House | From Corridors to the Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Resolve ] Attn: Auctor
[Show/Hide]

With the danger feeling (relatively) distant for now, F'Rell's thoughts turned to other things as she swam through the air in following with Liam. It appeared that no matter the ship, the primitively constructed Federation vessels were drab and simple without fail. As much as the T'Fanrell preferred to remain isolated, she did feel that the Federation's engineers could stand to learn from the beautiful and flowing designs of T'Fanrell vessels. Intricate glass-like nanopolymers woven into graceful shapes and gossamer strands, with a soft luminescence lighting up the entire vessel like a mysterious creature of the lower seas. Much preferable to the stark and plain walls which consistently surrounded her.

A fit of coughing from her companion made her approach steadily and pause, looking down. She had seen this happen to many humanoids before, it seemed to be tied with smoke, leading F'rell to theorize long ago that humans could not handle specific densities and particulates in the air. Regardless, it raised some concern, but before she could speak, Liam seemed to recover and continue on his journey expediently. F'Rell was not quite sure what Liam's motivation was, but assumed it had something to do with the fighter cockpit that Kowalski had mentioned. She assumed that there might be someone important to him involved; or perhaps he was simply very proud of its construction.

Entering the shuttle bay, F'Rell was momentarily relieved to see an apparent improvement in Federation designs when she noticed the sleek and streamlined hull of a small ship located nearby. Just as F'Rell began to hover towards it, Liam made it clear that there were other plans, but stopped at the edge of their current level. Following where Liam was looking, she saw a cluster of humanoids that had gathered around one of the Resolve's combat craft. Without needing to hear Liam's request, she swooped around to the front of the ledge and hoisted him into her tendrils, before she began swimming to the lower level where the fighter pod awaited.

[Captain Marcus A. Slayton/ Main Bridge-USS Orcus]

Following the dual blow from the Theurgy, slowly the surviving bridge crew started to pull themselves together as they took in their surroundings.

"Status Reports!" snapped the Executive Officer as he looked around the damaged room, trying to spot any sign of their commanding officer amid the rubble.

The Operations Manager pushed the debris off of her station and worked quickly to try and bring up something, anything really to see how badly their ship was damaged, one of the still functioning systems showed a text read out of the enemy commander's last hail. "I got something, apparently the Theurgy's command sent one last hail saying that if we back off, s/he'll let us live." the Ops Manager stated after a quick read.

"How quaint..doesn't excuse hir for being a traitorous, terrorist bitch." came the slightly raspy voice of the ship's commanding officer as he worked to pull himself out from under some of the wreckage.

"Help me here." The Executive Officer shouted followed by the Ops Manager, the sole surviving security officer, and the chief of sciences helped to get the large chunk of debris off of their captain and what they saw made them wince.

As Captain Marcus Alexander Slayton stood up, the Orcus' navigator moved out from under her captain who had shielded her from the falling debris and moved to quickly help her captain to sit down in the center chair as he was moving slightly gingerly.

The right side of Slayton's face was a bloody mess, his hair was slightly matted and it was completely covering his right eye which no one could tell if the eye was still there or not due to the apparent damage there and from the way that he was holding his left forearm, something there might be damaged as well.

"I believe the First Officer demanded a situation report?" Slayton said in a bit of a growl due to the inhalation of smoke.

The Operations Manager nodded as the security officer came back with a medical kit and started to work on their captain. "From what little I can see, sir, is that we'rd dead in space. Life support is struggling to stay active but most of major systems from tactical on down to propulsion."

The guard looked over his readings and then grabbed a dermal regenerator. "Sir, you have a major laceration to your scalp and have lost some blood and.." the guard started to say, unsure how much more he should tell his captain.

If it bothered him, Slayton simply let out a snort and said "This ship may down but she is not out. Operations I want you to contact the starbase and start evacuation operations to the survivors of the crew, if the rumbling that I am feeling that's coming up from the deck plates is any indication then I think we have about less then thirty minutes to do something about it."

The Operations lead simply nodded and headed over to her station to do as her captain ordered before Slayton turned his head to look at his XO. "I want you to contact the rest of the crew, anyone from security once beamed onto the station is to help track down and neutralize the boarding teams from the Theurgy. I am ordering that all phasers from this ship that go across is to be set to heavy stun.."

Slayton stopped speaking as he doubled over in pain as he clutched the bloody side of his head at which point the security guard dropped the regenerator and picked up the tricorder. "Captain, your right orbital and socket bones were damaged by the combination of impact and debris, we need to get you to a sickbay and surgical team or you'll loose that eye."

Slayton's good eye locked it's ice blue gaze upon the young officer in front of him and held his gaze for a moment at which point the guard simply looked away before his captain simply nodded in agreement. "I want my orders followed, Number One. I also don't want any quarter shown to any officer or crew member known to be apart of the Theurgy. I want them stunned first and then we'll consider asking them questions later."

Slayton's eye then fell upon the navigator who was looking at him with some concern and his own gaze softened. "Navigation, if you can use the thrusters to move us into a better alignment with the station it will help us to get a better transporter lock considering any possible interference from the Resolve's warp core explosion."

The young trill woman simply nodded and started to input the commands into her station as she attempted to do just that.

Slayton's gaze then shifted over to the guard in front of him. "Give me something for the pain, just strong enough that I can walk without falling down in pain."

The guard nodded as the remains of his bridge crew went about their duties, leaving Slayton himself to lasp into a thoughtful quiet as he tried to ignore the intense pain that he was starting to feel.

His pain was so great that he was shuddering every so often just hard enough that it made goosebumps appear across his exposed skin as he went to hold his left forearm again as he thought about what had happened and it only served to make him even more angry.

"So this is what George meant by the rage he felt when the Malinche was damagd by the Maquis.." Slayton said in a low tone as he glared with his one good eye at the view screen which flickered with a vision of the Theurgy's primary Vector starting to pull away, he glared at it hard enough that he prayed that Ives could feel it through the void and slap hir with the intensity of it.

"One way or another, Ives..your ass belongs to me, I will run you to ground and ensure that you pay for every single death this day." Marcus Alexander Slayton swore as his left hand flexed into a fist.

[ Dr. Silim Parnak | Corridor | U.S.S. Theurgy ] Attn: FollowTomorrow, Vystori, Anyone else 

Turning a corner, Silim Parnak found himself face to face with yet another empty corridor.

"How does anyone find anything around here?!" He sighed exasperated. After accidentally being separated from the bridge crew of the Resolve, Silim had walked for an indeterminate amount of time. He had followed from corridor to corridor, only stopping once to ask that infernal computer for the location of a conference room, only to be told that there were over 20 different conference facilities aboard Theurgy. He didn't understand why the Federation insisted on programming their computers to such unhelpful devices. Then again, he didn't much enjoy his own people's foray into artificial intelligence. This was probably yet another reason why he was a Exobiologist rather than a Computer Scientist. If there was something to find out or an issue to fix, it would only take a quick scan to get the answer. No need to climb through miles of tubes fault finding.

Down the corridor, he walked, following the long curve which seemed to lead to yet more doors. As per usual, Federation facilities lacked the common sense of a Cardassian layout. If this had been a Keldon class Starship, he'd have found his way by now. Then again, Parnak mused, if what he had seen on the Federation News Network was correct, then this ship was nearly the length of a Nor type Starbase. Perhaps, in that case, should he just start opening doors? Probably not, he lamented, it'd most likely be that he'd find umpteen cafés, beauty salons and cinemas rather than his desired location. Federation ideals on what to place on a warship was rather, well, alien.

Up ahead the doors parted and out came the first people he had seen since leaving the airlock. It was the Efrosian and the cybernetically enhanced Brunali from the Resolve. He was saved! Jogging to catch up, Silim thought back to the time they had spent together in the briefing room of the now abandoned vessel, searching for their names.

As a child of the Union, Silim had undergone the extensive education befitting his upper-middle class family. This included the rigorous mental training that granted him the eidetic memory he so cherished. Probing over the events which had led him to this place, he found the name for the long-haired engineer when Kendrick gave out assignments.

"Suq!" He called, closing the final gap between them. "It's about time you showed up..." Parnak started, as if he had been waiting for them all along. It just wouldn't do to let them know he had gotten lost; After all, he was a welcome guest, not a first-year cadet. "... We should along get to the conference room. The others will be waiting for us."

[ Liam Herrold | Corridors > Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Hastata-Nerada & SummerDawn

Holding on to F'Rell, Liam hit the deck running once they got down to the lower platform and the fighter cockpit. There was an EMH there, same kind as they'd had on the Resolve, who had assisted Doctor Lyhn during the years away from Federation space. Liam just realised that the trusty hologram would likely be destroyed now that the Resolve was no more. Furthermore, even if he knew the balding projection in front of him was not the same, it was nonetheless a reassuring sight... despite his poor bedside manners.

"Can I help you and your... friend?" asked the EMH when Liam and F'Rell arrived by the cockpit pod, "We are quite busy here, with patients inside this that needs medical attention."

Liam didn't answer at first, his eyes raised to the markings below the edge of the cockpit canopy, stating:

WOLF-03 NEKO & MERLIN | GREY WOLVES SQUADRON | USS RESOLVE NX-91985

While he cared for all the pilots among the Wolves, it was K'Ren that had advanced their working relationship in the Fighter Assault Bay to something a bit more intimate, and with all the feelings involved in the mutual interest, seeing her callsign on the cockpit pod caused Liam more distress than he'd thought it would. Ignoring the EMH, Liam brushed past the hologram and climbed up the side of it, trying to look into the interior. It was dark inside, all power cut, so he jumped down again and raked his fingers through his hair. The medical personnel only had medkits with them, but there was one operations officer present that he walked up to. "I need that cutterbeam to get them out."

"Hey, you'll need a bipolar torch to get that open," protested the officer but Liam would have none of it. He was already climbing up on the cockpit pod.

"You are not familiar with these Gryphon-class fighters are you with your pilots using those Mk III?" he said rhetorically, pushing himself on top of the smoking pod. Without pause, he applied the cutter beam to the aft edge of the canopy glass. "The stand-alone power generator has been damaged by phaser fire, and their life support system is offline. We need to get air into the cockpit else they'll suffocate. I will free the canopy but I need help flipping it over to the side once it's come loose. You three, begin pushing upwards when I say so."

It took him less than 30 seconds to make the incisions he needed, then he put the beam cutter aside and wrapped his weapon's greased fingers underneath the freed edge of the canopy. "Three, two, one, now!" he said and tried to lift the heavy glass canopy as best as he might, and he could feel the physicans and the operations officer beginning to push too. The first attempt failed, Liam loosing his grip, but the second time, he asked F'Rell to help them as best as she might. With their combined strength and buoyancy, they eventually managed to flip it aside, revealing Neko and Merlin in their seats - helmets still on.

"Neko!" called Liam, climbing across the damaged cockpit interior and reaching the half-Caitian pilot. The helmet was intact, and hopefully her exosuit had kept her alive. He released the pressure seal and removed the helmet just as the EMH had climbed up as well, running a medical tricorder over her. "Will she be all right?"

---

OOC: SummerDawn is next! :) Feel free to NPC the EMH in giving the reply.

[ K'Ren | Shattered Cockpit > Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Hastata-Nerada

The world following her order to punch out had been one of tumbling and flame followed by darkness and the weightlessness of space as she tumbled, a small pod adrift in a maelstrom of fire and combat. K'Ren knew her chances of survival were slim as damage to the pod had been extensive, leaks in the pressure seals bleeding air from the pod, her suit all that sat between her and the cold vacuum of space. A small reassuring jolt bumped her craft minutes later, a shift in the tumble, somebody had picked her up and was hauling her to safety.

She was injured, she knew this much given the pain screaming at her from several points on her slight frame. A bone or two broken, bruises all over from the massive jolt that threw the cockpit clear of the warp core. That definitely wasn't the ejection motors that separated them from their doomed craft. She felt herself drifting in and out of consciousness as the air in the craft became thin, her own suit compensating as best it could but it wasn't designed for long term vacuum exposure, a few minutes at most before a SAR team snagged her with a transporter. The escape pod was designed to retain the atmosphere long term and it had been compromised.

A second bump, harder then the first and K'ren felt the addition of gravity in the pod, meaning she was back on safe ground. Gravity meant though that her body slumped back in the chair, her broken body taking the force of gravity again, broken ends grating against each other, causing K'Ren to cry out in pain. She couldn't hear her backseater which meant he was unconscious or dead, hopefully the former. She had more pressing matters though as she could hear the sounds of voices outside the cockpit, and the hissing noise of a torch near the aft of her pod cutting the craft open. She could feel the fresh air rush in, replacing the thin acrid air, and she took a few deep breaths, regaining her senses slowly. Very quickly, the canopy was freed and with a screech of damaged mag-hinges, K'Ren could see past her smoke blackened cockpit and knew she was on a flight-deck.

The sudden flood of light and sound was almost too much, an assault on her senses but K'Ren heard a familiar voice calling her name. She struggled to undo her restraints, only to discover one of her arms was broken and she winced at the pain. One of the deck crew hurriedly pulled her helmet off and as K'Ren's eyes adjusted to the light, she could see Liam, his face looking down at her, a worried expression on his face, her helmet in his hand. "Liam." She called back. She so wanted to leap into his arms in that moment, hug and kiss the young man. He'd survived, she'd survived, and she wanted nothing more then to curl up in his arms and forget the whole ordeal. But she was still strapped into her fighter and could barely move for the pain though.

And that blasted EMH, as if on cue started scanning her over. "Multiple contusions, deep tissue damage, several broken vertebrae, a broken leg and broken arm. She needs to be taken to sickbay Petty Officer. She will survive." He noted, having observed this sort of interactions between in times of crisis, that these two obviously were close. The EMH began to scan over her RIO, "I am afraid your RIO did not make it Ensign. His death was mercifully quick," the hologram noted.

Stepping aside, the EMH let the rest of the flight-deck crew, who were versed in cockpit recovery, take over and it wasn't long before K'Ren felt herself surrounded on both sides as several deck hands began to unhook her from her fighter, and began the careful but quick extraction process. She was soon strapped to a body board, head and neck restrained, lying on the deck on a stretcher as med techs cut into her flight-suit, easing the work they had to do. She saw Liam nearby and took his hand. "The ship?" she asked, unsure where she was, as this flight-deck was far larger then the one she called home.

[ Lt. Jg. Suq | U.S.S. Theurgy ]

He saw the unnamed crewman, drifting toward doom in space, it was Kendrick's face, Kendrick's body, the bodies of every single man and woman he just bombed to smithereens using his stupid, stupid warp core idea, his mental walls crumpled like Federation grade sheet metal against years of strife--

"Suq!" The voice snapped him back to reality. He hasn't been on a ship this nice and clean and well formed in years. But who the hell was this guy? Should he know him? Ths Cardassian knows his name, but he's only ever met one Cardassian in his life. He thinks.

"Uh, hey. Good to see you again. We were just on our way..." He spoke, his voice betraying far more stress than he meant to reveal. He has used to pride himself on his calm mind under pressure, and for a while, he had been doing okay. He never used to break down this quickly. Is his one redeeming trait already going? And above all that--does this guy he apparently should know really need to know about his impending mental breakdown? I wish I could be a little more like Ejek, he thought.

"Right, conference room. That's where everyone is waiting on us. So where is that again?" He stared right at Parnak, expecting maybe he'd know. Cardassians are smart, aren't they? Ejek is.

Realizing that Parnak might not know any more than he would, he glanced over at Six, the first time he had done so since meeting her, and really soaked up the sight. She was a truly lovely lady, a breath of fresh air, really. Though her implant made his stomach twist up every time his saw it. Or maybe that was just the literal war going on around them, and his responsibility in destroying the many lives and families of people who were just like him.

"Uh, let's put some hustle on the, uh, getting to the conference room thing. I feel...that's to say, I know breakfast is coming back up and I don't want to stain our host's carpets. With the vomit. Yeah, let's just go."

[ Dr. Nicander | Jefferies Tubes | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: Triage & Nolan

Down once more through Thea's hidden tunnels crept the two, down that path that Lucan feared would be his end. And all the while, he feared the the blackness inside him, that it would resurface from darkness deep as the abyss. For while humans called it 'hell', his people feared the abyss - the deadly fall from their empyrean cities. Having been so twisted by the presence inside him, gaining clarity of mind caused a kind of vertigo that unbalanced him - the fear of his soul being tainted again the predominant thing in his mind.

The battle thundered around them, shook the tube they were in and cast them about. Pushing onward, he crept ahead of Heather - the Radiant - and he was trying to focus. He knew he had to stop Maya, but how could he do so without revealing what he knew? Could he tell Heather he had not been himself? The truth could set him free, couldn't it? No, there was no time... Was that his own notion or the parasite's? He couldn't tell, but he knew only the life he'd led on the Theurgy, and the public image he had created. He identified himself more with the fabric of lies he had woven and laced his friendships into, rathen than the truth of what he had been. Heather's powers had cast what he'd done in the garish light, and he recoiled from admitting to anything of it. Vividly, all the vile things he'd done came to mind. Killing infected during the Niga Incident. How he had stabbed Garen Nelis and then burned him from inside out. How he blew Arcorn Neotin off Thea's hull on Theta Eridani IV. Strangled Hylota - Hylota - while fucking her, only to erase her memories of it. The wildly inappropriate conduct with many of his patients, all manipulated to not speak of it. Countless acts, weighing him down, as he tried to do something right - rectifying what he knew he could.

With Heather's help, he hoped he could. A Radiant, shedding light into the abyss.

"Doctor Duv," he said after tapping his combadge with his tattooed hand, "wherever you are, I need you back in Main Sickbay. I fear that Doctor Maya is not who she claims to be, using the cover of battle to do something aboard this Vector. She almost killed me before she vanished into the Jefferies tubes. Until Security catches up with her, I am trying to follow her and stop her."

Another impact from phaser fire shook the Vector, and Lucan could almost hear how something scraped against the hull with a metallic noise. How could that be? Were the shields gone? By the winds, were they completely unprotected against the Starbase and whatever else was out there? Knewing they could die any moment, Lucan crawled faster. They had found Maya's combadge early on, and Thea could only say where there were Vulcan life-signs. There were a few, but only one of them had been in the Jefferies tubes, but when asked to stop her, Thea couldn't raise any force-fields, much less contact the present personnel. While Lucan had known where Maya was heading, Thea had told them enough to lead them there without his prior knowledge being known.

"It is not much further!" he called back to Heather, who lit the darkness behind him. To ease her worries, he attempted to jest, even if it did nothing to lift the fears he harboured inside. He remembered the mutiny. "We really should stop meeting like this..."

[ Heather McMillan | Jefferies Tubes | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: Lucan cin Nicander
 
 
[Show/Hide] 
 
It was fast becoming habit, McMillan thought, as she clambered through the Jefferies Tubes once again, armed with little more than her wits, medical kit, and her light. Her mind raced with all sorts of fears as to the trillion and one ways a Radiant can die. Unlike last time, she didn't hide the fact that she was a walking glow-in-the-dark, so Dr. Nicander didn't need to use a torchlight or hold on in his teeth. Then again, there were those convenient little probes that followed a person and lit the path before them these days. But once more, an unnecessary feature with her around, and they didn't exactly have time to go back for supplies. Nicander was in a frantic hurry for some reason, and McMillan couldn't fathom why.
 
Moreover, why her???
 
Even one of the wounded personnel in the medical bay was more capable than her in assisting the good doctor. She started slightly and looked up at Nicander as he spoke to Duv. Personally she approved that he failed to mention her presence. Since the idea of her following to try and help stop a Vulcan sounded like a punchline for ancient Earth stand-up comedy.
 
"GYAH!" McMillan shrieked and clung desperately to the ladder when the ship shook yet again. Unlike earlier in the Medical bay, there was no place for the Radiant to daintily hop around to avoid shaking with the ship. Now she was at risk of having her arms torn off whilst climbing. She prayed they would reach their destination soon, before her strength and will left her, what little she had left.
 
It concerned her that the impact sounds were different, and if she could read Nicander correctly, he noticed it too. He was more experienced than her in these matters, so if she got the impression that he was worried, then it was probably a good time for her to start panicking.
 
That was when Nicander opted for levity, and it certainly made McMillan laugh, if a panicked, absolutely terrified laughter, like mad denial of the situation. "At least I'm not thinking you're about to kill me..." Her body began to glow in a greenish light as she felt sickened, but she looked up hopefully, "...it's really not much further? I don't fancy losing my arms if the bloody ship gives another shake like the last one."

| MCPO | Nolak Kalmil |Main Engineering | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy |

With protective panel removed to the antimatter injector, Nolak began to analyze the damage. Light from within was near blinding as he squinted to see several connection wires severed. Farther back he could see a stream of hot toxic gasses flaring out a crack in the plasma converter. Although his respirator filtered out the toxins, he could still taste the metallic fumes flowing into his nostril and mouth. This left a very dissatisfying taste in his mouth as he adjusted his tools and took out a macro welder.  Beads of sweat rolled down his bald head from the intense temperature. He reached back into the emergency supply locker and took a pair of welder’s glasses. He smiled to himself, Well, someone made sure to keep this locker prepared and stocked up. I wonder who. He momentary took a second to check the maintain log, Ensign Lin Kea: Date: *.Error.* So, that young man was everywhere, hope he’s doing well. Nolak thought to himself.

Taking a strip of duraplex metal he forced it over the fissure and began to work with the welder. While he worked super heated gas began to strip the outer layers of his EVO gloves, and he could feel the heat through the gloves. The longer this repair took the hotter the gloves got. This took a little more time than needed as he struggled inside the cramp compartment after a hard strike upon the ship. He felt the ship shields deflect another strike from somewhere just as he was nearly finished with his quick repairs. He planned on returning after the battle and check on his handy work more carefully, but this impromptu repair should hold for the moment. As he pulled away he quickly reattach the loose wires back into their proper spot, before pulling out from the cramp compartment and quickly replace the protective panel.

Falling back to the floor he quickly removed the burning hot gloves and tossed them to the foot of the locker. The outer surface was charred to a crisp and the several of the protective layers were peeling off like skin on an onion. Glancing at his hand he could tell that his left hand which held down the metal strip was burned. Not being a doctor but having extensive experience being burned, he could tell that it was mostly first degree with a couple spots on his fingertips that were close to second degree burns. After blowing on them for a couple seconds and feeling the soothing breeze from his lips Master Chief Kalmil stood up and walked over to the service computer. The readouts were starting to stabilize in the anti-mater injectors but critical errors were still showing something else was damaged. He narrowed the problem to one of the main deuterium fuel tanks main power cable had been severed. Grumbling to himself as he grabbed the smoldering gloves he quickly weaved his way through the lower engineering bay to where the problem was.

A large power cable swung dangerously around the tank and every time it contacted something it sent a shower of sparks shooting into the air around it. A support beam from somewhere above had fallen and caused the separation. Shouting to the computer, “Thea, shut down power cable TK2478.”

[Acknowledged,] the computer responded. [Power output disengaged.]

Climbing onto the tank he reached over and grabbed the cable and brought it back into place and started to work, when suddenly the ship rocked again from another strike. This caused him to lose his footing and fall to the floor below him causing him to yell out in pain as his whole body responded to the sudden shock from the fall. Grimacing and fighting to stay conscious he climbed back up the tank and concluded his quick repair. He then quickly returned to the computer station, checked the readouts, reactivates the entire power grid to the tank and fuel transfer systems. Moments later the entire ship is purring and humming like a very happy kitten. He then puts the welder, and glasses into his tool belt, attached the now near useless gloves to it as well. He returned to the ladder, grabbed the towel wiped his face, and started his long climb back up to the main engineering level.

[ F'Rell of the Twelfth House | Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Auctor, SummerDawn
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The thought occurred to F'Rell that there must be some relationship between K'ren and Liam that she was not aware of, at least judging by what she could discern by his reaction. However, that thought was quickly dismissed when she was able to observe K'ren's current state. While she was very unfamiliar with the biology of humanoids, especially a hybrid like K'ren, it was clear that she had some degree of injury, a notion heightened by the medical technicians currently attempting to extract her from her exosuit.
F'Rell briefly caught two words uttered by K'ren's somewhat limp form. "The ship?" The T'fanrell pondered for a few seconds. Was she asking which ship they were on? Or what happened to the Resolve? A quick decision was made as F'rell moved in closer to quickly brief K'ren. "We are on the starship Theurgy, they have come to the Resolve's rescue, but the Resolve itself is no more." She paused, and briefly tried to suppress alarm colors before continuing. "I am sorry, there was nothing that could have been done, the ship was quickly falling apart." The last portion of the sentence was expressed in what F'Rell approximated to be a deeply concerned tone, as she had heard the ship wrenching itself into shards of metal around her, with entire sections becoming muffled to her senses as they ruptured and lost pressure. "Many crew are safe though..." She quickly added. She wasn't completely sure if it was true, but it made her feel better to say.

[ Amelya Duv |Main Engineering | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 ]

The heat of the phasers from both the security guard as herself had made the temperatures around them rather hot. Amelya's skin had been moistened by sweat and some droplets just ran down the side of her face and down her neck as she wiped her forehead from time to time. Her cheeks were a bit flushed as the uniform she was wearing felt far too thick for the job she was doing. She wondered how engineers managed to hold out down here when things got heated. The door started to bulge now as it seemed they were nearly through.

"Alright, hold up, we'll do the last bit in a second." she said to the security guard as she stopped firing her phaser. She tried to see if she could figure out what the condition was behind the door and she needed Rihen's help for that. She tapped her combadge and called out to Rihen "Rihen, what is the situation with the fire suppression system?"

[This is Neyah,] came the winded reply from Amelya's combadge, [I am at the EPS relay n-now. It is fixed! Nolak Kalmil didn't activate the suppression system, but I just got Thea to do it! The flames should be getting quenched right now!]

A smile came to Amelya's face as she heard the good news from the civilian "Great news Rihen, work your way back to us. We're about to go check. Stay at the door though, you'll be able to visit Kae once he's out and cleared by us."

They started firing again to breach to the last bit when Nicander contacted Duv.

[Doctor Duv, wherever you are, I need you back in Main Sickbay. I fear that Doctor Maya is not who she claims to be, using the cover of battle to do something aboard this Vector. She almost killed me before she vanished into the Jefferies tubes. Until Security catches up with her, I am trying to follow her and stop her.]

Amelya stepped back from the door as she shook her head and replied to Nicander "Doctor Nicander, I can't make it back to Sickbay at this time. I'm in engineering at the moment. The situation here is too delicate for me to leave at this point. I will make my way back to sickbay as soon as possible."

She stepped back to the door as the security officer kicked the door open. The hot blaze escaping the room and blowing Duv's hair looser a bit, making it look like she came out of a tornado. She ventured in first as the fire suppression system had done it's work, smoldering pieces of metal sticking out of various parts of the interior showing just how much damage had been done. Duv took out her tridcorder in order to locate Lin Kae more quickly as she moved forward, watching her step at each obstacle she had to pass.

[ CPO Liam Herrold | Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Hastata-Nerada & SummerDawn

His happenstance lover's exo-suit, was something Liam noticed that the medical personnell on the Theurgy were familiar with. Even when strapped to the hover-gurney, unable to move her head, they managed to strip the plating and EVA-layers underneath piece by piece - baring sweat-matted fur to the cool air of the shuttle bay. What F'Rell said was not exactly cheerful news, but it was the truth. In all honesty, Liam had no idea what would happen next for the crew of the Resolve.

"The battle is still underway, your pack still fighting," he said to Neko and reached out to hold her hand, no longer a gauntlet-like grip meeting his skin but the soft skin and fur of her hand. "If there is anything they can do to protect the crew, they'll do it. You know they will. Whatever the Theurgy is doing here, they can't stay for too long because then the base's reinforcements will arrive, and we'll all be done for."

"The patient is ready," said the EMH, his balding head catching the artificial light of the shuttle bay while he covered Neko with a blanket to preserve her modesty. "Inform Main Sickbay that there is a body to take to the morgue here when we exit Multi-Vector Assault Mode. Deck crew, you are free to move the cockpit aside."

Liam looked towards the edge of the cockpit where he stood by K'Ren, suddenly the realisation that Merlin was dead catching up with him. The man, Miles Jackson as his real name was, had owed him ten replicator rations from the past three card games. Seemed he would never get the spoils of victory, and frankly, Liam wasn't sure he'd want to play poker any time soon again. He looked back at Neko, and he didn't know what to say, except for those inadequate words people always said. "I am sorry..."

Soon, the anti-grav units were powered up, and K'Ren was rushed towards the Vector's sickbay. Liam was with her step by step, with the EMH on the other side and F'Rell swimming right in their wake.

How many more have died? he couldn't help but wonder, glancing over his shoulder as the cockpit was prepared to be cleared from the middle of the bay area. Will Neko be the only survivor?

[ Commander Carrigan Trent | Bridge | Vector 01 ]

There was a tense moment between the XO's words and the Captain's own.  For a moment, he wondered if Ives would order him to fire regardless.  And, what was worse, he would actually do it.  Because he was her strong right hand and the extension of her will.  If he disagreed with her, it would be in private and away from prying eyes; but in combat, there was no room for uncertainty in the chain of command and all he could do was voice his recommendation on the fly, and let her make the call.  And when she hailed Orcus to dictate the terms of her surrender, Trent let out a sigh of relief.  Of course he would have followed the order to fire, but that did not mean he would have enjoyed it.  Not when he could still see the frozen, swollen shape of the crewman who'd been sucked out into space during his escape from the Archeron, the one he had bumped into with his stolen runabout, in his dreams. 

However, he was instantly all business again.  The situation was bad and getting worse.  Orcus was out of the fight, and Covington, in that Reaver no less, had left Chester adrift and dead in space.  But with Stellar Cartography reporting that the Task Force was close by, there was no way they could make that fight...

When ordered to make ready to send for their cloaked reinforcements, Trent nodded as he prepared the hotkey on his station.  It was a single control press now, just waiting to be activated.  But there was still the need to provide option.  Looking down at his board for a moment, he had to shake his head.  "Captain, one way or another I don't think we can fight off Sankolov when he drops out of warp.  At least not for long.  What we need is for the boarding parties to expedite and get out of there.  We should get the Resolve's fighters and the Reaver docked in a hurry since they don't have one of our escape courses.  But at least, the warp core breach put out a lot of subspace noise; when we get out of here, they shouldn't be able to track us."

Then, he took a deep breath.  "And we need to cut Resolve loose.  That little maneuver put some serious strain on the moorings at our end, and from what I can see we tore some hull in the process and I'm reading a lot of structural compromises in her main frames.  She's a serious liability at sublight as it is, but if we go to warp, her structural integrity won't hold and she'll get shredded, and us along with it."

[ Tessa May Lance (https://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/219/0/d/tessa_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6mx6.png) | Transporter Room Three | USS Theurgy | Vector Two | Deck 12 ]  

On the circular cluster of transporter pads, Tessa Maya Lance appeared in a shower of sparks.  She was screaming like a frightened child when she materialized in a sitting position and fell on her rump.

"You okay, Ma'am?" Petty Officer Tenchi Koizumi (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/b/ba/Tenchi.jpg) asked when the shaken young officer stopped shrieking and looked around in confusion. 

"Y-yeah, Koizumi," the shuddering Tessa stammered as she hugged herself.  "Tip top."

"That's good," Tenchi sighed as he flashed a reassuring smile.  "I was afraid that..."

[O'Connell to Theurgy, beam up Boarding Team Two!] the voice of Master Chief William Robert 'Billy Bob' O'Connell ordered over the sounds of weapons discharging.  [Beam us up immediately yah hear?  Beam us up yesterday, toot sweet!]

"Acknowledged," Tenchi Koizumi's replied.  "We'll beam you aboard as soon as we're able."  He looked up from his console to glance apologetically at Tessa.   "Um... Ma'am?  I'm going to need you to vacate that space."

"What?" Tessa blinked.  "Sure!  I gotta check in with sickbay and let everybody know where I am anyway," she conceded as she staggered to her trembling feet with all of the surefootedness of a newborn fawn.  "Gotta go," she added as she tottered unsteadily to the door. 

"Take care ma'am," Tenchi said offhandedly as she left the transporter room.  He reset the controls, homing in on the combadges of the master chief's boarding party, ready to bring them aboard when the Theurgy's second stardrive vector passed in front of the hole in Starbase 84's shields.

(https://orig05.deviantart.net/b867/f/2010/145/3/0/star_trek__randologist_by_schematization.gif)

[Doctor Hayden O'Connor| Isolation Ward 02| USS Theurgy Vector 02]

Given the life-threatening battle raging in space, Hayden would hardly say her guard was down after she had safely secured her charges into the Isolation Ward, but she did feel some degree of relief, and she hoped Hylota did as well. She didn't need to be reminded they were far from safe, but just to add to her anxiety, she fought to remain upright as the ship seemed to jerk and buck under her feet regularly, often accompanied by sounds she wouldn't allow herself to contemplate. Whatever happened now, at least she had gotten Hylota to a safe place to give birth as O'Connor had promised. Even if either of them wanted or needed to, Hayden knew they couldn't risk removing Hylota from the birthing pool. Not only would any potentially viable eggs certainly expire, but Hayden couldn't guarantee what would happen to the female Ovri in the process. For all she knew, consequences could arrange from an excruciating labor and delivery to something instantly life-threatening. All things considered, if lives were at risk either way, Hayden would rather die doing something she loved than risk harm to another being in the process of trying to save herself. O'Connor hadn't consciously had time to think such a thought, but nevertheless, it was how she felt.

Eyes carefully but discreetly monitoring Hylota as she undressed with Maal's support, Hayden continued to contemplate whether she should take the opportunity to change into something privately more suited for the pool, but her gut told her it wasn't the right time to leave Hylota just yet. She reminded herself it could still be hours before the Ovri was ready to push, and she would feel a lot more comfortable once at least Hylota was safely in the pool where she could relax and allow things to progress naturally. She smiled as she heard the female nurse remark the two of them could be trusted and there was no need to worry about a gown or privacy. Whether that was indicative of Hylota's personality or an indication of just how far things had progressed in a seemingly short time, Hayden wasn't sure, but she allowed her eyes to cast further downward in a simple means to ascertain just that. Normally, Hayden was skilled enough to tell where a mother to be was in her labor simply by how she moved and the sounds she made, but even with the similarities between Ovri reproduction and the other women she had cared for, she wasn't about to make assumptions about everything. From what she could tell from a quick visual inspection, Hylota was contracting regularly and preparations for the upcoming Lane were well underway, although it didn't appear her cervix was anywhere close to being fully dilated. It was difficult to tell from her vantage point, but she was certain Hylota wouldn't be shy about keeping her in the loop, and that the physiology wasn't so different that O'Connor would be caught completely unawares when the time came. Hayden would worry about medical tricorders and manual exams once Hylota was safely in the pool, and it was comforting that her brain seemed to offer one step at a time just as it would with any other delivery in any other circumstance. Especially under these circumstances, O'Connor was grateful to have such "muscle memory" so to speak.

The doctor relaxed ever so slightly as Maal  managed to successfully ease Hylota in the tub despite what was that best described as a rough ride going on around them. O'Connor even managed to smile as she heard Hylota express her pleasure at being submerged in the water. At her core, Hayden derived pleasure from being able to alleviate suffering and she took pride in being able to do so for any laboring mother. She felt additional pride as she watched Hylota take charge of her own delivery by removing her own top. It might've been a small thing, but it told Hayden Hylota was feeling safe enough and confident enough to focus on the task at hand. Whatever small role Hayden had played in that consequence, she was grateful.

O'Connor was just about to turn and get into her own comfortable clothing for the pool, and indeed, she had her back to the pool when she heard a large splash behind her. Instantly, O'Connor thought the battle had reached the Isolation Ward and that she had mere nanoseconds until she was at the very least fighting for her life, if she wasn't about to lose it already. Tears instantly pricked behind her eyes and has stifled cry emerged from her lips. She couldn't stop herself from turning back to face whatever her heart was already dreading she would have to accept. It took her several moments to actually "see" what was before her, but when she finally did, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The sight of the Klingon nurse sputtering in the water near Hylota was completely unexpected and Where She Not so filled with fear and other competing emotions, she might've laughed heartily and let the moment fill her with additional joy on top of the joy she usually felt on such an occasion. In fact, seeing the Klingon nurse so flabbergasted would've added to Hayden's peals of laughter and she would swear to herself to include that very moment in her future retellings of the story.

As it was, however, with Hayden on edge and contemplating, at least on an unconscious level, their impending demise, all the scene did was confirm for her she couldn't afford to leave Hylota alone with the father of her potential children.  Maal was panicked and while that was completely understandable given his potential impending fatherhood, she wasn't naïve enough to think that was all it was. He understood the battle raging outside and he understood they were a hair's breath from potential incapacitation at best and death at worst. Considering how rattled he had been already, she knew she didn't want to risk leaving Hylota alone with him if she didn't have to. Intellectually, somewhere in the back of her mind, she might've known she didn't need to be so dramatic about something so small, but seeing this labor and delivery go smoothly had become Hayden's sole focus. It was the only thing she could control at the moment, and consequently her universe had shrunken to the size of Isolation Ward Two.

She found herself beginning to strip, as much because she was uncomfortable from the humid air in the room as because she was focused on getting to Hylota as quickly as possible. By the time she entered the pool, she was clad in her uniform pants and bra. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she might remove her pants eventually, but for now, she was just glad to have the freedom to move her arms without the restriction of her tunic and uniform jacket. She might've felt exposed and embarrassed more it not for the fact she was focused on the task at hand.

Moving over to Maal,, she offered calmly, "Nurse Maal, I need you to take some slow deep breaths and get yourself together. We all know this situation isn't ideal, a reality no one understands better than Hylota, but the situation is what it is. I'm going to need your help and so is she. As I know you know, we can't force the birthing process, nor should we for the sake of mother and potential offspring. Hylota's body knows what to do, and it's our job to keep her calm and help her get comfortable so she can progress. This could take some time, and I know we're all worried about what's going on around us, but right now, our only priority is to take care of Hylota. Is that understood?"

Moving over to the female Ovri, Hayden touched her on the leg gently. "Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable? I can examine you to see how far dilated you are, but I don't have to do that right now if you don't want me to. I imagine I'll be able to tell quite a bit by other means as things progress. In the meantime, just take your time and breathe. You let us know when you feel the need to push and we'll be ready."

[ ENS K'Ren | Upper Shuttle Bay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Auctor Lucan & Hastata-Nerada

The news from the EMH was like an emotional hammer blow for K'Ren. Merlin had been her backseater for as long as she could remember, one of the more experienced pilots in the squadron, and a good friend of her deceased mate. How many more would die, how many of the squadron would return  this day to have a drink in memory of their buddies. She hoped she would not be the last of her pack, that others would survive. She also knew a battle beyond any they'd ever fought raged outside, death all around and many would not come home. Her battle it seemed was over, the damage to severe to be patched up and sent out.

K'Ren reached out and took Liam's hand in her own, the delicate feline fingers squeezing his hand. "It was his time Liam. I just hope that his death was not in vain, that it meant something." As the anti-grav lifted her and the triage team began to move her, she held on Liam's hand, hoping to encourage him as much as his presence encouraged her. "We are alive Liam. They will live on in our memories." She gently ran her thumb over his rough skin. "I also made a promise to you I intend to keep."

The trip to sickbay was quite short, at least it felt that way and as they entered sickbay, K'Ren could hear the voices of the medical staff tending to the wounded. She gave one final squeeze of Liam's hand, smiling up at him. "I'll see you in a few hours." she remarked, letting go of his hand as she was wheeled into surgery, leaving Liam on the outside looking in. Transferred to the surgical bed by the triage team, the arch came over K'Ren's torso and even as the doctor spoke, telling her what to expect, she could feel the anesthetic taking hold, her eyes fluttering, the bay growing dim as she caught one last glance at Liam, a smile on her face.

[ Brig | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Joint Post by Doc M. & Auctor Lucan

Opening her eyes, Sonja Acreth heard the commotion. A smile touched her lips. It was time.

Slowly, she stood up behind the force field, her black dress falling straight around her legs. She had washed by her basin, dark, wet hair raked back behind her ears, and droplets of water remaining on her bare arms and the low cut of her back. She stretched, awaiting the sight of her kinsman, but when her liberator appeared, it was not the one she'd expected. "Oh?" she said, raising her eyebrows, "I wouldn't have guessed you would help us too."

"I am responding to your medical emergency," Maya replied as she stiffly set down her box and jerkily turned her attention to the panel that was just to the right of Acreth's cell.  Her voice was as neutral and emotionless as ninety nine of the ship's computers serving Starfleet.  "It is paramount that I get to you by whatever means necessary, and remove you from the isolation ward. Given the import of your health, and what you mean for the mission, I have been sanctioned to subdue any opposition I meet."

"I see," said Acreth, tilting her head a bit, "You are not entirely here are you?" She chuckled and brushed her fingers over her forehead, looking towards the deck in amusement. She didn't know if her kinsman had sent a puppet of his out of convenience or necessity, but either way, he had sent her, and the cycle could begin anew. Her eyes fell on the small stasis unit, and a shiver went up her spine in the knowledge of what was inside it. Ancient knowledge, shared among kin. The vessel of their victory, whenever it might be. Perhaps as soon as this cycle, perhaps the next. Either way, it was her assignment to bring it where it was supposed to be. The good doctor was the nexus of the crisis, the origin of their storm, but she was the mother of the outbreak. Together, they would prevail, as they had done so many times before.

Only this time, there was a Vulcan puppet making it happen, and it amused Acreth a great deal - wondering just how Nicander had done it this time.

With sound almost beyond human hearing, the force field went down.  Moving as jerkily as a marionette, Maya knelt and picked up the box Lucan had assigned her.

Smiling, Acreth walked up to the Vulcan and raised her hand to her cheek. Her host's middle finger was broken, not cooperating fully as she patted the puppet. "Good girl," she said sweetly, "I believe that's mine, isn't it?"

The Vulcan handed her the stasis unit. "Inside you will find all substances related to your treatment," Maya replied as she made what on the surface appeared to be eye contact.  "Please follow any instructions accompanying it to the letter.  If you have any questions, please contact the ship's pharmacist immediately."  After handing Acreth the box.  Maya stood there with her arms hanging loosely at her sides and stared directly ahead.  Occasionally she would blink.

Listening, running her fingernails over the flesh of her face, Acreth was trying to deduce what Nicander had done to the Vulcan, and if there was any more use of her. It seemed evident she thought she was a patient, so it could be the key to make further use of her before she was disposed of. It was worth a try, at least, and if it didn't work, she could just as well kill her. "Oh! It seems the... instructions are that you will need to accompany me from the... the isolation ward to my quarters, but you need not worry, I know exactly where my residence on this ship is, so I can lead the way."

"Very well," Maya replied dreamily.  There was no conflict so Maya allowed herself to remain with the patient, not knowing that this 'patient' was in fact the disease that could kill the United Federation of Planets.

With a glance down to the stasis unit in her hand, Acreth ran the other through her wet hair and began to walk out of the Brig. She stepped up to the lifeless form of the Brig Officer, whom she knew as Striker. She looked down at him, saw that he was alive, breathing evenly. The urge overcame her, to finally act on her true nature. He leaned down and picked up the hand phaser, switched the setting with her thumb. Narrow beam, setting 8. With a lopsided smile, and a small moan of satisfaction, she burned out his eyes - one at the time. The frayed nerves made his face twitch, mouth falling wide open - making a third cavity that stared up at her.

"My, my do you look surprised..." she said and chuckled as he was coming to, beginning to stir from the pain, but she lost interest in him already.

Acreth was interrupted as a pale white hand griped her wrist using only the thumb, forefinger and middlefinger.  The thumb dug in between the escapee's radius and ulna causing her to drop the phaser.  At the same time a second set of fingers was pinching Acreth's trapezius nerve bundle, paralyzing her momentarily before both hands abruptly released her.

In her trancelike state, Maya had attempted to subdue the patient when it became clear she was going to harm herself or others, but when upon touching Acreth, the little Vulcan's touch telepathy gave her an inkling of the other woman's dark and twisted psyche.  To call it foul, blasphemous, or diseased would be an understatement.  There were no words to convey the predatory evil that the momentary contact had revealed.  Maya had emerged from her trance from the tranquil peace of somnambulism to the nauseous nightmare of awakening.  Her face flushed a dark green; the little Vulcan clutched her stomach and willed herself not to start retching.

And in Acreth's face, the twisted nature within her could be seen as she rounded on the Vulcan - her possessed mien a rictus mask of ancient horror.  It wasn't just distorted by the numbing pain of the Doctor's grip - the acute assault upon the host's nervous system - but also the chaos being's fiery anger at being attacked by the puny mortal. The sound that rose from the host's throat was not entirely contained within the bounds of its present existence - the cry a distorted echo from the void beyond.

The backhand strike caught Maya across her face, and sent her head-first into the bulkhead.

[ MCPO Nolak Kalmil | Main Engineering | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]

The ladder climb up between decks was starting to drain the Master Chief of his energy. Combined with the humid hot temperature and over exposure to radiation he was beginning to feel the effects of fatigue.  Still a few decks below the main engineering level he stepped off the ladder onto a service platform and leaned against the warp core main structure to catch his breath. Still wearing the respirator he removed it and took in some deep breaths.  Now really wishing he hadn't given the hypospray away he leaned over the railing and spat up some blood. No doubt from the effects from the radiation and perhaps from all the banging around had affected the surgery to his neck. Looking around he could tell the ship was still in danger so he moved over to the service monitors and glanced at the read outs, checking various data and damage reports while he fought the dizziness. The ships lower shields were still malfunctioning and a few other ships functions were boarder line on the fritz.  He made a couple adjustments to the power grid from this panel, but he still needed to get up to the main level to have full engineering control.

Having had this momentary rest he returned to the ladder and quicken his pace up the ladder. He skipped a few rungs whenever he found the energy do so. Looking over his shoulder from time to time he could see the crew had manage to pull out the pinned crew members and were performing emergency treatment of their injuries. The next level up Nolak could no longer see the medical crew or Ensign Abner as he neared the main engineering level not far above him. 

Without warning the ship rocked violently as he barely managed to hook his arm and elbow around the ladder rung. His body slipped off the ladder and had he not held on for dear life he'd be at the bottom of the warp chamber again. The sudden jolt to his body and shoulder as he swung out and away from the ladder caused him to let out a painful yell as he felt the joint in his left shoulder slip out place. His body slammed back into the ladder and he quickly regained his footing. With his good arm and the sudden rush of pain and adrenaline he quickly climbed the remaining section of the ladder.  His left arm was nearly useless as he stepped off the ladder. Having finally made it to the main engineering platform he lowered his shoulder and charged the computer station slamming his shoulder back into place. The pain sent him to his knees as he collapsed in front of the station.  The world spun around him as everything became a blur. While he sat there regaining his senses Nolak took the towel yet again and looped it around his neck creating a sling for his now injured arm before rising to his feet.

At the computer station Nolak quickly made the final adjustments to the newly repaired warp power grid and diverted majority of the newly available power to the remaining weapon platforms before flipping the intercom to the battle bridge. "Master Chief here, I've manage to avert a critical overload of the warp core, for the moment. However, looks like our shields are about to completely fail, and there's little I can do about that. That's all in the hands of any available repair crews scattered throughout the ship.  On a plus side, I've revamped our weapon output and that should help you deal with those pesky fighters, and whatever else your targeting. Make it count, because I'm dying in here and the medical team can't reach me while the warp containment shields are activated. Engineering out."  He said calmly trying to hide the pain and frustration in his voice.  Speaking to the computer, "Thea, how much longer can I withstand the radiation before it's to the point of no return."

The computer responded, [ I'm sorry Master Chief Kalmil, Insufficient, data. Bio scanners are malfunctioning, and you blocked out your bio readings in sickbay, remember.  I can estimate that without medical aid, your chances of survival decreases considerable the longer you remain within the containment field. Shall I lower the shields and allow you to leave?]

Nolak Kalmil, answers her, "Thank you Thea, that's a negative."  Then he returned to dealing with adjusting the ship shields to provide the maximum amount of protection with what little power he had left.

[Hylota Vojona| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02] Attn: the Counselor and Auctor Lucan

---

          Hylota breathed deeply as she looked at Maal as he continued to panic, as he got flustered over the situation at hand, true her own mind was slipping to the extremes and she could feel her filter was not all there as she spoke, but at the same time she was getting more and more irritated with Maal as this strong man, one who had tried to save her brother, despite failing. A man who she had found an attraction to despite his lack of attractive features in Ovri society, was now making himself look like a bumbling buffoon. Then as the ship was suddenly wracked with another blast from the battle, Hylota barely had the sense about her to grip her chair and grunt as she was shaken, the water in the pool sloshing about in large waves as it splashed into the sides of the tub, which had thankfully been built with splashing in mind. Sadly however Maal had been..distracted and had ended up falling into the pool with Hylota, it was this bumbling act that made Hylota begin to get angry with the man. As Maal stood up and then made a proper ass of himself by asking Doctor Hayden, no he had not even been that courteous, he had simply called her a human as he insisted that they haul the eggs out of Hylota, this pushed Hylota over the edge.

With a slightly distressed groan Hylota sat more upright, she was sure one of the eggs was close to working its way out...but it felt really weird. Taking a deep breath Hylota collected herself before she reached out and slapped Maal across the face. "WILL YOU SNAP OUT OF IT! You are a medically trained NURSE! Do I need to send you back in for TRAINING!" Hylota hissed and took a few deep breaths as she took back the more reclined position. "You seemed good at your job when we met, you were strong and bold, you did what was needed of a moment, understanding THAT is why I do not hate you Maal, but right now you are making a proper ass of yourself and I am  tempted to send you out to find Vinata." Hylota took another few breaths before she closed her eyes and clenched her jaw before she spoke again. "But these are your children, you need to be here, so I want you to take a moment, collect yourself and ACTUALLY BE HERE!"

Hylota took several long deep breaths and she shuddered as she clenched again as she looked back to Doctor Hayden as she began to give Hylota some encouragement and tried to get her to relax and have Hylota fill her in on what was going on. "I-I do not know what is going on this time, it is much more intense than an unfertilized clutch, I also am feeling a more more discomfort than I think I should." Hylota grunted as he shifted in her seat. "One of the eggs feels a lot harder than it should, it is so rough and uncomfortable." She took a long deep breath and  squirmed a bit on the chair. "Sadly I do not think that I will be getting the clutch going just yet, but it does not feel as thought this is going to be an easy delivery." Hylota took a few more deep breaths as she felt her body getting prepared to begin the laying process fully.

Hylota could feel her body tightening and stretching internally as it moved to begin pushing the eggs out of her body, and as it began to get going the water around Hylota's opening was beginning to look distorted as her body's natural lubricants began to be produced in greater amounts to try and encourage smoother laying. She panted and took a few long deep breaths as her body began to get the egg moving, and egg that contained a malformed calcified mass as it did not grow correctly and was proving to be slow to move. Looking up at the ceiling as the room was quiet from the chaos outside of it. "I just hope Vinata is alright, fool should not have come back to work just yet, he is still jumpy, he needed more time to think." Hylota closed her eyes and began to breath as she tried to push the first egg through her body.

---

[Vinata Vojona| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02] Attn:  Auctor Lucan

---

          As Vinata was given a rather dry explanation as to what he was going to have to do for the patient, he listened intently and jut blinked for a few moments as he tried to collect himself as he realized that he was going to have to take care of this on his own, that he was going to have to do everything he could to save the arm, before it got too late. As Lahkesis turned and left to take care of other matters, leaving Vinara to turn to look at his patient as he could just blink and think out what he needed to do. Swallowing hard he quickly rushed off to gather a stasis container, he needed to find one that would be the right size for the appendage, he would have to clean it of metal once he was finished with the patient. He finished finding what he needed and he rushed back to the patient and he set the machine down before smiling to the patient. "Alright, we need to get your arm in stasis, with the shaking on the ship due to the combat, once it is safe we can take care of your arm so that we can get it prepped for healing."

Vinata put a hand on the patient's shoulder and one on the arm before gently pulling it away and set it into the stasis container before starting it up and letting it rest in stasis before Vinata took up some tweezers and a few other tools and sat beside the table where Vinata began to get to work. "Alright I need to remove the metal shrapnel from your wound, then I will take care of sealing the wounds and then I will do my best to close up your more superficial wounds while we wait for the doctor to be ready to take you in." He gave his best comforting smile as he reached to the stump of an arm and began to peel the metal and melted glass from the wound. Vinata was tense behind his smile, he was dealing with smells he did not want to think about, it was all so sickening and made his stomach twist into knots as he remembered the smell of the corpse he had been pinned under.

The only thing that took his mind from the horrors of the past was the plink of the metal and glass onto the tray Vinata had prepared for this. It took him the better part of five minuets to clean the worst of the wound, he needed to peel the metal out and clean up any seepage before using his tools to seal things up. Vinata had to take a tricorder back over the wound to scan for any more foreign material before he could move on. Vinata spent as much time as he could removing the more surface damage, removing the slag and other embedded material from the crewman's face and arm. Vinata had also made sure to put up the holographic curtain around the patient so that there would be no panic if someone were to look at them.

Of course in the shaking of the ship Vinata was a bit shaky, he would let out weak yelps and grip the table to steady himself as he would fight back panic, he needed to take his mind back, he was not in the triage center, he was not pinned to a table or under a fried corpse, he needed to remember where he was, to take a moment to remember where he was, he needed to look around to see the world as it was so that he did not get lost in the fear that was lingering at the back of his mind. For now at least he managed to get the patient cleaned up and his uniform stripped down with the larger bits of metal and glass removed, there was more work needed, but Vinata did not want to try and go beyond what he felt he could do comfortably.

[ F'Rell of the Twelfth House | Battle Sickbay | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Auctor, Summerdawn
[Show/Hide]

Swimming slowly alongside the group, F'Rell quietly observed the individuals around her, taking care to avoid the strange and sometimes unnerved glances from the Theurgy crewmembers. Or at least that's what she assumed they were, it was difficult to tell when most humanoid species were as luminous as bricks. Liam and K'Ren definitely did seem close, almost as if they were... affectionate? "Liam Herrold, may I ask, do you and-" She stopped suddenly as she recalled a moment in the fighter bay when strange noises and phrases had come from a nearby craft, the source of which did not seem to be aware of her presence lurking further within. To onlookers it would have appeared as if she suddenly ceased speaking as the luminous color she usually emitted had suddenly drained from her skin. Just as quickly as it left, it returned and she attempted to approximate a dismissive gesture to indicate that whatever she was saying was irrelevant. "Actually, do not mind that, it is not important."
 
Shaking off the realization that she may have witnessed a very private moment between the two, she instead turned towards the EMH after K'Ren faded from consciousness. "Excuse me, I was wondering; now that she is out, do we have any way of discovering whether or not there have been any other survivors? And if so, where can we locate them?" She paused and felt as if she should add a bit more, to shake off any present worries. "Also, please inform the commander of this vessel that I would be willing to inform them as to the circumstances behind my presence among the crew of the Resolve. I do not wish to cause alarm."

---

OOC: So sorry about the delay, it's been weird over here. Rest assured, it should not interfere with my posting too much more than it has.

[ Nurse Maal | Isolation Ward 02 | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: 1) The Counselor 2) Zenozine

To Maal's great chagrin, he was not only slapped by Hylota but chastised to various degrees by both the women, telling him to get his mind together and focus on Hylota's needs. That was exactly what he thought he'd been doing, but with his smarting cheek being the evidence, he had apparently let the panic get the better of him. But how was he not supposed to panic? The shields were gone! Hylota was in pain! They could die any moment! He was going to help deliver his own... eggs - children - and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. Helpless in the situation, at the mercy of any stray torpedo or phaser beam out there in the battle, Maal had no control whatsoever of the situation at hand, without a clue as to how he was supposed to handle anything.

"One priority... One priority..." he repeated where he stood in the water after the Counselor had spoken, his cheek still hurting because Ovri females were the physically stronger ones. When had the human undressed? He blinked at the lack of uniform jacket and undershirt, then he dismissed the conundrum, looking between the two females in the birthing pool. "Yes, Counselor. My apologies, Hylota. I... I will bring a tricorder."

Said and done, clothes soaked, Maal climbed out of the birthing pool and lumbered like drowned targ for the closest set of medical instruments. Right then, the Vector sustained prolonged enemy phaser fire, and the deck shook underneath his slick feet. Slipping, he caught himself the edge of the tray holding the instruments, and he tore them all down to the deck in his fall. The bulkheads came alive, two EPS relays exploding and sending sparks into the birthing pool's surface - water sloshing over the edges in the commotion. Smoke gathered in the ceiling, where two sheets of plating had come loose and fell down - one tumbling across Maal's wide shoulders. He snarled by the pain - unable to suppress his very Klingon reaction - but with great determination, he reached for the tricorder and began to crawl back across the shaking floor to the pool. Pointed teeth bared, he returned to the females, made an ungainly climb into the pool, and began to scan Hylota - trying to keep his footing even if he had no free hands to hold on to the edge.

[Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert,] came Thea's voice on the intercom, overriding all the noise, as if the Red Alert wasn't enough. One priority... One priority...

There was nothing they could do about any boarding parties, and little did they know the alert was an escaped prisoner.

---

[ CPO Liam Herrold | Battle Sickbay | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Hastata-Nerada

Neko's words had been reassuring when it came to Merlin and his end, the pilot having died fighting. It had been his time, and they were still alive, alive to remember who they had been, and what they had been fighting for. Liam had nodded, squeezed her hand, and chuckled in embarrassment when she'd brought up the promise she had made. "I'll hold you to that..."

Soon, he was standing in the Battle Sickbay on Vector 01, seeing the EMH and a couple of physicians put K'Ren to sleep. F'Rell was about to ask him something, but changed her mind, making some odd gesture that he could not interpret. He knew some mannerism of the T'fanrell, but not nearly enough to be sure about the nuances of her communication. She couldn't have guessed what the promise was about, could she? Wait a minute, were she flying around in the hangar while we were..?

The potential embarrassment was spared from him when F'Rell spoke to the EMH instead, her asking about any other survivors from the Resolve. The EMH rolled his eyes as he prepared for surgery. "I am a doctor, not missing people service," he said dryly before returning to K'Ren. He continued once he had begun his preparations, his back turned to them. "Perhaps you should ask the computer. I keep hearing her subroutines are more advanced than my own. She might even be able to leave a message for the Captain, like some crude answering machine from the twentieth century..."

Blinking, Liam decided to give it a try. "Computer, where is the rest of the crew form the Resolve?"

[Crew from the USS Resolve may be found at Symbiotic Docking Airlocks 01, 02 and 03, the Battle Sickbay, as well as the conference lounge on Deck 01. Please specify.]

"Where is Erik Randall?" he asked, hoping his friend and COD wasn't far away.

[Chief Petty Officer Erik Randall is not on board.] There was a pause, before the computer added something that the Resolve's computer never would have done. [I'm sorry, but my sensors detected his life-sign vanishing before he could reach either of my airlocks, and it was concurrent with an explosion in your ship's EPS grid... right where he and several others from your crew were. There is a 93,334 % probability that Randall did not make it. My condolences.]

Numb, Liam stepped away, not knowing if he was supposed to react to the behaviour of the computer or her news first - mind split and equidistant to comprehension in both regards. Randall, dead? No, he had been right ahead of me in the corridor where I found F'Rell... He can't be dead. And how could the computer offer me condolences? No, she must be wrong. Intelligent, but wrong. Randall wouldn't...

Listlessly, Liam sat down on a chair - eyes staring emptily ahead of himself. He just couldn't accept the idea... "Erik can't be dead... He... was just..." Liam trailed off, blinking, not knowing what to say.

[ Dr. Lucan cin Nicander & Heather McMillan | Corridors | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Joint Post by Triage & Auctor Lucan
 
"At least I'm not thinking you're about to kill me..." Heather's body began to glow in a greenish light as she felt sickened, but she looked up hopefully, "...it's really not much further? I don't fancy losing my arms if the bloody ship gives another shake like the last one."
 
"We're almost there," said Dr. Nicander, and after he'd reached for the handle of the grate above him, he climbed out into the Security Centre's gym. Once he was out, he reached down to help Heather up as well. He didn't bother to close the grate again, and he almost fell back into the darkness of the Jefferies tubes when the Vector was hit by another barrage of phaser fire. Or torpedoes. He really couldn't tell what was which beyond the fact that the attack had not been dampened by any shields.
 
"AAAHH!" McMillan shrieked in fright, hopping around like a terrified doe. Eventually she simply resorted to lying low to the ground. Quite without realizing it, the young Radiant had a vice-like grip around Nicander's ankle, in a vain attempt to prevent him falling over into the Jefferies tubes. If he had fallen, the truth was his greater weight and her far-reduced own would send them both to their deaths. As it was, the man was probably not even aware of the frail hand holding on to his leg, considering her concept of a vice-like grip was akin to a newborn kitten trying to hold something.
 
"Thea, which way did she go?" called Lucan after he tapped his combadge, face cast in red alert lighting as he looked down - seeing McMillan. He reached down to help her as she was quickly straightening up and brushing herself off, her eyes doing a quick visual examination of the doctor's condition. Being in possession of his mental faculties again, Lucan felt liberated, even though his face still hurt from Maya's strikes.
 
[Internal sensors in your area is offline,] answered the Ship A.I. through his combadge. [No Vulcan life-sign has been detected leaving the Security Centre.]
 
"She's still here?" he said, but he feared that Acreth may have decided to leave her behind, most likely killed her. "Has any other personnel left?"
 
[One human life-sign was detected leaving the Security Centre. All attempts to reach posted officers in the area have failed. The identity of the individual is unknown. My surveillance system is still offline, so I cannot optically verify who it is.]
 
Another thing Lucan had done, only everyone thought it was the Calamity A.I. when she'd boarded the ship and killed half the Senior Staff, which seemed so long ago. The surveillance system remained offline after Lucan destroyed it, but he didn't need it. He already knew which human had left. They were too late.
 
"Where is the human going?" he asked, already out of the gym and heading out into the main area of the Security Centre. Upon reaching the Aide's duty station, he saw an Ensign lying on the floor. He quickly crouched down to check the pulse while Thea answered him, his bloodied lab coat settling around him.
 
[The individual is heading towards the Science Labs.]
 
"He is alive, just unconscious," said Lucan with a glance towards the Radiant, and then he saw that the sliding doors to one of the interrogation rooms left wide open, the Brig visible beyond the room since the opposite door was also open. "Look..."
 
McMillan had been quietly trailing the doctor doggedly on tip-toe, looking partly like she was sneaking, and she was certainly quiet enough. Like a hunted mouse following a cat. When she saw the downed ensign, the young woman was already reaching for her tricorder when Nicander informed her of the man's survival, allowing her to exhale in relief.
 
Then she followed the doctor's gaze to the open door, which was unusual, but with the amount of damage the Theurgy was taking, some malfunctions were bound to occur. She only hoped that this was the last battle that the ship had to face, or the question of repair was going to become a serious issue...wait.
 
Her eyes studied the room beyond, and she saw an empty brig, with force fields down. A brig that had held a single prisoner, and literally the most dangerous being in the universe as far as McMillan was concerned. From the time she had heard about the woman, the young woman avoided this place like it carried the plague of darkness. She had heard what Sonja Acreth was capable of, and the prospect that she was now running free, had the girl shaking down to her toenails, and it wasn't because of cold weather.
 
"W-wasn't that where Ac-Acreth was...? Oh bloody hell..." McMillan's voice had gone all the way up into a terrified squeak. What was Maya doing?!?
 
"Thea, can you stop her?" asked Lucan, overriding Heather.
 
[Negative. My force-field emitters are offline, and the life-signs of the crew in her way have vanished.] There was a pause, in which it was apparent that Acreth had just killed anyone in her way. [She is in the Temporal Observatory Lab, no longer moving. She is accessing Junior Lieutenant Morali's computer system, but I have no access to the Temporal Affairs Officer's equipment, all of it left behind by the Relativity.]
 
"McMillan, come!" said Lucan, heading for the exit and the corridor, leaving the Security Center behind. "Thea, keep looking for Maya, but dispatch more guards to stop Acreth. We're heading there too." Of course, Lucan feared he already knew where Maya was, lying dead in the vacated holding cell or vaporised by a phaser, but there was no time to search through the brig. No time. Acreth was already in the lab...
 
"Hwuh?" said McMillan, her eyes widening, "Doctor...DOCTOR! No!" She started out after the man, but mostly because she didn't want to be left too far behind and alone in this place, now that Acreth was loose. "For God's sake, doctor, please stop! Dr. Maya is one thing, but if it's Sonja Acreth, you are in no position to take her on, and if Maya's with her..." Oh the horrors that could be inflicted between a mad Vulcan and...and whatever Sonja Acreth was.
 
"Please, we need more help! Let Thea get security guards over...at...at least two!"
 
"If Maya let Acreth out of the Brig, she might be dead," said Lucan bitterly as he started down the corridor. "Security is on the way, but if she is loose on the ship, we're all in danger, and we have to do something. Everyone's at their battle stations, not suspecting whatever she might do. Thea, sound the intruder alert, keep your sensors on where she's at."
 
[Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert. Security to the Temporal Observatory Lab,] came the call in the corridor, where the intercom was online. Lucan rounded the corner of the next intersection... and stopped in his tracks. While Thea had said life signs had vanished where Acreth had gone, the sight of what she'd done was far more graphic than the computer's inadequate description.
 
"By the winds..." said Lucan, and while he should have grown accustomed to the sinister imagination of the parasites, the way Acreth had... toyed with the crewmembers that were strewn about in the corridor made him feel sick. They had all tried to stop her, and they had suffered the consequences before they died. In fact, Lucan was not sure he could count how many they were. The bulkheads were smeared with blood and ichor, and the overhead light flickered from phaser damage.
 
Quickly, he decided he had to spare Heather McMillan the sight, lest she would never follow him. He needed her, so before she caught up with him and reached the corner and the ghastly sight, Lucan stepped back and put his tattooed hand over her eyes, his other hand at the small of her back. "You don't want to see this... Trust me. Let me lead the way... I will remove my hand when they're out of sight," he said, voice thick. Not just from the carnage, but in the knowledge of what he had been - what he had been capable of before the Radiant pushed the darkness back into the abyss of his soul.
 
McMillan, to her credit, in her personal opinion, only whimpered once. Nicander could block her sight, and probably just as well, if it was bad enough that he didn't want her to see it, but he could not block her nose, and she could smell things slightly better than most humans. Nor could he block the sound. It wasn't a cacophony, but the silence, and the occasional sizzle and spark of damaged bulkheads and lights, none of which were the result of the battle raging outside. She could smell the coppery scent of blood in the air, based on how well she could smell it meant that much was outside of people's bodies. It was probably for the best that she had developed a tendency to stay behind the doctor rather than keeping up.
 
Her light was gone, with darkness in sight came darkness in body. Only her hair continued floating up at the slightest movements, as they were wont to do. Tightly she clutched the doctor's hand that was gently placed over her eyes, in part to keep balance, and in part to make sure that hand stayed there until he so chose to move it. That smell was going to be the stuff of nightmares to come, even if she was spared whatever horrific sight it was he didn't want McMillan to see. Despite all this, her palms began to glow, helping to warm the doctor's hand.

[ Ensign Six (http://pre05.deviantart.net/5d9e/th/pre/i/2016/254/f/7/ensign_six___under_fire_by_auctor_lucan-d91bxn0.png), Ensign A'vura Zeshryr (https://orig08.deviantart.net/ca09/f/2015/289/a/2/a_vura_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d9d9ngm.png) & Cir'Cie | Airlock > Conference Lounge | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] JP by Vystori & Auctor lucan. Attn: Arista, FollowTomorrow & Conference Lounge

By the time Six made it to the Theurgy she and Suq were no worse for wear, well, other than the hard gash on the top of her head that is. The rest of her looked frazzled, long braids flying all over the place and smoke and dirt all over her face, uniform, and hands. But aside from all of that, no worse for wear. When they reached the entrance of the Theurgy Six stopped a security officer just on the other side of the door and requested to be taken to where the rest of the bridge crew had been placed.

"Aye," said the man, looking between Six, Parnak and Suq, an odd gathering to say the least. "The rest of your friends are on Deck 01. I can take you there." Said and done, the guard quickly took the three of them to the turbo lifts, and escorted them all the way - his step hurried given the situation at hand.

Once in the conference room though Six took a moment to glance around at those that were inside. She noticed most of those that she'd worked with on the Resolve, and one from the station, Hi'Jak, an acquaintance she was a little more surprised to see. She did not, however, see the Captain of the Resolve there, and she walked up to a familiar face to ask if he'd made it on board yet. "Ensign... I'm sorry, I don't think I had gotten your name yet. Has the Captain made it here as of yet?" she asked A'vura with her blank expression.

"No, not yet, and it's A'vura," Zeshryr said back, "You're Six, right?" Six nodded and glanced toward the door.

"Indeed. If he doesn't make it here soon though I'm afraid he might not. What's the status so far on the ejected warp core?"

A'vura shrugged and glanced back over at the view screen that held the bridge of the Theurgy. "It was used to disable that ship. They just said that reinforcements are on the way, but it seems the Theurgy has a mission that isn't finished yet."

In the background of the briefing room, the Vulcan Cir'Cie lingered with the crew from the Resolve. She thought about the possibility to offer advice, but tactical situations were not her forte. She had nothing to offer Ives, merely hoping that the mission parameters were met and that they were able to escape in time. The odds, however, were not... ideal.

[ Lt Hi'Jak|Conference Lounge | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: All


Jack looked around the confrence lounge. When Sera had introduced herself as the captain of the Sabine he found it kind of amusing. It was technically correct in that she was a captain outside of the normal Starfleet definition. Back in the 20th century he supposed she would be a member of the merchant fleets, which once the world was united never really existed again in human cultures.

Klingon's for their part had plenty of merchant vessels, it was what happened when anyone could own a ship, and every ship flew under the banner of a different house. Sure they were all united for the 'empire' but two different fleets could have extremely different tactics, and two houses didn't even need to speak to each other when in the same area. What the Federation gained in it's unity the empire had in it's diversity.

Putting aside the duel nature talk for a moment Jack let out a long sigh of relief when he saw Six enter the briefing room. "Six, I thought you would have been locked up in a brig or dead by now."

They had attempted to arrest Jack the moment he had gone to the labs to work. He had assumed they would have done the same to her. Which while they were aquanted with one another he still wasn't really sure if the woman was a friend.

Seeing Six also kickstarted his brain as he looked at the situation they were in. They were on board a vessel that was an enemy to the Federation being hunted by a captain who had betrayed the Federation, and about to be hit down by a Federation fleet.

"Well that's it." Jack spoke to himself for a moment thinking it over.

"Captain... Jane.. ivans?" He suddenly realized he really hadn't paid nearly enough attention to those briefings about the theurgy as he should have. Not being able to fully recall the name of your future captain was probably a bad thing, especially because Jane was a womans name.

"Sorry I realize I'm not all that familiar with your persona at this moment in time, but have you by any chance been able to run a decryption on the files i gave you? Cause we could broadcast that. The incoming fleet has no reason to believe you or the crew of the resolve, but me and ensign Six aren't from the resolve, we're from the Starbase, if you can give us a live video broad cast to the fleet we can call out Hawthrone for every violation of the rules he has done today, and then some."

[ Lieutenant Keval ch'Rayya | Conference Room | USS Theurgy ] Attention: Arista, et al

Keval kept his attention focused on the situation shown to them on the view screen before him as his light blue eyes flicked back and forth, taking in everything as quickly as he could with his antenna barely moving at all as he showed how well that he could multi-task as he kept one ear on the conversation around him.

When he heard the question come from the former Borg behind him, Keval took in a deep breath and simply said "Our captain isn't coming, Ensign. He did what was necessary to protect our family." in a tone that booked no further conversation on the topic for the moment. "There will be time for that later, right now we need to focus on being able to survive the day and pay back Hawthorne for what's happened this day."

Mentally, Keval knew that his tone could possibly be considered to be cold but to those who had served with him thus far from the Resolve would know that right now he was more focused on the tactical sitatuion and how to adept things to ensure the saftey and success of his crewmates...his "Clan"..

When Hi'Jak entered the room and made his comment, Keval simply turned his head just a little bit to take in the hybrid with a slightly emotionless expression but the eye that focused on him was full of an emotion that Keval worked very hard to keep back this day;

Vengeance..a complete and utter need for it, raw and pulsing.

"You, Lieutenant, are preaching to the choir as you pinkskin ancestors would say."

Keval turned his head back fully to the information that was coming through and looked for the ident marker for the small craft that he had helped just before leaving the Resolve and hoped that they were still around.

After all, he owed someone a drink and he hated drinking alone.
/////////////////////////////////////

[Provisional Ensign Lin Kae| Main Engineering| Vector 03| USS Theurgy] Attn: Nolan, Auctor Lucan

There was an intense pain in his lungs as he tried to breathe, it was almost like he was a fish stuck in an oven but he fought through the pain and tried to roll over onto his side, coughing hard as he did so as he noticed that he only had vision in one eye.

He tried to raise his right hand to see why he couldn't look through his left eye but found that he couldn't move that hand which felt heavy and numb at his side..the fact that it felt numb told him that the pain receptors was working but overloaded.

He looked around with his one good eye and saw that things were smoldering slightly before a huge wracking cough exploded from somewhere within him and it made him double over in pain as he quickly brought his good hand to his mouth and when he was done coughing he looked at it and saw the amount of crimson mixed within with other fluids.

"Not much time is there..." he muttered to himself as he forced himself to stand and then stumble over to a station that was still operational before he started inputting commands the best that he could with only one hand as he coughed some more but not like he did a couple of minutes before hand and what information started to come up surprised him and made him wince. "Thea, if you can dedicate any run time to run a type three radiation shield around the chief..that might help him just a little bit."

He had to stop talking as the effort to say all of that alone was enough to send him into another fit of coughing as he doubled over and this time the coughs where even louder and more painful and the man spat out a small stream of bloody fluids as he tried to gasp for breath.when the faint noises he heard behind him was close enough that he could turn to look at Doctor Duv from the Harbinger.

He allowed himself a moment to smile, it was a weak and pained thing but he was trying to show that he was happy somehow. "Hello Doctor..can you tell Cameron I tried?" he said in an attempt to be cheery through a damaged throat before another spasm of coughs hit him again.

[ Task Force Archeron | USS Archeron | Main Bridge ] Attn: All


The mystical field of stars around the starbase; the plethora of planets and the outlying nebula, it had all fallen dark as the star passed behind the planet the base orbited. The twilight battle was joined by an almost instantaneous arrival of an overwhelming show of force. It was a vast array of heavily armed starships exploding into existence - all dropping out of warp. Before them lay the mighty siege of Starbase 84, where both the USS Orcus and a Defiant-class ship designated the Chester had suffered extensive damage - both adrift. Parts of the starbase was also venting plasma, besieged by USS Theurgy.

The USS Archeron spearheaded the reinforcements, an Odyssey-class beast almost as big as the Theurgy, alongside three Sovereign-class ships; the Ark Royal, the First Minister and the Monarch. The the entire formation of the task force were twenty-four starships strong. Aboard the bridge of the fierce, formidable Archeron, Admiral Sankolov remained seated in the centre of the bridge. As he watched the viewscreen, he thought about how this this was made personal months ago; raging vendetta. He thought of the nigh destroyed Orcus on the screen, how it had come to their aid above Theta Eridani IV, and how Slayton had insisted to be their forerunner to Starbase 84.

"Admiral, we're entering weapons range." One of the crew told their Commanding Officer.

"Excellent," Sankolov said, standing up - the air of authority drawing the eye of the bridge crew. He brushed his hand over his uniform, as though wiping dust off of his insignia. It had been a long, gruelling hunt. One that had taken them far and wide. He had missed his chance to destroy the Theurgy many times, and he had no intention of making that mistake again. He had the full might of Task Force Archeron behind him, and Ives had yet to retreat and make a run for it. In fact, Sankolov had been surprised to see his adversary linger.

"This is Admiral Sankolov," he said, patched through to his companions in battle. "We are in striking distance of the Theurgy. For too long, Ives has evaded the long arm of our fleet. Today, it ends. I want your full attention. Move out on my mark."

Sankolov waited for his officer to give a nod, signalling that they all reported readiness. "Defiant-class ships, move forwards and encircle the Vector 01. You are going to box in and overwhelm the Helmet. Don't let it out of your sight."

"The Benjamin Sisko, the El Dorado, the Elizabeth, the Encounter and the San Paulo are all moving out, sir." From the enormous grouping, the five appointed ships broke free from the pack, moving at haste to engage.

"The Dauntless and Kusanagi, put yourself between the base and the Theurgy. The Supremacy and the Conquest, you handle the Sword. Ark Royal, First Minister and Monarch, focus fire on the Stallion. Everybody else, I want you to form a circle of containment around the battlefield. We must not let any fighters or any part of that wretched ship escape again."

"All ships moving out, sir."

At this, Sankolov stepped forth on the bridge, overlooking the oncoming battle on the viewscreen. From his view, his loyal ships were now obstructing the line of sight to the Theurgy and the Starbase. The Admiral put his hands behind his back, holding one hand with the other. This was where his kin's reckoning would be made. The outbreak of the Niga virus had not come about in the present timeline, so all that remained was to ensure the destruction of the Theurgy, and keep the Federation ignorant of their involvement. Even without the virus, the wars to end all wars could still be waged, and reduce everything to ashes.

"Admiral! There is a priority one message from Starbase 84, sent on all channels. Patching it through."

---

[ USS Theurgy | Main Bridge | Vector 01 ] Attn: All

Time was up, and the Archeron's fleet had arrived. Seeing their numbers being deployed, Ives could wait no longer for the boarding teams on the base to accomplish their mission. At least not with the forces available. They had one last chance, and he hoped their sacrifice was worth it. Anything for another minute, the simulcast due any given moment. The person named Hi'Jak had a good suggestion, all depending on the evidence available.

"Trent, send the Asurian signal, but don't leave them out there alone. Order whatever fighter elements that are left to aid our allies, but keep them close. Stark, decouple from the Resolve. Aisha, coordinate the reintegration sequence. Enter Standard Operation Mode as soon as possible, and be prepared to go to warp on my command."

Then, as if their prayers had finally been heard, the simulcast reached them from the starbase.

Yet... it was not quite the message Ives had made...

---

[ Priority Message | Starbase 84 | Emergency Fleet Simulcast Override System ] Attn: All

---

OOC: Next poster: Nolan.

[ Edena's Quarters > Main Bridge | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Joint Post by Nolan & Auctor Lucan. Attn: All

The message had been uploaded by one of the boarding teams, the simulcast sent. They had been unaware of the false content inside it, and by then, the first bits of it would be seen all over the entire Starfleet communications' network. Including, of course, the Theurgy. Jona Rez' lips - or Edena's - formed a small smirk as his objective was completed. Now, he would try to save the crew, depending on whether they'd listen.

Placing the PADD down in Edena's own quarters, Jona stood up and walked out into the corridor. The former SI officer marched his way to the turbolift as the Red Alert klaxon kept blaring. On his way to the lift, there were a few crewmates laying wounded on the floor. They did not see him, so he ignored them. When enemy fire hit the Vector, he shifted his weight to compensate, hardly missing a step.

Once he got off the turbolift, his sudden appearance on Deck 01 had been overlooked easily enough, as most of the focus laid with the unfolding battle, yet also seemingly nearing  its end. Without pausing, Jona walked into the security checkpoint. The guard stationed there stood up to restrict her access. "Sorry Miss Rez... I can't al-"

His sentence broke midway as Jona simply pulled out the hand phaser from behind his back and shot the guard on sight before he could finish. "That's quite all right. They'll want to hear this," he answered idly as he walked over to the station, made his security override, and gained access to the bridge.

As the message came to an end, the doors whooshed open at the bridge and Jona stepped inside. His weapon in Edena's hand was trained on Ives, and even if he was without real intent of shooting the Chameloid, it stopped whoever would raise arms against her.
 
There was a hectic atmosphere on the bridge in the wake of seeing the message, and Jona could virtually smell the panic of some bridge staff. "Ladies and gentlemen. Fellow crewmates," he opened up as he looked at the viewscreen, a frown on his forehead as he witnessed the magnitude of the battle taking place before him. Task Force Archeron was present, but moreover, saucer-like ships were decloaking and engaging Sankolov's fleet.

Rounding on the person that walked onto the bridge, Jien first saw that the person was armed, and then that it was Edena Rez, wearing a red-collared Starfleet uniform again. "Rez?" she asked, but then she realised who it truly was, and that made her change... to his male form. "Jona." It was not a question. As a Chameloid, Jien had a habit of studying other people, and the Trlll's bearing was not that of his past First Officer, but his tormentor in Starfleet Intelligence. Jien usually associated with Jona while in his male form, therefore he had changed.

"Are you the one behind this?" he barked at the Trill, since it was so apparent that Jona must have been the one to change the recording of the simulcast. Given what was at stake, Jien snapped a few orders to his bridge crew, not about to be intimidated by the Trill or his phaser. "Thea, send for guards. Trent, maintain transporter distance until all boarding parties are back, whatever it takes, but tell Wenn Cinn to maintain access until further notice. Stark, try to find a copy of the right recording, and then send it to him immediately."

At first Jona just shrugged, the person in the body of Edena was standing on the bridge and looking rather nonchalant. He was unimpressed by Ives' fury and commands. "Well, yes," was the response to whether or not he was behind the altered version of the simulcast and if it was Jona in control of Rez's body. Although Ives seemed to be pretty sure about that.
 
"To be fair, Jien... You shouldn't let Cinn try to desperately maintain access to the transmitter. In fact, Natalie can stop looking as well. There's no copy left of your original message. No personal logs from the crew either. There..." Jona paused as he swallowed and seemingly got a bit unbalanced in his stance, wavering a little before he could continue. "The dispersion of those personal entries would just have caused more pain and chaos. Especially with the message sent out today."

"Why?" snapped Jien and rounded on Jona Rez again, his face twisted in ire, "Have you been working with the enemy all along? Is this why you betrayed this crew? Is this why you meant to side with Declan Vasser? How could you do this to us?"

"Betrayed?" Jona sighed and shook his head. "No Jien, this was never about betrayal... It just seems that you lost sight to the bigger picture. You fail to see what damage your message would inflict on Starfleet. How can any officer - or former officer in my case - let you continue on this crusade?" It was time to call out the captain and his crew about their folly, and he looked between them all.

"You are all so self-obsessed about your innocence, which I can understand. Yet risking the lives of millions just to clear your names? Inciting war across the whole Federation just so that you can return home? It goes against your oaths as sworn officers of Starfleet. You were about to throw all the political factions in the galaxy into chaos, shedding doubt unto the heart of the Federation, leading to riots - the seeding a civil war just the beginning! The lives of countless civilians would be risked over the goal to unmask the infiltrators, whom we must presume have most of our higher commanding officers under their thumb! Just think ahead for once, and see the ramifications of your actions!"

He looked back towards Ives. "You have made a military decision to protect your ship and crew, but you are a Starfleet officer, Ives. Repeatedly, you have claimed to uphold these standards. We don't put civilians at risk, or even potentially at risk to save ourselves. Sometimes we lose the battle and sometimes our lives. But if we can't make that choice, then we can't wear this uniform. Yes, it will be horrible if we all died a gruesome death or got captured by these enemies, perhaps tortured to death. Who knows what they have in store for us? Nevertheless, you should stand down now, before it is too late. Raise the white flag of surrender."

Jona lowered his phaser. "Because rest assured... the version of the message sent out now is not all it seems. The encrypted truth will reach the right people, people who could make a difference and discretely change the tide of this development, instead of smashing the problem with a sledgehammer. You and your crew had to be made scapegoats, shifting the focus away from my contacts as they'll begin their work."
 
He looked around to the assembled bridge crew. "I hope you understand now, that your simulcast would only have endangered those you all sent messages to, crumbled all faith in the Federation Council and caused so much death that we'd be no better than the enemy. Ives has misled you all, but now, he will likely take the full blame just to shorten your sentences."

Ives stood there, hearing his past mentor speak of the bigger picture once more.  He had forsaken Starfleet Intelligence to end up a diplomat, peddled peace and mediated conflicts through the galaxy. He, if anyone, knew the risk. "Wars, as a rule, fall within the compass of history. They mark the pitch of competing powers, the end of some and the ascendancy of others - the ebb and flow of dominance across the millennia. Yet you have heard Acreth's words."
 
Jien stepped up to Edena Rez's possessed body, his calloused hands fists at his sides. "There is a war that all species in the galaxy have waged for so long they have forgotten the languages they first used to describe it. A war that makes mere skirmishes out of the destruction of empires. There is no name for this war, much less a name for this enemy. We cannot reference what transcends the short interval of our comprehension. This war began when our most ancient forerunners were little more than savages roaming the wilds, in an age before the first script was yet to be made. They seek Reverse-Creation; to revert everything to primordial ooze."

"Oh, come on now, shape-shifter! You truly believe the words of a mad woman? We all know she's been used as a pawn by the usurpers. She'll say anything that would work our hand into their agenda!" Jona replied as Ives came closer. "Even if this war has been raging since eternity, submerging our galaxy in war and destruction - chaos upon so many - why can't we even try to-"

"This enemy represent chaos, indeed, meaning to tear down all order and construct we have ever achieved. This war cannot be fought quietly... at the risk of your whispers falling silent. I knew the risks, and I meant to take them!" Ives said, admitting the knowledge of the risk, but justifying it, "The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, however inconvenient, and it's the guiding principle on which Starfleet was based. I will stand up and tell the truth about what has happened. Even though I have bartered for peace for years, despite how I know the cost of war, I will not have the call to arms silenced! I will smoke these snakes out into the open!"

Jona let out a vile Trill curse. "Do you even hear yourself?!" Jona replied with anger in his voice. In the background, across the viewscreen, explosions could be seen as the fighter elements and drones fought the opposition, outnumbered. The saucer fighters that had decloaked earlier was cutting hard into the opposition, firing beams that had some kind of graviton shear. Task Force Archeron was trying to hail them, Sankolov, most likely. Jona Rez wasn't finished.
 
"You're talking about the risk of a galactic war here! Unleashing it upon the rest of the galaxy, and as we both know, most of the races out there aren't ready for it. You will be asking for everyone out there to arm themselves to the teeth, to trust nobody. All the work that our exploratory vessels did will have been for naught. After this war, there will be no more trust, as you'll never know for sure who's one of the enemies and who isn't.
 
"Not to mention the fact that the infiltration probably started at weapons facilities or manufacturers, law or military instances! You're signing a death penalty for everyone out there!" Jona's stolen eyes were going over the present bridge crew as he shook Edena's head. "Surely some of you must understand that this plan will only lead to genocide and mass slaughter of innocents. There must be another way."

"There isn't. The enemy must be known in order to be fought," said Ives, unrelenting in his position "We knew of the Dominion, and therefore we could take measures. Now, we can't." Ignoring the phaser, Ives turned away from Rez, meaning to deal with the situation somehow.

The eyes of Edena's body came to rest on the Temporal Affairs Officer. "Morali... You of all persons should know what kind of destruction these usurpers have prepared for us. You of all should know what could lie ahead. Ives has brought you back from the dead, made you a new shell at the cost of lives of our fallen people. You better step up to live up to that expectation, stop him where he might be wrong. If not, who knows... perhaps you just volunteered in order to try and save your people, as much good as it did."

[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark and Lt. (jg) Sarresh Morali| Main Bridge | USS Theurgy - Vector 01 ]

"Standby, Captain," the voice of Sarresh Morali answered when Ives ordered him to look at the new evidence on Hawthorne, but he never looked up.. He didn't allow himself to be distracted. "Pulling the details now; there's a lot here. And yes, I already decrypted it." Sarresh snapped off in response to the voice over the coms. He had to focus; this could be the linchpin, what allowed Ives and his crew to change the tide, if they could prove it....

But for Natalie, it was much harder to ignore what was happening. The viewscreen seemed to swell with the wreckage of the Orcus - even across the vacuum of space the COps could see plasma fires flickering across its mangled hull. They had done that to a sister ship. True, that ship would have done the same or worse, but she had helped, along with everyone else. It was her help with the release of the Resolve's's warp core that had stripped away both the carrier ships shields and ablative armor, and allowed Cmdr. Trent's torpedo barrage to do so much crippling damage. It had been what was needed. It had been what was needed. Over and over, she reminded herself of that, and summoned up some of the steel she'd gained in her spine from her command of the Allegiant days earlier.

And now Task for Acheron was back, or would be, in mere moments. She agreed with the XO - the Resolve had to be let go, and fast. So when Ives gave the order, she turned her attention to that, blocking out everything else, save the sound of her name - always keyed in to that - and began to work in tandem with Lt. S'iti to make sure they were able to drop the Luna-class hull in a way that would keep it from slamming into any of the other vectors. The angled the vector between the two of them, Natalie routing power to the tractor beams again, while Aisha did the hard work of piloting the ship. As the viewscreen began to fill with the warp flashes of the incoming task force, Natalie cut the umbilical cord power to the Resolve from there, physics took over. Even in a vacuum, inertia was a thing. And with the tractor beams no longer holding vessel in place, the Resolve shot forward on a trajectory away from the Helmet, which Lt. S'iti pulled into an impressive come about maneuver, looping it back in towards its other vectors - just in time for both women to look up in shock at the image of their shirtless captain.

Fear gripped Natalie, a it tended to when she witnessed Ives male form - especially half dressed. But this - this was wrong, this was so, so much worse than that primal fear she had been fighting. Gasps filled the bridge as the message that was given - oh no. This was supposed to be their vindication. Their warning to the galaxy. Their one chance to clear their names and save the Federation from the threat within. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest, faster and faster. What had happened? How, how could it go so horribly wrong.

She failed to notice the sliding doors opening from the security checkpoint at the back of the bridge. Neither did Lt. S'iti. Both women were too stunned to do anything at all. But she couldn't fail to hear the sudden rush from security. Phasers snapped up, but to no avail, for Edena Rez already had the Captain in her sight.

Sarresh edged closer to the Trill from his console, eyes wide in shock at everything going on. It had all gone wrong, and now this? A new traitor in their midst? His eyes seemed to dart about, shock and surprise crawling across his face. He could feel eyes, all over the bridge, on Rez but - but one guard was eyeballing him. He froze up, swallowing, eyeballing the - the officer was young. Non com. Security giving him a look. Fine, can't move, made sense. Guard didn't want him moving, getting in the way. Sarresh could respect that.

Natalie snapped out of her stunned state and turned her attention to her console. Rez claimed there was no copy of the proper transmission file, but she wouldn't believe the Trill. Not without looking herself. Sure, there was a chance the Trill was telling the truth, but Natalie was one of the most talented forensic computer experts on the ship - it came with the job of being in charge of Operations. She knew her way around a computer system. Maybe, just maybe, she could recover the file.

She didn't listen to Rez justification, just moved to verify what the Trill said she had done, had actually happened. She turned back, looking at the captain and and swallowing the fear that rose up at his current form. But as Rez laid the blame of a future civil war at their feet, Natalie found she couldn't speak up. She didn't dare break the captains focus.

Next to her, Lt. S'iti finally began to execute the oders she'd been given prior - they needed to come out of MVAM, and crazy Trill or not, she had a job to do. Scaled fingers flew across the console, but the vectors were still far, far to distant from one another. And with all that was going on, she couldn't open a channel to tell them to change course.

Sarresh watched as the Trill and the shapeshifter argued back and forth. This wasn't supposed to be how it went, was it? Those eyes narrowed, and his fingers curled on the top of his science console. Too far away to do anything, even if there was almost nothing he could actually do. He was a scientist, not security - though he did remember that moment, in the sickbay, taking out the assault team of mutineers...Of course, he had neither phaser nor medical tool turned impromptu weapon on hand.

The eyes of Edena's body came to rest on the Temporal Affairs Officer. "Morali... You of all persons should know what kind of destruction these usurpers have prepared for us. You of all should know what could lie ahead. Ives has brought you back from the dead, made you a new shell at the cost of lives of our fallen people. You better step up to live up to that expectation, stop him where he might be wrong. If not, who knows... perhaps you just volunteered in order to try and save your people, as much good as it did."

Those enhanced eyes of his went wide in shock, Sarresh's mouth dropping open. Aware of every single set of eyes on him, the would be human swallowed his shock. He had made a promise to Ives, and now was the time to live up to it. He  ignored the taste of bile in the back of his throat at the reminder of his mission, the failure to save Amikris, the cost, the likely death of his former species. He thought of what would happen if the parasites were left unchecked. What would happen to Ryuan Sel right now if they didn't get the teams off the starbase. What Rez had done to their chances... " Just how pathetic are you. You died a long time ago, Jona Rez. You should give up your ghost act and leave this matter to the living."

Faster than even he thought possible, the same guard that had eyeballed Sarreh wiped his phaser around from behind his back, shouting out, "How Dare you try to subvert the will of Morali!" Every face on the bridge turned, almost as one, to watch as the young man depressed the firing stud and a beam blasted the Trill off her feet. "Morali's will be done!"

"Noooooo!" Cried out Sarresh, staring, mouth agape as some kid, some wet behind the ears boy shouted obscenities at the Trill, all in his name. The devotee scowled, realizing that Edena - Jona, whatever - was still a threat. He had forgotten to change the setting! Hastily, he thumbed the power bar over, swinging it to the far right and increasing the deadliness of the beam. He hadn't killed Rez outright, though the shot was deadly all the same - but she could retaliate, and that could not be allowed. "I won't let you stop him, I won't let you hurt Morali!" The die-hard cultist cried out, just as the rest of the security guards slammed into their young colleague.

The guard's hand clamped down over the would be hero's hand, squeezing, trying to push the phaser up and a way, clear the immediate threat to the crew. But the guard, he clamped down too hard, and his targets thumb depressed the firing stud even as he pushed the attacker - the boy, really, so very young - out of the way, twisting them about. The searing hot beam lashed out, far too low to fail to miss someone, though not at all in the direction the non com fanatic had originally intended.

For Lt. S'iti, there was no chance to duck, no chance to get away - and perhaps most mercifully no pain. The angry orange beam struck with deadly force to the back of the Cardassian woman's head, the energy ripping through her scaled skull, searing her synapsis. She was dead before her body crashed against the helm, and then slid down to the bridge floor. The vector lurched to one side, adrift on its course back to the rest of the Theurgy, the ship flying without input. Sarresh stared on in horror - Rez had been shot, and so had their pilot, by some fanatic that thought he was....was what? A God? A savior? A damned fool is what he was.

Sparing no time to watch Lt. Cmdr. Stark react in horror to another helm officer being blow away as she stared on, helpless yet again, Sarresh lept across his console, skidding over to the wounded Trill. The dying Trill.  Even not at the maximum setting, the damage - from the phaser bolt, the impact, or both, had been done.

"Answer me!" Sarresh pleaded, gripping Rez by the hem of her shirt - Jona was the one in charge but it was Edna who was dying. "Who are they? You've just damned us all so you can tell me, right now." Anger, guilt, need, they all swirled around in Sarresh's gut. Blood stained his fingers, the knees of his uniform, polling under Rez as he shook her, but Sarresh didn't care. Those stolen eyes of his read out the woman's injuries - she wouldn't survive. The symbiont might, but there was no time to wait. He needed to know - he needed to make it right. This was all his fault. "Who is it that is listening. Who is it that is going to hear that's fucking mess of a message you sent and understand that we aren't traitors. Who is going to keep the parasites from controlling the Federation? Who is going to trust us. WHO DAMMIT!?"

[ Lt.Com. Martin | Conference Lounge > Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Mathis, everyone on the conference lounge, Theurgy bridge crew,
[Show/Hide]

For Martin, it was as if everything had suddenly turned upside-down, the fact that Ives was evidently a shapeshifter being the least of her worries. In such a short span, the identity of the Asurian signal had been revealed, an entire fleet had warped in, the Orcus was crippled, and then... the message. A terrible message, one of a radical movement which almost convinced Martin that the ship was full of traitors after all. But that was not the end of this sudden insanity. As it became clear that the message was not the intended broadcast, Martin peeled herself away from the wall to better focus and monitor the developments on the bridge. What information could have been contained in the true message? What was this about infiltrators? Who was this mysterious Trill threatening everyone?

The questions sent Martin's head spinning, like a maelstrom of terror and quandaries. She closed her eyes, tried to pull her thoughts together. She was a scientist, she could work through this logically. Opening her eyes again, Martin returned her attention to the bridge just in time to see disaster unfold. As the searing orange phaser beam flared into existence, time seemed to slow. She felt like she was moving through water as she broke into a sprint, spurred on by some base impulse to somehow desperately avert impending disaster. The few seconds it took for her to reach the door of the conference lounge seemed to stretch on forever, as both the trill and the helm officer fell.

Pausing, Martin swore and quickly shouted to Derik, "Veradin! Quick, with me, the helm officer is down, they might need you!" before before she bolted out to the bridge, briefly letting the nearby security guard know that Derik was a CONN officer. But upon arriving, the sight before her told her that she was too late, the damage had already been done.

---

[ F'Rell of the Twelfth House | Battle Sickbay | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Auctor
[Show/Hide]F'Rell pondered the computer's- no, an AI? Was the Federation making improvements in positronics? Regardless, the words it spoke resonated within her. She had tried to avoid thinking about it too much, but it occurred to her that many of her recently made friends would not return again. As the realization hit her she sank slightly, growing closer to the floor of the deck.

"I see." she acknowledged. She did not even bother with trying to add any sort of inflection or tone to the translation, for now she simply preferred to collect her thoughts. "Liam Herrold..." she uttered slowly, "I think that we should perhaps find the others. The others who are still alive. It might be helpful to find out who is still with us."

She paused, considering that perhaps Liam might also wish to spend time by K'Ren's side a bit more. She wasn't quite sure how humans handled this sort of thing, as a T'Fanrell she was used to relationship collectives commiserating together, though she had learned that most humanoids tended to express friendships or shared passion in a singular nature. Trying her best, she spoke again. "If you would like to remain here with K'Ren I can leave you with her if it is better that way."

She hoped that was the right thing to say. The thought also occurred at the back of her mind that it might be wise to locate some form of sustenance, as she was reaching the limit of what she could regenerate and feeling somewhat woozy. "Either way, I fear I must go, I need to find some way of healing myself."

[ Lt. JG Suq | Conference Lounge | U.S.S. Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Conference Lounge [Show/Hide]When Suq arrived, the conference room was filled with people that he knew, but did not wish to speak to just yet. The impact of what was happening was still settling in his mind. This was supposed to be a good day. They were to come home, cry and hug and celebrate, sleep in comfortable beds, have a real, cooked meal, and walk about without the fear of something sudden and dramatic happening to them.

He pressed his back against the wall, near a corner, and looked at the vid-feed of the Theurgy's bridge and the war on its viewscreen. It almost felt like a dream or hallucination, something so surreal that it couldn't be true. But he had hallucinated before. Like all youth, he'd taken psychoactive drugs in his time, and he knew what a hallucination felt like. This was painfully, frighteningly real. He had to look down at the carpet. If he threw up, he'd rather direct the vomit towards his own feet, not towards the conference table.

“Our captain isn't coming, Ensign. He did what was necessary to protect our family.” He heard the words. He didn't want to. Hearing them out loud made it real. Kendrick was gone. Suq should have taken his place. The chief of engineering should have died doing his job, in engineering, like he's supposed to. He could have made up for the warp core's deaths. He could have re-balanced the scales. He felt a cold sweat on his body, his frightened mind thought the liquid was blood.

When he looked up again, he could not believe the number of ships he saw. Previously, there had not been that many. Now, it seemed an entire task force was there. Even a powerhouse like the Theurgy couldn't stand her own against a task force. Before he could think, his attention snapped to the priority message from the Starbase. That message sealed his beliefs. He should have never followed orders and allowed himself to be placed on a traitor ship. He should have stayed in engineering. He'd die here anyways, either at the hands of his new captors or at the guns of the task force. But what about everything he had seen? The data on his PADD? The voice he had heard that was so clear and familiar? What was this video about? What was going on?

Suq's whole body shook, he had to sit down on the floor to steady himself. His head buzzed at a million miles per minute. He felt the overwhelming power of his own death looming over him. Perhaps he had already died and was just dreaming. Was he even real? Why was it so hard to breathe?

None of these thoughts and experiences had happened to Suq before. The Efrosian had always performed unusually well under pressure. There had been many times he was close to death, but none of them felt like this, like he was drowning in all the new stimuli coming through. Shouting from the Theurgy's captain and some Trill. He couldn't keep up. There was just too much. Now, there was even fighting on the bridge on the screen, people dying.

As Suq ducked his head between his legs, trying to drown out some of what was happening, he missed a spectacular flash of green-blue light that lit up the whole view of the battlefield...

---

[ Chief Marshal Akri Sitaio | A.R.B. K'thill | Outside the Battlefield ] Attn: All [Show/Hide]Chief Marshal Sitaio stood in the cockpit of her MK IV Overseer, outfitted with six deflector dishes. Her hands folded behind her back, her body tense, her face stuck in a wild grin as she surveyed the battle before her. Yes, the Federation was quite a sight in battle. They fought with a level of organization and order, and with a ferocity and passion. Any Asurian could find the blend admirable, to say the least. There would be epics written about the Theurgy alone, though it was hard to say what sort of masterpieces would be written about the battle.

The Chief Marshal's ship-mates, a gunman and a communications officer, stood at their positions, readying themselves for battle. The electric excitement in the air was tangible. Tails whipped about. The silence was deafening.

Before them, under the command of the Chief Marshal, lay the power of fifty-seven Asurian vessels. Their Ventrak cloaking, a type of cloaking unique to the Sheromi alone, made them almost perfectly invisible. Three squadrons of nineteen saucers each laid in their respective positions: One above the battlefield, squadron Ket; Two below, Ter and Aut. Packed in the hulls of squadron Ket were metal garbage, used ship waste, and a few mines scavenged from ships they'd pirated long before the battle. Packed in the hulls of squadrons Ter and Aut were the finest pilots and gunners the Asurians could offer.

Each and every ship practically vibrated with the exact same tension. This was their shining moment. They had promised this Captain Ives thirty fighters, but who were they to avoid battle? It had taken some all-out fighting to settle that the whole Asurian fighter force would not follow them to Starbase 84. As for what was happening, Sitaio concerned herself not. She did not care for the communications between the Starfleet vessels. That was for the higher Asurians to decide, perhaps the Sheromi. She had her pointed ear out for one message only, the sign they all waited for.

Sitaio heard her communications officer stir. His tail whipped about as he made the announcement. “We've got the signal. They call for aid at last. Theurgy tactical is transmitting signatures for their ally fighters. I'm spreading the word." The male looked up to see a wicked grin and wild eyes on their leader's face. All knew that the one named Ives would not call unless absolutely required, out of respect for the Asurian people. They were just about to make first contact, and a lasting first impression it would be.

"And so it starts!" Sitaio barked."Flight Marshal Hollu Neleo, squadron Ter, begin swarming. Focus on taking down their shields. Archeron, Ark Royal, First Minister and Monarch are all priority targets. Be swift about it."

On the small screen below her eyes, one Hollu Neleo, a wizened older gentleman with broad shoulders and wide horns appeared. His sharp face came to life as he he spoke - a voice that had commanded hundreds of battles before. [It is as you've commanded, Chief!] He replied to his commanding officer's orders, and he patched his voice through to his squadron. [Steady on your paths, pilots! Victory will come to the Neleo. Show them Asuria!] Before the Sitaio closed the feed, he saw how he narrowed on the Theurgy. She imagined he thought of Sar-unga, and meant to protect her at all cost.

At once, the nineteen saucers of Ter decloaked and shot forth. They flew up in graceful spirals and curves, weaving between debris and ships as if they had choreographed the death-defying dance a hundred times. Their deflector shields lit up, brilliant blue-green flaring as they charged and then fired their graviton beams at the shielding systems of all the larger ships. Some saucers were firing more than one beam at the time, targeting multiple starships. The Federation ships lit up with the same striking blue green as their shields could not repel the unexpected energy. The green beams disrupted their shields, pierced in seconds alone, and caused severe damage through the resulting gravimetric shear.

The saucers moved quickly, and each of them in their own direction as the individual pilot saw fit, there was no true way to predict the flight path of the swarm. There was no formation, no organization, nothing to predict except chaos. Some flew over the task force and back down again, some remained below. All of them went wherever they damn well pleased. On the viewscreen aboard the K'thill, the Chief Marshal's face lit up with the blue-green light displayed nearly everywhere. Her pilots had swarmed like this many times before, only never before in the Alpha Quadrant. It had worked so many times before during pirating. This was, for them, like practice. Their targets were large. That was the only difference, and it did not concern her. Their power as a group would not be reduced if they managed to hit one or two saucers down.

"Flight Marshal Aris Sareto, prepare squadron Ket. As soon as they move to counter Ter, that will be your cue. Target the lesser ships. Push them into one another. You have permission to ram. Kinetic shields up as soon as cloaking goes down. Pay attention to those called 'Defiants'. They are small and powerful, like us. If you can pierce the command center of a ship, you must."

Aris Sareto, a towering wall of a man sat at the controls of his ship, in the background of the screen before Sitaio. He was fortunate enough to have a communications officer to answer for him, while he gave out his own orders. [It is as you say,] said the officer, Sareto speaking in the background. Below the task force, the Ket squadron uncloaked. Before moving, their kinetic shielding came up, a shimmering of light that seemed far too thick to be the same as the Federation shielding. They took longer to spring into action as their shielding reached full power. All nineteen saucers went screaming past the Theurgy, glowing discs flinging out the end of some invisible railgun. The grace of Ter squadron was just not here. As enemy shields weakened, saucers from Ket squadron flung themselves at full speed towards the hulls of those starships, sometimes nudging the smaller ships far too close to the hulls of larger ones. Favored targets included pylons between nacelles and ships. Their new ally, shapshifter Jien Ives, had told them to take advantage of these structural weaknesses, which albeit being a non-lethal way, was rather quick and effective.

Sitaio paused to see this, before speaking to the last squadron. "Flight Marshal Auria Neleo, Squadron Aut, if your squadron has not activated their mines, do so now. Prepare for disposal. We will not carry a single piece of garbage home. Victory is Asuria!"

[It is as you command!] An energetic voice replied. In the pilot's seat sat Auria Neleo, a young, sprightly man. A nearly-identical man with a nearly-identical voice manned the controls in a seat next to him. Unlike the other ships, no one could stand in the lab section of the saucer, which was soon to be exposed to the vacuum of space. Auria and his brother Nuria worked in silent symphony. There were no two warriors who united as well as they, and Sitaio knew it. [Let's bring 'em down!].

Aut squadron swooped down from above. This squadron had a flight pattern, as they smeared garbage across the field just in front of the task force. Chunks of satellites and abandoned communications towers, bio-waste, carcasses, empty containers, warp core components, plasma waste in barrels, scraps of metal, old fuel, chunks of furniture and firewood, powders of unnamed substance, and damaged storage containers began to litter the field. If it could fit in a saucer, it was dumped. Hidden among the garbage were mines.

They could hardly be called mines in the legal sense, though. Although some were gravitic mines, scavenged from leftover battles, most were simple homemade bombs strapped to a proximity sensor, hidden in crates and barrels and inside half-constructed cabinets left to drift among the garbage. The area just in front of the task force was dangerous to travel - even for saucers. If the garbage and explosives did not meet the hull of a ship, or the shields, the deflectors would trigger the explosives before being pushed aside. It was a tactic the Asurians took full advantage of.

And so the tides of battle drew in, revealing a force unknown to the Federation. Their signal read as alien, their communications difficult to decipher, their weaponry and their cloaking unlike anything seen before. In every heart - beating wild - and in every great warrior piloting their saucers, they knew one thing.

This day, Akri Sitaio thought, glory comes to the Theurgy. Victory is Asuria.

---

[Show/Hide]_{Much thanks to Lucan for writing with me for this post!! It's a real pleasure!}

[ USS Resolve Wreckage | Adrift ] Attn: All

Since being cut loose, the Resolve drifted silently in space. It's life support exhausted, it's shields gone. The engines dead. The hull of the abandoned ship was in every sense of the word a graveyard. A tomb in space ready to be pulled apart and decommissioned. During the priority message, the inertia from having been cut free from the Theurgy caused the ship to drift a considerable distance, small pieces of debris flaking and breaking off from where there had once been a nacelle.
 
Then, as Task Force Archeron deployed its forces around the starbase, the Aerowing broke decoupled from the Resolve's saucer section. The small ship was suddenly at full power, it's shields charged from it's earlier encounters. Aboard it, there was a single life sign. The shuttle's tractor beam caught a loose partition of Resolve's hull, pushing the broken section of the saucer upwards like a shield. It started to make a run towards Starbase 84.

[Captain Tristan Kendrick | Aerowing ]

Kendrick could hardly think of a worse day than the one he had been having. A whole task force had followed the renegade Captain Ives, and by the sound of the priority communication sent out moments prior, he may have just handed over his crew to a mad shapeshifter. A shapeshifter with strange allies, it seemed, since a new force of saucer-like fighters were decloaking and attacking the task force. He was too weary to be surprised by it.

The Aerowing had been in low power mode, drifting with the wreckage of his former ship, laying in wait. Only two systems had been active as it drifted in the cold void of space to draw as little energy and attention as possible. The environmental controls heated the small bridge of the Aerowing, and the communications system. Every unregulated form of communication that came from the Starbase 84 was being filtered and listened too. He had one target left in this world that had any weight to him one thing that could bring him piece and he just needed a voice in the dark.

Then he heard it. The voice of the only traitor that mattered. "Computer, two to beam to Shuttle Bay 5-C," and the automatic reply that denied him that request. Kendrick smiled, locking onto that single line, Hawthorne was trying to run. He triangulated the source in a couple of seconds.  Kendrick cut the communications feed once he had the location and turned the ship to full power, there would be no hiding anymore, if Hawthorne was getting ready to run, then it was time to cast off the remains of the Resolve and make his charge.

His crew out of reach, and in the hands of a traitor. His ship in tatters, destroyed by a different traitor. Everyone on the verge of a fight they couldn't win, and here he was... a man half dead and yet somehow still breathing. Kendrick was done with speeches. They hadn't solved his problem earlier, and the last one he had made which had proclaimed Hawthorne's intentions had been lost with the Resolve before it could be sent or transmitted. There was nothing more he could do to clear the name of himself or any of the crew. But Hawthorne needed to be stopped, and now that he had a location and a ship. He could force his way into the starbase, and make sure that Hawthorne paid for all the crimes he had committed against the Federation.

When he had reached to the Aerowing, he didn't know how long ago it was, he had raided it for every medical supply he could find. His body was laid to waste by radiation, with a large amount of burns covering his body. He had lost some of the thickness in his hair from the initial exposure, and currently sustained himself with a mixture of painkillers and steroids that no doctor would have prescribed. It was only through his background he knew what he could inoculate without loosing consciousness.

He made no effort to contact the Theurgy. Whatever side the traitor Captain was on, he knew there wasn't anything he could add to that fight. While he was sick of traitors, he had already chosen to side with that one, and his crew was aboard. There was, however, one thing he could do. The same objective that had made him decide to leave Marquez behind. As the Aerowing broke off from the battle around it, using a part of the Resolve's hull as a shield to avoid detection and block stray phaser fire, Kendrick soon deactivated the tractor beam, breaking off to head for a singular objective. Starbase 84. He had thought he'd have to penetrate it's shields somehow, but just as he came into range...

...the shields in his way dropped. Little did he know that one of the Theurgy's boarding teams had cleared his path. However it happened he was grateful for it.

With Starbase 84's shields down, Kendrick made a silent thank you for whatever had happened, and he armed his ship's full complement of micro-torpedoes. He fired away, his launchers coughing ordinance into the hull. Once they had all been spent, still not slowing down, he used his pulse phaser cannons against the small target area. Air and debris vented against the Aerowing's deflector field, and before any structural integrity shielding could be raised, Kendrick's small ship burst through the hull of the starbase and into the atmospherically pressurized recreational dome - the sight of grass and the Executive Officer Complex tower filling the viewscreen.

The ship shuddered at the sudden switch between impulse and atmospheric flight, the systems compensating for the change. Kendrick had to steel himself against a shot of pain and try to keep control of the ship as it made ascended towards the EOC tower in the center of the dome. He chuckled for a moment, his ship likely visible through the windows that overlooked the usually peaceful promenade. He opened a comm line to the Command Center at the top floor. His dry cracked voice and video display would likely show just how ready for the grave his body was at this point. His dying yet satisfied grin would tell anyone still left in Ops exactly what was about to happen. "Going somewhere, Hawthorne?"

With words of the past echoed, Kendrick closed his eyes. With the shields down, Ives crew could beam out. He could point his ship firmly at the one traitor who had destroyed his ship, killed members of his crew, and worse, would sent the entire Federation into war. A traitor who with the chaos of the day could very likely be called a hero for his actions, but he would not live to see the next day. He would not get to continue selling Starfleet secrets, befouling the institution that Kendrick had held dear, and throw the Alpha Quadrant into the greatest war ever witnessed.

Kendrick would be a dead man, but he would go down content that at least one traitor could do no further harm.

He opened fire into the Command Center, shattering transparent aluminium glass and tearing the area apart with his pulse phasers.

[ MCPO Nolak Kalmil | Main Engineering | Vector 03 |  USS Theurgy ]

Master Chief Kalmil, stood at the computer station next to the warp core working multiple tasks. He made adjustments to the ships internal scanners and had been contacting random crew members using their communication badge nearest to spots he needed immediate repairs. Sometimes he got lucky and contacted someone who knew what to do, and how to do it. Mostly he had to ‘talk walk’ the crew member through the repair procedure. While at the same time he was monitoring the overall ship’s power output. 

His years of experience and focus on certain fields in the Engineering Core, he was particularly good at shield/power distribution. So, by now he was probably driving the Battle Bridge crazy by powering down shielding one side of the ship and beefing it up in another side then back, as the battle ebbed and flowed in an almost fluid like motion. As he did this he was also slowly retracing Ensign Lin Kae’s path through the coding looking for that glitch, which had somehow had unfixed it’s self. Then he found it, the virus.

He was fascinated by it, the coding was amazing, a self evolving decoder/rewriter. If he had the time he could spend hours just browsing through each line and marvel and learn at how well this was scripted. But time was not on his side. There was no way he could delete or stop this virus at the moment, but he could confuse it and keep it busy for hours as he isolated the glitch. Using every code scrambler and decrypt program he knew of, he instructed Thea to ‘attack’ the virus by spamming it with new scrambled codes for it figure out. On one level he knew he was creating a digital monster the longer its core programming ran, but the 'off switch' was located deep within Thea’s core memory bank, or deeper in her prositronic brain. Which happened to be on another Vector in another part of the battle. Yet this digital baby was a far simple fix compared to just staying alive. It’s another problem for another day, an average day in the life of an Engineer Officer, he thought to himself. For the moment the virus became ‘entertained’ playing scramble games with Thea. With the virus distracted there’s a sudden boost to shield power and deflection abilities. Even better news, the entire ship is now engulfed in its protective bubble.

He made a personal log of his finding and encrypted it on an isonliner chip from his tool belt, just in case he doesn’t make it. He taped the chip onto the computer panel. As he glanced back to the Tactical display, suddenly the relief fleet began popping upon the scanners. He looked at it for only a couple seconds before saying out loud, “We are going to need more power. Thea, old girl you’ve got the controls again, try to keep us in one piece. I’ve got to tickle your upper matter injector nodes now. Tweak them and recalibrate, that should boost your power output by about 20%. How long is another issue.” He paused for a second and looked up to the top of the warp chamber and the long ladder climb up. “If the radiation doesn’t kill me, this climb up will. Wish me luck, besides if I’m still lucky, I have some Thorian brandy hidden up there, which is rumored to help aid people with radiation sickness. If nothing else, I’ll get shit face drunk, so it won’t matter anyways with this armada fleet here to turn us into plasma dust.”

Nolak flipped the intercom switch to the battle bridge, “Chief here, enjoy the shields while you still have them, I’m returning shield distribution back into your hands. Keep us in one piece. I need to repair something and will be away from the computer. Over.” He closed the channel and gave the computer station a loving pat before heading to the ladder. Nolak, gingerly took his left arm out from the makeshift sling and braced himself for the painful climb ahead of him.

[ Ens. Derik Veradin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Derik_Veradin) | Conference Room & Bridge, Vector 1 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]

Derik's head spun as way too many things suddenly seemed to be happening right on top of each other. There was joy and relief at seeing Suq arrive to the conference room. Worry about Liam and other members of their family still unaccounted for, most likely dead now. Surprise, horror, and confusion with the combined simulcast message and what had just occurred on the bridge. He didn't know enough of the players, and he was having trouble trying to process all of it. Were they on a ship full of traitors to the Federation like the message had said? The Theurgy crew seemed as surprised as he was at the message's content, so was it a mistake? Were they all about to die at the hands of the newly arrived Task Force? What in the hell were those saucer ships that had shown up to help them? "Fuck my life," he said without even realizing it until it'd been said.

Luckily, he was conditioned to follow orders and well-practiced at shutting out everything else when he had a job to do, and Martin had blessedly provided him with that. She was one of his remaining ranking officers and had ordered him into the Theurgy's bridge and to, he assumed, take over the CONN. All other thoughts and emotions were shoved aside as he ran after Martin, into the room that was still feeling the after shocks of the murders that had just been committed. Martin assessed the previous Theurgy helmsman, but Derik could already tell from the look in the Cardassian's eyes that she was gone.

Derik looked to Ives and Trent as he made his way to the CONN, wanting to see if either would order him to stop. Neither did, and the Theurgy was flying at considerable speed in the middle of a battle without a pilot, so Derik took the seat without any further hesitation. He was worried for a split second that maybe the Theurgy's controls would be all different than the Resolve's, and while there were minor differences, likely his predecessor's personal tweaks, he recognized the layout and quickly took the ship under his control. He took the ship into a set of complex turns to avoid some debris and make their way toward the other vectors, something he noticed they had been trying to do up until now. Traitors or not, he was on this ship and he was going to do his damnedest to keep them all alive.

A somewhat crazed grin broke out on his face, he'd been wanting not to feel useless. What was the famous phrase, be careful what you wish for?

[ Dr. Lucan cin Nicander & Heather McMillan | Corridors | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Joint Post by Triage & Auctor Lucan
 
They entered the Science Department's area on Vector 02. Since they'd left Acreth's carnage behind, Dr. Nicander had already removed his hand from Heather McMillan's eyes. The Temporal Observatory Lab was just down the corridor, lined with the Red Alert lighting. The Vector continued to shake from enemy fire, and Lucan was not too far away from the Radiant in case she'd fall. Odd, how he came to care for her well-being so naturally when the darkness in his soul had subsided. Heather might not have expelled the demon from his mind entirely, but well enough for him to regret his actions. The carnage they had just stepped through struck a chord within him, knowing keenly that it was his fault they'd died. The shame of it was altogether new, and if he dwelt on it, he knew he'd been unable to continue. It was the crisis at hand that pushed him to continue, instead of succumbing underneath the weight of his actions.
 
"Thea," he said, looking around, "where's Security?"
 
[The closest guards are still three minutes away. There are hull breaches on my decks above and below yours, limiting access.]
 
So that's what almost made us fell back into the chute of the Jefferies tubes, thought Lucan, clenching his jaw. Dared they wait? Could the-
 
[Warning. My internal sensors detect an increase of chronometric particles inside the lab. Ensign Acreth is creating an artifical temporal vortex.]
 
No...
 
Lucan looked towards Heather. How might he convince her? "The Calamity came through a rift in the space-time continuum, sent by her kind," he said, the urgency in his voice no fabrication. The Vector shook again from enemy fire. "She could be bringing something through! We have to stop her... There is no time to wait!"
 
McMillan's face was contorted with despair and resignation. "Yes, doctor," said the young woman. She could only imagine what horrific thing Acreth was bringing along this time. Hadn't the crew of the Theurgy suffered enough? The Calamity was bad enough, then there was the unexpected mutiny which finally exposed her to the crew at large. She barely weathered another tremor, leaping like a frightened rabbit, and somehow keeping a hold on the doctor.
 
She tried to consider what she could do to help the doctor and stop Acreth without violating her pacifism and non-violent code. "Let me go first," she finally thought of something, "maybe I can surprise her with a flash of light."
 
She paused in her thought, because Lucan was already trying to get the door open, the control panel not responding. Acreth had sealed herself in. Seconds were lost as he tore open then panel and tried the manual release for the doors, but she had jammed it from the inside. He cut his tattooed hand in the attempt, but he hardly felt it - the adrenaline thick in his veins. "Stand back," he said, holding out his arm before Heather to make her back away a bit, and he closed his eyes. He opened his zinaaq to the elements around him, his abilities to channel them so diminished from when he had lived on Câroon. With great effort, he found the focus despite his inner turmoil, and he pulled the energy from Thea's EPS grid inside him, making the lights flicker in the corridor. He opened his eyes, and they were lit by the energy he held in the structure of his seven zinaaq. He had funnelled the energy inside him, the fiery conflagration of plasma merely another shape of Fire that he could wield. And he did, because holding it was difficult, and releasing it was a necessity for survival.
 
He stepped forth and put his hand on the bulkhead next to the door, and he unleashed the energy upon the hinges inside.
 
McMillan retreated a little, having seen a similar display like this not too long ago, she knew that the Câroon doctor had abilities of his own, just like her. Of course, he could do far more damage than she ever could, but she rather wished he didn't have to. Despite having seen it before, this spectacular display of power and ferocity terrified the Radiant, who was pressing herself against the bulkhead and half-cowering. The plasma discharge was new, and the result was quite impressive.
 
The doors had given way...completely. The one on the right had shaken loose from its place, and fell inward. If Acreth was in there, there was no way she didn't hear that. There was no element of surprise left, and where was Maya? McMillan kept her eyes open for the Vulcan. However, the door on the left fell outwards, towards herself and Nicander, shocking the Radiant until she realized she had all but jumped into the doctor's arms in a panic. Nicander was busy himself, shielding his eyes from his actions, and as the smoke arose from all the destruction, McMillan began to cough, her sensitive nose suffering from the stench of burning metal.
 
Braving himself to face what he knew was inside, Lucan raised his head and stepped through the breached side of the sliding doors, entering the Temporal Observatory Lab. He could but hope they weren't too late. The winds have mercy...
 
McMillan, of all things, recklessly ventured forward, squinting at the smoke, her eyes glowing in a swirl of colours, whilst her palms began to light up, also swirling with colours and constantly moving, shifting. She placed herself ahead of Nicander, and to one side, semi-shielding him, and at the same time not obstructing him completely. She was instinctively bending the light around her. Aside from her fists and her eyes, the rest of her body seemed to be there one moment, and gone the next, with smoke and sparks shielding her from view further. Now where was Acreth and where was Maya?

[Doctor Hayden O'Connor| Isolation Ward 02| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]

Like the Klingon nurse, Hayden was surprised when Hylota slapped him. She didn't condone the expression of violence, but she understood the frustration that preceded it. O'Connor knew the male nurse was under a lot of stress, personal as well as professional, but like Hylota, the counselor thought of him as a professional capable of doing his job under extreme stress. After all, he had reached out to assist Hylota when her labor began, so Hayden had hoped he would be in the right frame of mind, or at least as much of the right frame of mind as any of them could be in the middle of battle, with the ship fighting to stay afloat and with the crew fighting to stay alive. Hayden reminded herself to focus on Hylota and her words. The only thing that mattered right now was taking care of her and seeing her through this process, something that was only reinforced when Hayden heard the female Ovri's words. O'Connor could tell she was trying to maintain her focus and her calm, but the counselor could tell she was scared and trying very hard not to panic.

"I thought this delivery might be different if you conceived," Hayden replied with a reassuring nod. "I know we talked about the fact it may feel different and even more intense. I know it's frightening, Hylota, but I believe in you. I know your body knows what to do, and I promise, neither one of us are leaving you. You're okay, and we're not going to let anything happen to you. Just keep taking slow breaths. Do you want me to examine you?" O'Connor took note of the increasing fluid surrounding Hylota's opening. She knew things were progressing, and out of the corner of her eye, she kept an eye on Maal, who helpfully, seemed to calm down, and was heading for a tricorder. Although Hayden didn't really need an instrument just yet, she knew a scan could be useful soon, and besides, it would give the male nurse something to do, something to focus on.

Just as Hayden was about to take her own deep breath and once more focused on Hylota, she heard a noise and instinctively, she shielded Hylota. O'Connor didn't really know what was happening, but she knew enough to know something was falling apart, something major. As she rushed to shield the laboring Ovri, Hayden prayed. Hearing Maal roar, she winced as she saw the plating hit him and saw the spark. O'Connor opened her mouth to speak, but she realized, no sound came out. She fully expected to be electrocuted, and when she wasn't, a part of her couldn't move and didn't know what to think. The Klingon's roar startled her, but to his credit, he continued onward, eventually entering the pool with his prize tricorder. Suddenly, she felt guilty for ever yelling at him.

Just as she was about to apologize, she heard the blare of an intruder alert. Stifling a curse, she took a moment to consider her options. She had stashed a few weapons here, in anticipation of having to deliver Hylota during the battle. Thank God for small blessings. That was the one advantage of knowing the fight was a coming. "Maal, I have some phasers stashed in the locker up ahead. Will you stay with her while I get them? Our priority is still Hylota, but we need to be as prepared as we can to defend ourselves."

[ Jona/Edena Rez | Main Bridge | USS Theurgy | Vector 01 ] Attn: Bridge crew, Sarresh Morali

Before Jona could respond to Sarresh, the shout of the Morali devotee sounded through the bridge. Jona stood no chance to turn around and look at the man or even fire a shot at Ives as the stun hit him full into the side. The Trill was swept off his feet and flew a meter to forward towards the captain's chair. The head of Edena slammed into the side of the chair, creating a large laceration on her temple. The blood flowing out quickly and drenching her spots in blood before soon enough her upper clothes got the same red color. Her breathing became erratic as the blunt force trauma sustained to her head would probably induce damage to her brain.

Jona felt the world drift off as the eyes of Edena narrowed, it was as if he was trapped in a tunnel, the vision seemingly distant while the other hosts now stepped up to their efforts to regain control. 'Enough!' shouted Edena in a bitter tone as she took control of the body. The Trill once having control back feeling every sore muscle and damaged part of her body. Yet Jona would not let this go without a fight. An internal power struggle ensued as Sarresh came to the Trill and gripped her by the hem.

The only thing the man could tell by now was that her breathing deteriorated rapidly. She was gasping for air as she whispered, murmured things to him. They'd be bearably be heard by the others as chaos ensued while they disarmed the follower. Sarresh could tell though Edena was in control "D-Don't..." she gasped with a weak voice as the bleeding was making it harder for her to focus on forming sentences "Tru-..st" she tried to continue as Jona regained control "Fool..." he managed to slip out as a grin before he spoke his final words once and for all "Elim Garak..." he said in a sigh before Edena grimaced in pain as she finally subdued the ghost of the past "...D-Dam-nit..." she gasped as she frowned and coughed up blood as well now. "He...He ma-... Jona.... Surpress..." was all she managed to bring out before she lost consciousness and laid there limp in his hands. With that Sarresh would be none wiser to what she tried to say nor get any info about who the message was aimed for or what the bigger plan was behind it.

---

[ Amelya Duv |Main Engineering | USS Theurgy | Vector 03 ] Attn: Lin Kae Rihen Neyah

Duv entered the smoldering room as their sensors went off due to the heat and lack of oxygen. The officer coming in behind her searched the room as Duv saw Kae standing by the console. The damage inflicted upon him devastating and probably lethal. Parts of his uniform were just ripped off his skin or intertwined with burnt flesh as it had smoldered it's way into the ensign. His right arm hanging loosely next to his body, at first sight Amelya assumed that either the muscles were damaged or a fracture was in place that prevented him from doing so. She rushed towards the ensign and stopped in front of him as the smell of burnt flesh reached her nostrils. Extensive damage to his left eye which could've been caused by an orbita fracture with damage to the eye nerve or just sheer force from the explosion and fire.

"Hello Doctor..can you tell Cameron I tried?"

Amelya smiled faintly and nodded "Sure ensign, sure, just set yourself down for me and try to relax right." she encouraged him as she scanned him. Initial scans indicated blood loss and dehydration due to the burn wounds, yet internal bleeding on multiple organs was detected as well and she made the call "Thea, I need you to beam Kae over to Sick bay as soon as possible. Beam him into an available surgical suite immediately and prepare staff for emergency surgery now." she said with a calm voice before she injected Kae with painkillers "Should make you feel a bit better right Ensign." she smiled as she knew he'd slip out of consciousness by the dosage or by the sheer damage that had already been dealt to him.

Next they were beamed out and Duv closed her eyes for a second before she felt back at him in the brightly colored Sickbay. "Nurse, start treatment on his major burns already and prepare everything for major surgery. What else do I need to see before I head in?" she asked as she wanted to take the time to look through the most urgent cases before she'd go into surgery. In the meantime she was already unbuttoning her uniform to get ready and change into surgical scrubs.

[ PWO Rihen Neyah (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Rihen_Neyah) | Main Engineering | Vector 03 |  USS Theurgy ] Attn: MasterRat
[Show/Hide]Running through a starship while it was being fired at was not something Rihen had done before, and it was an experience she'd rather do without. She had managed to get to the conduit in time, had her chat with Duv, and now she passed through the sliding doors of the Main Engineering area again at a break-neck pace, nearly colliding with another engineer. Another phaser hit against the Vector's shields didn't help either, making her fall over on her side and hurt her arm against a console.

"Shade the moons!" she cried, her Risan curse barely heard as she climbed back on her feet, sweat stinging her eyes. With adrenaline pushing her, along with fear for Lin Kae's fate, she leaped towards the door where he'd been locked in - only to find both him and Doctor Duv gone. She had not made it in time to make sure her dear Kae was safe and sound, and could only hope Doctor Duv could treat him. Instead, she was left standing in the middle of Main Engineering, looking around at the chaos. "Thea? What's going on? How can I help?"

[Master Chief Kalmil is attempting to calibrate my core's upper matter injector nodes, potentially increasing my core's power output by 19,234 %. He will then attempt to treat his radiation exposure with Thorian brandy, which has a likely success ratio of 2,343 %. Proper medical attention is advised.]

"But I am no medic, can't you do anything?" she shouted over the din inside the battle-ravaged ship.

[A type three radiation field has been raised around the Chief as according to Ensign Kae's orders. I can make a site-to-site transport to sickbay, but given current tactical development, and in the interest of preserving my vector and its crew, it is advisable that Kalmil continues his task.]

"Okay, but keep an eye on him, will you? I have heard your Chief Engineers tend to end up in the morgue. If O'Connell doesn't make it back..."

Relieved to hear it, Rihen raised her mismatched eyes. She spotted Kalmil in his climb, and she could overhear a reply he got from the Battle Bridge too - barely above a whisper from his combadge given the distance. [This is the bridge. Copy that. We were wondering what was happening to our shields. Whatever you mean to do, do it quickly. Task Force Archeron is here. We are moving to reintegrate from Multi-Vector Assault Mode.. but Vector 01 is off course. MVAM or not, we will have to jump to Warp on short notice.]

Running over to a display, Rihen raised an image of Vector 01, seeing it keeling over whereas Vectors 02 and 03 were aligned for reintegration. "What is going on over there?" she said, eyes wide, while a whole fleet of Starfleeters were forming up around them. There were some kind of saucers out there too, blasting the fleet with green energy beams, and a lot of warp fighters still trading blows - impossible to tell if they were on their side or not. It was clear, however, that they wouldn't last much longer if they stayed. Even Rihen knew that Thea's Vectors weren't as quick on their own as when she was assembled and could use all three of her warp cores, and they needed every shred of speed they could muster. "We'll never make it out of here if we're split apart!"

There was a shimmer in the air above her, and she looked up - a wide smile touching her face. "Thea! You're back!"

Indeed, Thea's projection was up there with Kalmil, climbing alongside him. Rihen could hear her talking to him. "Master Chief," she said, her chameleon body suit shifting into its golden hue, "you are in no condition to continue. Tell me what you need me to do, and I will beam you back to Sickbay. I can do this without the risk of radiation exposure."

[ Cmdr Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | Vector 01 |  USS Theurgy ]

While things were still tense, the battle had started to turn.  The hulk of the Resolve had been dropped off, and instantly Trent found the weapons of the ventral aspect of Vector 01 useful again and he was able to add their weight of fire to the engagement.  But that relief was short-lived as Task Force Archeron dropped out of warp, and the order to call for their Asurian allies came.  With a nod, he keyed an open channel, sending omnidirectionally to avoid marking anyone's location, and he cut it off, the subspace equivalent of just keying the microphone on an old-fashioned radio set.

And an already confused situation got even more tangled, as a number of Asurian attack ships decloaked and joined the fray. 

But, despite being fully engaged in managing the battle in space, Trent was still paying some attention as to what was going on within the Bridge.  Until he heard the message that was broadcast across the whole Federation.  For a moment, a brief moment, he allowed his shoulders to sag; that had been a surprise, and he certainly had not idea how that had come to pass.  He and the Captain had reviewed the message and encoded it themselves.  It would have taken a master in encryption and communication protocols to modify it.  It would have taken Ravenholm or... Rez.  But he could not worry about that right now, not when the battle was getting thoroughly messed up.

As such, he did not get involved when there was phaserfire and further yelling.  The Captain had things in hand, or so it seemed, so he kept his focus where it was most needed.  So instead, he got on his comms even as some unknown ensign took the helm.  "All boarding parties, prepare for immediate retrieval.  Thea, you have my authorization to coordinate all transports."  There had been not specific orders to do so, but the mission was a wash; it was time to abort and cut their losses.  "All vectors, immediate reintegration; helmsman, follow the computer's prompts and and let the other vectors come to you, just keep us as steady as you can."  Then, he switched channels, this time to all fighters.  "All fighters and Allegiant combat landings and tactical docking!  Priority to Papa Bear,  Grey and White Wolves into the fighter and shuttle bays, Lone Wolves you board last.  All elements, you have no more than 90 seconds to park.  If you can't make it to the bay, latch onto the hull and we'll deal with you when we drop out of warp.  Lone Wolves and Allegiant, if you can't do either, you know the rendez-vous.  Asurian elements, we're aborting the mission; if you could cover us while we get set up to withdraw it would be much appreciated."

Then, he called out across the Bridge to the man at the helm.  "Helmsman, there's a set of pre-programmed coordinates in your console.  As soon as we've got all three vectors together, punch it to our best speed."

But he had one more order to give.  "Drone control, prepare for the bug-out sequence, tied to the helm for when we go to warp.  We've only got one crack at a clean escape, let's make it count."

[ MCPO Nolak Kalmil | Main Engineering | Vector 03 |  USS Theurgy ]

The climb up the ladder had been one of the worst ideas he’d ever thought of doing. He was favoring his good arm the entire trip up the ladder, only using his left arm as sparingly as he could. Nolak’s left shoulder was now a massive swollen mass of pain, but he was determined to reach his goal. As he climbed he’d been quietly singing a classical sailor’s song from his native home, Blue Oceans and Fierce Winds. This upbeat shanty help kept his upward progress at a decent pace as he push blindly forward through the pain. He ignored the Battle Bridge update, because they were starting to get under his skin. He did smile at the thought that he was under their's as well.

As he neared the top, he heard the chime of the transporter materialize something into the engineering bay. Taking a moment to stop on the ladder he looked up and watched as Thea faded into view on the platform above him. He smiled for a moment before he continued up towards the top.

“Master Chief, you are in no condition to continue. Tell me what you need to do, and I will beam you back to Sickbay. I can do this without the risk of radiation exposure.” He could hear her say as he made progress up the ladder.

“Oh poppy-cock, I’m not going to Sickbay and that’s an order. No shenanigans, missy or I'll never let you hear the end of it.” He said with a hint of frustrated anger.

“Now, once we are safely on our way away from this damn battle I’ll honor that request. Besides, I lied to you and the bridge. I haven’t a clue what I need to do at the top, besides a few recalibrations to your power grid; adjust the inflow of solid fuel matter; and whatever other impromptu hotwiring needed to make it all work. Something I need to do by hand, procedures that could very well be against Starfleet protocol and against your core programming.” Nolak, said between his breaths.

“Anyways,” he continued, “I’ll need special treatment before I go to sickbay. My pheromone levels are no doubt off the charts, and if you recall last time I was taken to sickbay in this condition. I caused a spore outbreak. Who’s to say I can’t do that again. Beside it’s been four years and eight months since I last had a drink. So, I figure after cheating death I earned that bottle waiting for me.”  He finished his sentence just as he reached the top of the warp chamber.

He walked around Thea, on the upper warp platform slowly catching his breath. The top of the warp chamber was misty from a ruptured ventilation tube. The moisture was causing beads of water form over all the metal surfaces and display panels. Moving carefully he approached the main massive storage tank which held the primary fuel for the solid matter injectors for the warp core. He leaned forward using the towel sling he wiped the dew off the computer panel before gingerly replaced his left arm into it.

Nolak Kalmil, read the computer readouts, as Thea joined him up at the top. The golden hue from her body suit lit the shiny surface of the tank lighting up the dew drops and distorting their reflections with golden glitter. He reached behind the computer station and removed a wall panel exposing the wiring and a wooden box container intermingled in them. Nolak grabbed the box and returned to the computer station.

He brought up technical schematics of the warp tanks narrowing his search to where the intake valves were located and their various status display.  As he read the data he opened the small box and took out the bottle of dark red liquid.  The bottle was a clear blue in color, rounded at the bottom and twirled and tapered to the top with many façade sides. With the red liquor inside it gave the whole bottle a deep purple hue.  The top had been dipped in a black sealing wax and had alien engravings etched onto the top in the shape of smiling face with long fangs.

The ship shook from another phaser strike and the wooden box slid off the panel and clattered to the floor before toppling over the side walkway and down to the bottom of engineering. He looked over to Thea and said, “If you want to help out, monitor this station and give me stat read outs from the intake valves.” He points to the bar chart on the display, “Make sure I don’t go above this line here. I’m going underneath the tanks and manually adjust them while I drink this.” Nolak, tapped the bottle with his fingertips. “Thorian brandy isn’t a cure, but it will increase my resistance long enough for us to escape. Provided those morons on the Battle Bridge don’t squander this chance. They are lucky I haven’t just stripped all command functions from them yet. I think they are a bunch of amateurs from the looks of it.”

Nolak took the tool belt off and then lied on his back and started to scoot under the massive tanks dragging the belt with him. He shuffled between tube ducts and power cables until he was next to the main junction where the tank valves and top of the warp drive merged. He peeled the wax off the top of the bottle, and could smell the rich alcoholic aroma as it tickled his nose.  He raised the bottle to his lips and took a huge burning swig. The effects from the strong liquor didn’t take long for him to feel it crawl through his body. The pain in his arm subsided and his mind became clear free to work on tanks with little pain.  A few swigs later he was singing his sailor shanty again while he rewired connections and modifying the power intakes/output to the warp core. He could hear Thea reading out figures from the station as he worked his mood brightened considerably.

[ Lt Cmdr. Miles Renard (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Miles_Renard,_callsign_%22Iron-Fox%22) | Mk III Valkyrie Cockpit | Wolf-01 |  Lone Wolves Squadron ] Attn: All Fighter Elements
[Show/Hide]The battle against all possible odds was still being fought around Starbase 84, and after Lieutenant Havenborn had succeeded to reach and neutralise the CAG of the interceptor forces, the rest of them were uncoordinated - only the White Wolves that hadn't sided with their SCO remaining as a serious threat. The fighter elements from the Theurgy and the Resolve would never have lasted as long as they had if it hadn't been for Terror, Sniper, Dragon, Angel, and the rest who defected. The last respite they had, even as Task Force Archeron appeared, was that Starbase 84 had ceased firing at them all.

Yet Task Force Archeron was a whole fleet of capital ships, and Renard knew that White Wolves or not, this battle could only end in one way if they con-

[All fighters and Allegiant combat landings and tactical docking!  Priority to Papa Bear,  Grey and White Wolves into the fighter and shuttle bays, Lone Wolves you board last.  All elements, you have no more than 90 seconds to park.  If you can't make it to the bay, latch onto the hull and we'll deal with you when we drop out of warp.  Lone Wolves and Allegiant, if you can't do either, you know the rendezvous.  Asurian elements, we're aborting the mission; if you could cover us while we get set up to withdraw it would be much appreciated.]

Miles, along with the rest of the fighter pilots out there, certainly did not have the luxury of listening to the contents of the Simulcast. They were in the middle of a dogfight, so how could they? Therefore, it was beyond his understanding why the XO said that the mission was being aborted. He had seen the Simulcast go out on his console, thought they had been victorious, and that some of Task Force Archeron might belay their attacks against the Theurgy. Why are we aborting the mission?

There was no time to question orders, however. Wringing the last power he had from his half-functioning engines, he set the course, dealing out his orders to all allied fighter elements. "This is Wolf Leader," he said, his slitted eyes following the saucers as they moved to defend their retreat. "White Wolves, you dock in the Lower Shuttle Bay. Plenty of room there for you all. Grey Wolves - Salvo and Kestrel - you dock in the Upper Shuttle Bay. Lone Wolves, make one circular pass to cover them, but prepare to dock as well immediately after completing your arc. We have virtually no time, so we might have to use our mag-locks and strap down on Thea's hull while she- "

His port wing was suddenly torn asunder by two high-energy phaser beams, and he made ocular contact with two White Wolves descending against him. He bared his teeth at them, yanked his stick back, and opened fire in his own defence - unable to even begin his circular pass around Thea's Vectors before he engaged with the Valravn fighters still loyal to the Orcus' CO.

Knowing he would never be able to dock with Thea, Miles' pulse phasers and mass drivers were both firing into the faces of the approaching White Wolves. I'm sorry Thea...

---

OOC: Retreat, retreat! :)

[ Lt Simon Tovarek | Main Bridge | Vector 01 |  USS Theurgy ]

The chaos that had been unleashed on the bridge after the false upload being depicted and the demise of Rez had startled some. Simon was slightly shaken behind his station as orders were given and a makeshift pilot took the helm from the Resolve. Simon wondered if the pilot would be up to the task. The ship very different from the Resolve. His eyes moved away from Veradin as he looked over at Rez as Morali seemed to get a feeling of human desperation as he seemed in shock. The turmoil behind the columns as security had overmastered the follower of Morali. Leading him back off the bridge as the man struggled feisty. Simon took a few moments to regain his own composure as he glanced at Natalie who was closest to him. He focused back to the task at hand as there was far too much going on to slip attention like this once more.

As he peered at his station he received the feedback of the drones. This being rather fulfilling, despite not being designed for full on space combat the drones had managed to kill off 8 ships in totals. Varying from severe disabling them to full on destruction. On top of that the flight paths showed that the drones did what they were supposed to do for this specific battle. They had confused and restricted enemy movements to less aggressive tactics as their signatures showed them to be full on Mk  III  Valkyries. Simon chuckled behind his station, despite the loss of life regretted by the mission.

Simon looked up as Trent addressed drone control, the final task of the Mk I Tovarek drones as they had proven their use so far as decoys and disruptors. Their final tasks would be a delicate one as Trent stated they'd only have on shot at this. As the pilots got new orders to fly their drones to the helm instead of harassing the straggling fighters and pursuers, Simon calibrated the drones for their final sequence. The standing orders were to line up behind the Theurgy and defend it from any lucky hits Acheron might fire upon them, the drones being used as a flying materialistic shield. However, their true purpose would soon be revealed. "Drones have received orders and are lining up, just tell me when." he reported back as he waited patiently for his creations to wrap this mission up.

---

[ Lt Thomas Ravon | Hybrid Fighter Cockpit |  Lone Wolves Squadron ] Attn: All Fighter Elements and Theurgy Flight Deck.

Hearing the direct order of Trent, Thomas looked around to know what his position before he plotted a course. Theoretically he had the fastest fighter in the fleet unless you counted on Covington's Reaver. Thomas acknowledged on the order of Miles to make a final pass before landing. Yet Thomas was unsure his fighter could handle a landing with clamps on the hull. "Crash landing it is..." he murmured under his breathe as he put the paddle to the metal. The jerky controls making his flight path not as smooth as he imagined it would be. Flying at maximum velocity, the fighter left an eerie blue like deposit as damage to the various systems began to weigh through.

In his final pass, Ravon unloaded everything he had on the oncoming targets that even dared to venture closer to the Theurgy. The combined firepower shredding through or scaring off any incoming fighters before his arc was cut short by an explosion just under his wings. His weapons had overheated as cooling had died down as he fired too much too quickly "Blew my load..." he smirked as he thought about the pun before he struggled to line his fighter up with the hangar bay. "Coming through! Theurgy Flight Deck, I'd clear the deck if I were you guys... Coming in hot!" he warned as he rocketed past a few Valkyries before slamming the brakes on the abomination. Reverse thrusters, something that had to go for a landing gear and everything that looked like airbrakes were deployed as he screamed into his helmet.

The fighter came in far too fast before it made rough contact with the flight deck. The gear snapped off and the thrusters struggled to get the fighter to a stop. The bulk head coming awfully close in just seconds, Thomas jerked the joystick making him slide over to his side before he almost got his rear against the wall. He fired up the primary thrusters and throttled up in hope that the forward speeding thrusters would prevent him from becoming a pancake against the flight deck wall. He nudged the wall effectively before the craft came to a full stop and powered down as he fell back against his seat and rsted his head against the back of his chair "Covington is going to fucking kill me..." he said with a dreaded tone in his voice as he knew Papa Bear would be properly pissed off at the damage he inflicted.

[ Zelosa Ejek | Conference Lounge | U.S.S. Theurgy ] Attn: Vystori, Kaligos, FollowTomorrow, Auctor Lucan, Anyone else 

Watching the feed from the conference lounge, it was like being part in the worst sort of holonovel. The message they sent didn’t seem to be what the crew of Theurgy were expecting, and then a female trill by the name of Jona had forced her way onto the bridge. Whilst revealing her master plan, a fight had broken out. Despite being only mere meters away, Ejek wasn’t too worried but then something happened that chilled her blood.

In the struggle a shot rang out, hitting a nearby crewmember. The helmswoman was dead, faceplanting the console with a dull clunk before tumbling clumsily to the floor. As she fell, her lifeless flesh activated controls upon the console, pulling Theurgy into a slow list. It took moments for the internal dampeners to kick in and Ejek pulled her eyes from the viewscreen to concentrate on steadying herself. Only when she found her footing, did she look back up, seeing something that caused her to blanch.

On the floor of the bridge, the deceased crewman laid, her unseeing eyes staring vacantly into the abyss. It wasn’t the savagery of what had happened that had prompted Ejek’s stomach to twist, it was the face. There was no damage from the impact against the console nor any sign of surprise, the shot obviously having taken her life instantly, however the thick ridges around her eyes and the inverted teardrop on her forehead betrayed her kind. Ejek had just witnessed the brutal massacre of someone from her own race.

Around her she heard voices and could sense movement, but she didn’t really pay attention, tunnel vision focussed her onto that inert olive flesh. Ejek was unable to look away, the shock had caused her to freeze. During the final stage of the Dominion War, the Jem’Hadar had taken to the street, slaughtering millions. When they came for her and her colleagues at the Cardassian Bureau of Identification, Ejek had hidden herself in a storage locker. The screams of her co-workers still haunted her and no matter what Commander Kelar, the chief counsellor on Covenant – the ship that saved her, had said, there were times she couldn’t help by imagine their faces. Still, even in her most horrifying dreams, it failed to even come close to the real thing.

How did she not know there were other Cardassians within Starfleet? 

[Wenn Cinn & Selena Ravenholm | Communication Tower | Starbase 84] Joint Post by Arista & ch’Xinya Attn: Anyone else

Wenn Cinn knew something was amiss as soon as he saw Ives, shirtless, holding his sword. However, it wasn’t until Ives announced himself as a former Starfleet officer that Cinn tried to step in. As Ives, if that even was truly him, continued to blather on, Cinn moved to a nearby console, scanning across the LCARS interface for any obvious way to stop the broadcast. In his head he knew it couldn’t, that was the point of the whistle-blower system and why it had been chosen in the first place.

As fake Ives continued his message, the lies spouting from his captain’s lips was causing Cinn to get tense. All they had worked for, all that had been sacrificed, now being washed away. While he knew that he didn’t need public vindication, but it could have made their ongoing journey easier.

“No, no no, no no, NO!” He spoke softly at first, the words getting faster and louder until they crescendoed, culminating with the slamming of his fist into the console before him. Despite his great strength, it wasn’t enough to break the screen but it did flicker, wavering, before continuing its normal operation. Again, they had betrayed. Searching his mind, Cinn remembered the mission documents. Who oversaw creating the message? Who handled it when processing? Who had access following its completion?

Building a mental list of subjects, there was one who stood out easily. It was someone who had access to the message, someone who had the ability to influence technology to their will, someone who had joined Theurgy from the ship of traitors that was Harbinger. 

After all this time, had it been a long con? Conspiracy theories whirled in Wenn Cinn’s head as he turned. Eyeing his first suspect, the cyborg before him.

“What did you do?”

Considering how much phaser fire there was behind the door they probably should've been helping there, but Selena wanted to watch at least the opening of the broadcast to make sure that it was working.  As soon as Captain Ives appeared on the screen whatever celebration that was on her face was gone.  This was not the message she saw recorded.  Color drained from her face as the doppelganger’s words spread throughout Federation space, and her fingers started to fly across the controls, trying to find any sort of override or abort.  So absorbed into her search she jumped at the sound of Cinn's fist against the next console.

Cinn's glare was beyond accusatory and it took quite a bit of Selena's willpower to not shrink from it.  "I broadcast the message I was given, nothing more!" she fired back defensively, but immediately softened.  "I should've reviewed it first...." Her own fist slammed onto the console, eliciting a beep of protest.  "I knew I should've watched it first!"

From her reaction, it was obvious that Cinn had jumped to the wrong conclusion, however, his frustration could not be alleviated so easily. Whilst Ravenholm hadn’t bothered to check the message before broadcasting, there was still the issue of whom had changed it in the first place. Looking back the cyborg, his mind whirred on how to fix this.

“Can you reverse the editing? Some form of recovery?” He looked over the console before him, previously the recipient of his wrath, but Cinn had no idea what was possible with the technology available. “I need to call the captain. Maybe Stark can send us a new copy?”

As Cinn brought his hand to his chest, he felt the telltale whine of the transporter beam. They were being brought back! There was no real time to do anything beside a sidelong look at Ravenholm before the beam enveloped them both.

[ Captain Jien Ives (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Captain_Jien_Ives) | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]As soon as the Morali devotee had been subdued and unarmed, Jien had made his way over to Edena's possessed body and Sarresh Morali, eyes wide as he saw how the former Ash'reem tried to make the bleeding Trill talk - to tell them who'd just learned the encrypted truth hidden in the Simulcast. Through the incoherent mumbling and all the blood from Edena's head, Jien realised what could be happening before his eyes. The whole side of the Trill's head had a deep gash from the edge of the chair. A single name was all that came through, barely overriding the din on the bridge. Then, Edena's eyes rolled back, and Jien cursed under his breath.

"Emergency medical transport, now! Thea?"

[Yes, Captain,] came the voice from the intercom, and within a couple of seconds, Edena Rez's lifeless body was beamed out of the bridge. Controlling his breathing, he saw an unknown officer take Lieutenant S'Iti's place at the helm. It had to be someone from the Resolve, perhaps the same person who had been at the helm of the Luna-class ship when it docked with their Vector. There was shouting all over the bridge, and the Vector sustained a barrage of phaser fire from the closest starships. Sparks rained over Ives, but he felt numb, looking around himself as everything fell apart.

From the onset of the mission, things had been devolving into failure, all the possible things that could go wrong had: The early Red Alert. The unwillingness from Hawthorne to heed them. The Orcus and Captain Slayton. Jona Rez sabotaging the mission and ending up with a likely skull fracture. Aisha S'iti killed by one of the Morali cultists. Worst of all, no copy of the real Simulcast to send. Now, Task Force Archeron was still trying to hail them, Sankolov meaning to deal his threats while tying his forces around them like a noose. Jien looked at Carrigan Trent, saw his lips moving. His First Officer was already ordering to abort the mission and to prepare for retreat. It was the right thing to do, what they had agreed upon.

Yet as Jien looked at the viewscreen - seeing Starbase 84 behind the moving ships and the exchange of phaser fire - the failure was so bitter. They had been so close. They were on the very verge of making their call resound through the entire Federation, and yet they were about to pull away - to surrender the chance to throw the corruption into garish light.

No...

No, he could not accept it. He had to beam over there. He could send the Simulcast - live - the evidence be damned. Somehow, he could get the word out on his own, convince them without the Acreth recordings, as long as he gained access to that communication array. "Thea," he said, the impulse having taken hold already. Yes, he would go there, clear the names of his crew, and set the record straight. Get them all the allies they needed. He could do it! He just...

...and then his eyes fell on Aisha S'Iti again, and the request for a transport turned to ashes in his mouth. In the Cardassian's lifeless form, he saw what would become of his crew if he did it. He looked around, trembling, at the gathered faces. They might not leave me behind. They would remain, fighting in chance he could return. Yet Sankolov had already come, and the Asurian forces could not rely on the element of surprise for much longer. Already, Sankolov was regrouping to deal with the Asurian threat, and they were already suffering losses. At this rate, the Theurgy would be destroyed within a couple of minutes. Perhaps less.

Moreover, Jien found himself questioning his own motives; Jona's words echoing in his mind as he balanced on the verge of impulse. What was most important to him? Mission or crew? What was the limit to extremes he would take in order to see the mission through? Was he truly considering leaving the crew he had sworn to protect behind in order to cry his call to arms across all Federation space? If he left them, they might all die, so even if he would actually get another message out, the evidence was lost, and it would just be for the sake of his own personal redemption he did it. Jona had said he only sought to clear his own name. No, sacrificing his entire crew for the mission in such a way was unthinkable. And what if Jona was right? What if I do send the Federation into civil war? Can I gamble the cost of truth, if it means the cost of my crew, as well as millions of lives? Just so that the nature of the enemy might be exposed, and to set the record straight?

A voice. Repeating itself.

[Yes, Captain?] It was Thea, and Jien blinked, swallowed as he looked once more at the looming figure of Starbase 84. The Simulcast was already sent, authenticating the falsehood of the public idea about him and the Theurgy. They had suffered grievous losses, and all the deaths would have been for naught if the aborted the mission. All the preparation, the drills and every single step that had led up to the mission would have been in vain. Never had they been so close to accomplishing their mission. Never had the idea to cut his losses been so difficult. All that Jona had left them with was a name.

Elim Garak. The Federation's Cardassian ambassador. He had just been sent the truth. He, alone, could be the sum of all their losses.

"Let us know when the boarding teams are accounted for," he said to the A.I., feeling numb as he returned to the Captain's chair. As he sat down, he adjusted his jacket and changed... to her female form. "...and when the surviving wolves are back in the den. Helm! Trust Thea to guide your hand, let the Allegiant dock, and then go to maximum warp as soon as the reintegration sequence is complete. Also, if we are to stand any chance of escaping, you must give Mister Tovarek here a brief count-down before you do. Understood?"

Jien's full lips were pressed into a thin line, and her oaken eyes were hard as she stared at the viewscreen. Hopefully, at least their escape plan might work... when all else had failed.

[ MCPO William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Transporter Room Three | Deck 12 | USS Theurgy ] 

In the meantime, in transporter room three on Deck Twelve four prone figures appeared on the transporter pads one by one in a shower of sparks.  They were joined by two standing figures, first the short slender graceful form of the ship’s holographic interface Thea, and finally the taller bulker form of Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert “Billy Bob” O’Connell.  O’Connell was saying something as he faded into view.  “Quick!  Grab mah… damn, damn, DAMN!” he grumbled, shouting his last word.  “Y’ jest had t’ beam me out at jest that moment, didn’t yuh?”

“Sorry Master Chief,” Petty Officer Tenchi Koizumi apologized as the stretcher parties standing beside him behind the transporter console came forward to take Billy Bob’s away team to sickbay.  “You know how it goes.  In the meantime we need to clear the transporter pads immediately.”

“You don’t have t’ tell me th’ drill,” O’Connell grumbled unprofessionally as he lumbered off the transporter and stepped to the side to let the medical teams do their work.  “Ah jest hope that wasn’t all fur nothin’,” he muttered as he undid the straps on his webgear, blissfully unaware that thanks to treachery of the Trill symbiont’s lingering personality of Jona Rez, the mission had been compromised before it had begun.

(http://orig04.deviantart.net/fd0a/f/2012/090/1/a/1aecfa1a429fcf18121156b61dce4235-d4ui3dp.png)

[ Chris "Husker" Slayton & Lieutenant Talidenai zh'Idenna | Lone Wolf 04 and White Wolf 01 | Space around Vector 2 | USS Theurgy ] Attention: Warp-fighter related

Husker was finishing off another one of the last hostile interceptors when the message to do a full on combat landing came through from his SCO and he quickly checked around the area before opening up the private channel to Terror. "As much as I love hunting with you again, Tali, I need you to start getting your pups together and aboard the Theurgy if what the Fox said is on the nose."

Terror couldn't help but roll her eyes as she simply said "Alright but make sure that you don't forget the cat this time." before she quickly opened up her squadron's channel and shouted "Alright my pups, get your collective asses in gear and do what Lone Wolf Actual told you to do..." before she noticed that she suddenly had an additional flight under her command that had been on the sidelines only a little bit earlier. "Witch King, are you in the game on my side or..."

<I'm on your side, Terror, as is my flight. Had to make sure that the dark path was clear first.> came back the usual cryptic response from the man with just a cryptic history as the rest of his flight.

"That's good to hear, make sure that your cryptic ass along with the rest of your flight is aboard the Theurgy before it leaves. Last thing I need to hear is you bitching about missing your ride!" Terror said at which point she could've sworn that she heard Aria, Witch King's RIO, snickering.

<I won't but I do want to make sure that the Fuzzy Flyer gets aboard as well.> came back Witch King's reply.

Terror nodded as she recognized the tough little shuttle from the dog fighting earlier. "Understood. Keep her close and make sure she gets home as well, Cam. See you back on the boat."

Nothing more needed to be said as Witch King's flight gathered around the shuttle for support as Terror moved on as she noticed that the local airspace was slowly becoming devoid of the strange saucer like ships that had been helping them only a short time before as she looked for her partner. "Terror to Sniper, time to rack your rifle and come home." she said into their private channel.

<As Husker once said,  you're no fun.> came back the albino vulcan's voice as her fighter slowly descended from a small cluster cloud of debris to move next to her's. <I do believe that I am the squadron ace by sheer kill count this time.>

"I don't think they award that title by being a sneaky bitch, lover." Terror said with a hint of a smile on her lips.

<Not the point, Terror. Now I have my rifle racked..let us go and join our new den and see where the winds take us now..yes?> Sniper said, her usually emotionless voice held just enough of a question that Terror could almost hear a tone of anticipation in it.

"As always, my love, as always." Terror said as the two prototype fighters quickly looped around and headed to the back that Iron Fox had ordered them to report to.
===========================

Mean while Husker on the other hand was now alone with his thoughts as he quickly went around the air space, looking for the exo-suit markers for two specific pilots in a dire hope that either one of them could've escaped their planes in time, dusting several more hostile fighters as he went as he noticed that Thea had placed a counter on one of his screens that marked the time until he absolutely needed to be back in the Barn.

But he couldn't just leave without checking to see if THEY had survived somehow despite what he'd been told and saw..he couldn't allow himself to fly again if he didn't.

He quickly tore around the space, checking where first Gun-Shy and then Morrigan's valks disappeared in great flashes of pyrious light and when his scans came up with nothing, nothing at all for either one of them-he slammed his left gauntleted fist hard against a section of his cockpit that didn't have anything important and then checked the timer, his eyes widening as he saw that he only had a scant amount of time left before the Theurgy was going to jump out of the combat zone.

Husker did a quiet and quick little prayer for the two women and then executed the quickest and tightest immelian turn that he think anyone could've ever done and flew his Valk as fast as he could before dropping the last of his micro-torpedoes into a couple of White Wolves that had gone against Terror as a fitting yet brief memorial for his two lost squadron mates.

"Computer, pump everything that we have into the engines..redline the damned things if you need to but make sure that we get to our assigned landing zone before the timer runs out." Husker said as he started to feed the energy from the now empty launchers directly into the engines as well as he felt his Valk speed up even faster.

*Understood, Ensign* was the only reply that he got.

Husker was then quiet as he focused all of his energy into his flying, he felt a strange inner calm start to come over him as he threaded his way between clouds of debris from all manner of ships, attempts at weapons fire and all manner of other things as everything just seemed to start folding into one and other as he completed his last circular pass on pure instinct and he noticed that Lone Wolf Leader was still in the field.

"Husker to Iron Fox, are you coming or do you need a hand?" he asked in all serious as he started to adjust his alignment to use his tractor beams if it meant being able to save at least one person out of the two that he had failed in his own opinion this day.
////////////////////////////////////////////////

[Provisional Ensign Lin Kae| Trauma Center| Vector 03| USS Theurgy] Attn: Nolan

Lin could only smile the best that he could as he saw the good doctor's efforts but didn't feel anything as the combination of medication and pain had dulled his senses to nothing as she helped him to be more in a sitting position. "Good..tell her that she and Soo  shouldn't stand over there, then..it'll mess up their hair." he mumbled through numb lips as his good eye rolled up into the back of his head as he finally went under.

Lin didn't feel and nor could he feel anything else that was going on because at that moment, his mind had pulled it's self into a state where Soo was there with him, her eyes full of concern for him as he just allowed his broken body to lay there in her arms and just allowed himself to feel like Cameron had told him to do only a day or so before..

But in the real physical, "Meat World", his breathing got shallower and shallower as while the drugs helped him with the pain they also lessened his need to focus on breathing as his badly damaged body started to realize just how badly things were for him..
/////////////////////////////////////////

[ Lieutenant Keval ch'Rayya | Conference Room | USS Theurgy ] Attention: Arista, et al

In all of his years of service to the Federation, Lieutenant Thy'lek KevalEndilev ch'Rayya could only think of one thing to say that best summed up everything that had happened in this day and what he had seen up to this point as well including the horrible "message" that painted Captain Ives and hir mission in a bad image, the gloating arrogance of the Trill woman and her actions on the Theurgy's main bridge that lead to the death of the ship's chief navigator.

"Well fuck." was all that he could think to say.

But once that one thing was said, he turned around to look at his fellow officers from the Resolve and saw the expressions on their collectives faces and much like that one day so many years prior that lead them to their long trek back to the Federation, he didn't know what to say or do that could help them with any of their feelings at that moment.

Keval the noticed Zelosa and her expression and then followed her gaze back to the screen then back to her, back to her expression and slowly he started to think of the one thing that he could think to do to help-something that he helped a fellow officer and friend do once many years ago.

Without saying a word, he calmly and quietly walked over to the Cardassian woman and did something that wasn't usual for the Resolve's Chief of Tactical and Second Officer to do, he gently took her by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug and just held her, hoping that the physical touch would be enough to pull her out of the frame of mind he recalled from his former fellow officer on the Athena on that dark day so many years ago.

It had been hard to do nothing for such a period of time, but if he could help Zelosa..then he would accept any punching or hitting.

[ Command Center | EOC Tower | Starbase 84 ] Joint-Post by Striker N7 & Auctor Lucan

"Guys, we'll have to get moving soon!" Ensign Henshaw tried to warn the rest, yet her voice was hoarse and lacking in power to carry over the fighting parties.

When Ida raised her eyes, climbing back on her feet, she did not just see the viewscreen. In front of the display loomed the sillouette of Hawthorne, yanking Drauc's rifle out of his hands and sending him rolling across the floor as he did so. Hardly missing a step, he stepped up to Zaraq with the rifle in hand, and brought it straight down into the Klingon's head. The sound of the thick skull breaking like a melon against the floor hit Ida's antennae, and she saw his lifeless limbs twitching.

Leon "Striker" Marquez had almost fully dodged Hawthorne's earlier fatal swipe with his bionic hand, owing his survival to the Andorian Lieutenant Marquez was fast, but even he was caught off-guard and Ian's backhand blow knocked him several feet away, leaving the XO clutching at a gash that tore through his outfit from navel to ribcage. Wincing, he lept to his feet and gasped when he caught a glimpse of the new arrivals on-screen "What the Hell?!" Striker blurted out.

By Marquez's own estimate, the alien vessels numbered at least thirty ships, he calculated the odds at a glance, but he assumed there had to be more. Whatever the friend-or-foe situation was, Starfleet was facing the horrifying prospect of losing many good people today.  The death of the Klingon was one of them. For these precious seconds, Striker had time for one last gambit. Striker took his defiant stance, giving diplomacy one last attempt, gauging that this skirmish was going badly, and he had to stall for time, if only for a moment to tip the odds for his allies.  Recuperating for a moment as he cradled a cracked rib, Striker finalized his last stand.

Rolling away from the commotion, Marquez followed the security officers' example and re-secured his powerless but still-useful carbine. It was considered unwise aboard the USS Resolve to use phaser weapons as blunt instruments, but Striker didn't care; he had to use as much--if any at all, force as he needed to neutralize the alien controlling the Station Captain-- and millions of other lives depended on it.

"IAN HAWTHORNE!" Marquez shouted, drawing the Captain's attention, "This is your last chance! In the name of the Resolve and the others you've betrayed, Stand Down!"  Marquez took a sideways stance, hiding his carbine behind his frame, held by the barrel like an axe with the gun's handgrip to be used as the point of impact, like an executioner's axe-head.

"I already had the Resolve destroyed," said Hawthorne with rueful excitement and turned towards Leon Marquez, bloodied rifle in hand. The eldritch timbre of his voice echoed beyond the fabric of their mortal existence. "And while Admiral Sankolov will finish what I started... I will enjoy eating its First Officer's face while his heart still beats in his chest..."

Knowing Hawthorne was immune to taunts, Striker managed sneered again as he managed one anyway. "All right, Let's settle this. Man-to-*Freak!*"

Then, the creature that used to be Ian Hawthorne leaped against Marquez, his speed and strength no longer bound by the laws of physics in their universe.

In one quick, instinctive movement, Marquez barely managed to throw himself away when Hawthorne lept at him. As Ian passed, Marquez had begun swung the carbine at the point of maximum impact in the opportunity he had. He hit the back of the traitor's neck, and they both hit the metal floor at the same time. Marquez bared his own teeth as he growled angrily.  "I'll be eating revenge at the temperature your planet will burn at, you murderous bloodsucker!." Marquez mocked the alien's own spiteful enunciations, making direct eye contact with the murderer of his vessel and possibly, entire crew, just as the Aerowing appeared outside the glass canopy of the Command Center.

[Going somewhere, Hawthorne?] The sound of Captain Kendrick's voice filled the area, and he opened fire into the Command Center, shattering transparent aluminium glass and tearing the area apart with his Aerowing's pulse phasers.

Marquez followed his instincts, ducking for cover nearest the Andorian Security officer at the moment of Captain Kendrick's timely intervention, even though Striker's carbine was clearly damaged, it could probably still work. Glass and phaser energy riddled the area. During the ensuing chaos, he had time to silently thank the Andorian for saving his life from earlier, making a silent prayer for Captain Kendrick, figuring he would owe his life to his friend and Captain. Leon  wished he could salute his CO one last time, the most he could utter before his wound took his toll on his consciousness was "Thanks, Ken... Vaya con Dios."

Ida, having covered her eyes as they were being fired at, caught the pinkskin that had ended up behind the same duty station as her. He was bleeding from his side, likely from Hawthorne's metal hand tearing uniform and flesh alike. This, Ida could make out without much trouble, but her immediate concerns were elsewhere. She tried to see Henshaw, Sel and the Romulan named Drauc, but neither of them were could be seen from her vantage point - merely the crack of exploding EPS conduits and metal debris cast towards one side of the center. Whoever was flying the auxillary craft outside the glass dome of the center meant to kill Hawthorne, as much was clear, but Ida could not make any more sense out of it than that.

[This is Thea,] came a faint voice from Ida's combadge, [the shields are down. Transporting all of you out of there now. Energising.]

Before the shimmer of the transporter beam encompassed her and the bleeding pinkskin in her lap, Ida laid eyes on Captain Hawthorne. He was still on his feet, shoulder and neck blistered and burned from pulse phaser energy, and yet still on his feet. He was talking into his combadge from behind his cover - calling for reinforcements. That, was all Ida managed to see...

...before she vanished from the scene, along with the happenstance ally in their aborted fight.

---

OOC: Command Center layout: https://johneaves.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cc-d.jpg?w=1400&h= (Concept Art by John Eaves)

[ Amelya Duv | Sickbay | USS Theurgy Vector 02] Attn: Medical staff, Dr Nicander, Lin Kae

While Amelya was being scrubbed ready for surgery on Lin Kae, the nurse informed her that his breathing was getting shallow and superficial. The drugs taking their effect yet compromising his breathing "Intubate him if need be, keep his breathing going, watch for burn damage on the larynx and report back to me if it starts swelling. We need to move quick before his lungs shut down due to the trauma or before he decides to slip through our fingers. Prepare a dose of adrenaline and epi for when we need it." she said clearly as she was about to head in to the surgical suite. The intubation was a needed as otherwise Lin's larynx would swell up from the burn wounds and block his lungs from receiving any fresh air.

However it was just then when Edena Rez was beamed in from Vector 01. Two security officers showed up and stood next to her on the biobed, their assault rifles at the ready as Duv frowned. "What happened to her and why are you here?" she asked the guards as one replied "Miss Rez has been part of the failure of the simulcast. She was shot at close range by one of ours with a rifle on stun. The impact caused for a laceration across her head," he briefed her as he got the short summary from security on the bridge. The Trill doctor shook her head as she walked over to her fellow Trill and looked at the readings of the biobed. The readings caused her face to pull a bit paler as she felt the blood seep away from her head. "S-She's dying..." she whispered under her breath as she closed her eyes and thought of a way to get her through this.

She tapped her combadge as she looked over the readings of the biobed. "Doctor Nicander, This is Duv, Edena Rez has been brought in Sickbay with a serious laceration and trauma.  Readings show that the pressure inside her head is rising rapidly so we'll need to act fast. I remember she was your patient, so how do you wish to proceed on this matter? I needn't tell you how time critical this situation is doctor." The damage that had been caused throughout her brain was extensive according to the scans. Yet that wasn't what troubled Amelya, what troubled her was that if they managed to save the life of Rez it would only be a question in what condition she'd be able to live. The alternative was already clearing up in Duv her mind, as an unjoined Trill, she could risk the procedure of having a joining. However risky it was in these conditions and despite the previous joining with the Rez symbiont itself had failed. "An alternative is that I stabilize her as best as I can and prepare her for a joining."

"Doctor! We're losing Lin." came an alarmed response from the surgical suite as she closed her eyes "I'll intubate him myself. Inform me when Nicander arrives," she said swiftly as she shot a look at the security staff "I hope for your sakes that you won't cause any more victims in this sickbay or I will have you both raported to your superiors." she growled as she never liked the idea of armed men in a room like this. "Bring Edena to the surgical suite in Nicander's office. Prepare a set for neuro surgery! We need to prevent her brain from clamping her nerves down her spine." she said to the next nurse that was appointed to the new patient.

With that Amelya rushed back to the surgical suite to perform the intubation on Lin Kae, she only hoped Nicander would reply shorty so she could move things forward while she tried to stabilize Kae.

[ Sar-unga Neleo | Communications tower -> Transporter Room | Starbase 84 -> Theurgy ]

The excitement and tension built up in the room around them as Ravenholm worked. Sar-unga couldn't see her doing anything in particular, given they were in seperate rooms, but she knew how Ravenholm worked. She plugged in and sat there, but she assumed hacking into a Starbase required a lot of concentration and hard work that just happened to be invisible to the non-robotic. She was at least working as hard as everyone else, she thought. Her eyes flicked to another would-be intruder, head ducking behind cover, and she and him struggled to land shots on one another. Dyan, as usual won. The good guys always win.
Speaking of, suddenly Ravenholm was done. The cyborg behind her finished the transmission, and though Sar-unga was busy covering them, she couldn't help but feel a sudden wave of pride and joy. Finally, she thought! Victory was tangible in her hands. She felt untouchable.

And yet, her downfall happened so quickly and suddenly that she would not have the ability to describe what had happened later. The message had sent, she was covering her team, and before she knew it there were far more officers than she had been expecting. She fired fast and hard, but she must not have been paying close enough attention. Something hit her across the side of her face and her vision blacked out as she fell down, so she never got a view of her assailant's face.

She wasn't knocked out, but her vision was made spotty, and her confidence disturbed. Suddenly this fight wasn't so smooth sailing; she tried to kick them in the knees, she misjudged the distance, they moved back. She fired and missed, but she could get up and fire, fire again-- something shot her shoulder and she felt it numbed out, her trigger finger turned loose rubber, her arm, shoulder and chest very cold and filled with little needles, and parts of her vision still sparkling with flickers and streaks of light...

...Or was that actually real? She suddenly felt light, unreal as her body was torn apart atom-by-atom and reconstructed in the same way. And then she was in a transporter room. Familiar, a part of home, and filled with absolutely no hostiles.

The sudden 'pain' of numbness in her shoulder and chest, and the more standard aching pain in her head all reminded her that this was a very real fate, she could trust her eyes. She and her teammates were beamed aboard the Theurgy. Mission: Over. A deep laugh rumbled up from her chest.

But wait—this wasn't over yet. Right about now, she should be able to see the best part of the battle. Her good arm still wrapped around her gun, she trotted off the transporter pad and ran to the nearest console, shoving some poor ensign out of the way without even so much as an 'excuse me'. She tapped up a command, she wanted to see the battlefield.

And she saw, her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas.  She saw her people, her blood and kin in their saucers, and for the brief moment she had the console she could only see victory....

[ Chief Marshal Akri Sitaio | A.R.B. K'thill | Outside the Battlefield ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]
The cold brightness of the saucer did nothing to quell the passionate, burning fire in Chief Marshal Sitaio's eyes as she gazed across her battlefield. Her viewscreen showed both the battlefield as it was, and a holographic model of the field with targets of interest marked. She saw her people, she saw them fight well. They gave the newly arrived fleet no mercy, saucers firing in multiple directions as they defied the overwhelming opposition. As the shear of their beams cut shields and hulls, they tore pylons and nacelles asunder as best as they might. Garbage and used fuel littered the field, the makeshift proximity mines still laid ready to detonate. On Sitaio's viewscreen - as on most saucers' screens - these mines were made very clear. To the hostiles, they would not be so clear.

She witnessed not only success, but every Asurian loss. L'Keliath earned the title of the first casualty of war in the Alpha quadrant. In the the chaos of battle, it was difficult to tell which Starfleet ship had hit her. The saucer collapsed in on herself, taking the edges of space with her. If Sitaio hadn't seen saucers fall before, she wouldn't know what she was looking at. A gravity well bloomed on the battlefield, light and space twisting and warping in ugly ways. Though she was not close to the fuel waste originally, the sheer density of the 'explosion' pulled the nearby deuterium waste in and twisted it, leaving it with small swirls and eddies. A reaction started, the deuterium waste began to light up and explode like powerful firecrackers. The explosion's shockwaves rocked the Monarch's shields hard and to the saucer Reah with it. One Defiant-class ship was set off course. A second gravity well blossomed from the Reah, yet another hazard on the field.

There would not be saucer parts to collect, bodies to bury or examine. A bitter smile bloomed across Sitaio's sharp features.
This pleased her. Battle with her people would divulge nothing to the corrupted faction named the Federation.

“Chief Marshall, the Theurgy is aborting her mission. We're to cover her while her fighters dock.” The voice of her communications officer broke her contemplation to deliver sour news. The fire inside her jumped and burned hotter.

Before the battle began, she and her superiors met with the Captain and First Officer of the Theurgy. Sitaio had spoken very little—except to make it clear that running from conflict was not Asurian. She was up against a mighty force, a worthy opponent. She could feel in her bosom that her deflectors ached for action, her hands for blood, it pained her to deny that to herself.

“I see... Let them hear our acknowledgement. Pass this on to the Neleos and Sareto,” she replied, the cold fury leaking into the ship and making her subordinates painfully uncomfortable. Here was a powerful woman, displeased, and she was met with replies from her saucer elements that did not help her mood.

The twin boy Neleo appeared on one screen. [What? What cowards! They say we run? We're still drawing enemy blood!]

His father ordered his squadron, [Let it be known that the order is not my own. I will not wear the disgrace...]

Aris's powerful voice boomed. [Why are we running? We should finish the fight! For Asuria!]

To these, Sitaio did not reply. Her hands folded behind her back, she waited for comm chatter to die down before she gave her succinct orders. “Cover the Theurgy and her fighters. We will be the bloodied steel that ward the strikes from her her bent back. Anyone who strays from the defensive line in search for personal glory will not see my mercy. I have spoken.]

On cue, the saucers swarmed away from the direct and close engagement with the ships of the fleet. They flew in every direction, like angry wasps that would sting whatever they saw as a threat. The Chief Marshall hoped deep in her heart that all the starships would converge on the Theurgy.

Falling back into the defensive, Starfleet saw the openings and used them. Three more saucers devoured the space around them as they fell victim to torpedoes and direct energy beams from the Task Force, and Sitaio ascribed those losses to Captain Ives' folly. She would not forget. Ari was one of the fallen - without a word reaching her. Now, she personally needed to relieve this great ire building inside her.

"Decloak," was all she said, and had the Commanding Officers on the opposing ships heard her, they would know to fall back.

Then, she joined the fray - fearless in her bitter fury.

---

_{Pardon the double post folks!}

[Lt. Dev “Dragon” Okhala| Wolf-05 | Formerly-USS ORCUS “White Wolves Squadron]

To say the battle wasn’t going well was an understatement. Dev could hardly nagivate the haze of debris, phaser fire and torpedo explosions that seemed continuous.

“D, if we survive this, remind me to take gambling with me.” Vinnie’s voice was so certain, so confident. Dev had no idea where the man got it from, even as her tactical display when alight.

“What do we got, Fury?”

“Multiple Starfleet signals. Looks like the rest of the task force is warping in, going to cut off any escape.”

Through gritted teeth, Dev managed out “I doubt it will work.”

She pulled her fighter toward, noting her element sticking to her, line abreast. It was a larger target, to be sure, but they were against mostly fighters, with the capital ships, temporarily, out of range.

“Wolf 5, Wolf 7. What’s the plan? Do we engage?’

“Copy, Wolf 7. Maintain course towards Theurgy, and await my orders.”

Dev was not about to surrender command of her small contingent, even under the best of circumstances. She would defer to her superior, but, given the circumstances, that was about it.

“Incoming!”

“Blast it!”

The incoming task force fighters came hurling in, phasers already cutting in. However, they had not anticipated the prototype fighters, and the shields held with little difficulty. Dev compensated for the shaking it gave them, and the sortie flew past.

“Drop counter measures, Wolves!”

The four fighters continued forward, but the ECMs dropped out, creating a tangled web of electronic noise that fouled the sensors. Dev throttled hard forward, outracing the attacking fighters.

“Flip-target their engines.”

Dev led them in a steep climb, turning her fighter over and able to see the incoming fighters. Most were  scrambling to avoid the interference, allowing Dev the opportunity to line up behind the leader. With careful precision, Dev’s phasers ripped in to the opposing fighter’s hull, piercing shields with incredible speed. The port engine sputtered under the strain of the impact. It gave out as Dev pulled over them, allowing the target to lag behind.

“Furry, how’d we do?”

“4 disabled, and one moving to cover. We have an opening to the Theurgy.”

“What’s the chatter?”

“Terror’s signaling to line up on her beacon and dock.”

“Copy that.”

Dev put full power in to her engines, the prototype cutting through the space in fairly short time. As they entered Theurgy’s controlled space, she throttled back, and prepared to dock. Her stomach rumbled uneasily, as she wondered at the welcoming partly. Her fighter moved in to position, the shadow of the larger ship filling her viewport, and creating a sense of stepping in to something completely unknown.

[ Deacon | Runabout DeGrasse-Tyson | Leaving Starbase 84 ]   Attn: Anyone on the Allegiant Bridge


The runabout seemed to list to one side as Deacon navigated across the interior docking port en route to the bay doors.  It seemed that whatever emergency had struck the starbase had resulted in the interruption of some routine maintenance for the ship, but comparatively speaking, the defect was ultimately tolerable.  Deacon figured that he could probably reason out and repair the problem on his own, but first priority was to be away from this place.  At least here, removed from the actual super structure of the starbase, he no longer felt the results of the battle shuddering through him.

His claws moved across the console as he kept adjusting his heading.  Bad enough that the ship listed, but the Federation used Base-10 calculations for their measurements while Kzinti tended for Base-8.  He supposed it ultimately came down to how many fingers you had to count on.  But in practical application, one risked over compensating or accelerating uncontrollably if they weren't careful with their math.

Fortunately, the main doors to the docking bay had suffered some structural damage, resulting in a breach large enough for him to easily navigate through without the need for clearance -- something he doubted he'd have been able to negotiate from the helm of a stolen ship in the first place.  It was an obstacle he would gladly do without.

As the runabout slipped through the breach, Deacon became aware of the sheer scope of the events unfolding outside.  Federation starships of a dozen configurations were engaged in armed conflict with one another while a flurry of smaller fighter vessels wove dangerous patterns between them.  Such a spectacle would prove enough of a navigational nightmare, but in addition to the active conflict, a number of derelict husks drifted amidst a field of debris.  Finally, Deacon had to admit he was outmatched.

"Computer," he said, eliciting a compliant chirp in response, "plot a course out of this mess and prepare to go to warp."

"Course set.  Estimated time to clear the zone of engagement: three minutes, twelve seconds," the artificial voice replied in its helpful yet dispassionate way.  Deacon shook his head.  Useful as the computer was, there was no sense of urgency or commitment in its tone and thus no sense of measure or accountability for its success or failure.  It was all simply too matter-of-fact about situations of life and death, especially his own.

The runabout maneuvered along its course all but ignored by the bulk of the fleet.  There seemed little concern for the shuttle fleeing the starbase and he aimed to keep it that way.  If the humans wanted to fight one another, then perhaps the Patriarchy was right all along and the time to avenge three centuries of insult was at hand.  As he watched the battle unfolding before him, it seemed as though most of the fire was focussed on a smaller collection of ships, but a defensive line of saucer shaped vessels had moved to shield them from the main assault.

With a lurch, the runabout hugged close to the surface of a large chunk of debris -- possibly the hull of yet another starship.  This was the last major hurdle and he'd finally be done with this place.  "Computer, set course 332 mark 18 and engage at warp..."

His command was cut short as the lighting shifted to a sharp crimson and the klaxon sounded.  "Collision alert," the computer reported even as one of the saucers rounded the debris from the opposite side.

"Oh... ch'rowl..." Deacon muttered under his breath as a graviton beam lanced out from his unexpected adversary and tore deep into the runabout's side.  There wasn't time to fire back or adjust course to avoid and the shields proved as effective as tissue in the wind.  The DeGrasse-Tyson pitched violently to the side and his plans for freedom faded.  The console lit up with an array of warnings and alerts as system failures cascaded through the ship.

"Warning: Catastrophic damage to the starboard nacelle," the computer offered.

"There is no starboard nacelle!" Deacon shouted hotly, any semblance of control now lost as he watched a portion of his escape craft spin off to join the debris field, a trail of vented plasma painting spirals in its wake.

"Structural integrity at 14%.  Environmental systems compromised, lethal exposure in ten minutes.  Anti-matter injectors offline.  Magnetic containment field failure in one minute.  Warp core breach is imminent."

Deacon's eyes left the console.  There were no more answers to be found there.  Best case scenario, he had a minute and his options were dwindling fast.  The transporter.  He had hoped to avoid using it because it was a long shot at best and a one-way trip, but a one-way trip away from certain death made it suddenly more appealing.  He rushed from his seat to the back of the cabin where the transporter pad was positioned.  A series of conduits exploded and the lights waned, the consoles flickering erratically as fires ignited, causing noxious black smoke added to the atmospheric toxicity.

He grabbed hold of the transporter controls and studied the readings, looking for some viable target, any viable target. Long range sensors were fried and the short range had suffered in the assault.  The lateral arrays had been torn away along with the nacelles, giving him nothing but static in all directions.

"Thirty seconds to warp core breach."

Another series of explosions shuddered through the ship as more conduits overloaded and ruptured, feeding more fuel to the growing fires that were rapidly consuming the interior.  Power systems failed and the cockpit grew dark save for the red emergency lighting which continued to pulse like the beating of a heart.  He no longer had options.  Cook-fire and spit... and he was caught between them both.  He searched the static for anything, any hints, anything...

"Fifteen seconds to warp core breach.  Fourteen.  Thirteen.  Twelve..."

"There!"  The static of the scanners cleared for the barest of an instant revealing a single target.  One of the ships was still moving but had no shields.  If he had to surrender to custody again, it was far preferable to having his atoms scattered across subspace thanks to an anti-matter explosion.

"Nine.  Eight.."

He locked the target and activated the transport sequence, reciting a prayer to the Fanged God under his breath even as his vision filled with lights and he felt a momentary disconnection from the world around him.  The choking interior of the DeGrasse-Tyson faded from view, and another took its place -- the bridge of the USS Allegiant.

As the materialization cycle completed, Deacon gave a sigh of relief, still reeling from his harrowing escape, until a new realization began to sink in.... why weren't his feet touching the deck?

[Nathan | Communication Tower | Starbase 84 | beam out to Theurgy] Attn: Boarding party 01

"The fuck was that?" Nathan could hear the message as it was playing over basically everything, but it was complete and utter nonsense. Some kind of fabricated edition that was put up for display. Which meant that the mission was a complete wash.

His first ground mission, and all he had managed to do as security was screw up yet another place. What was more his attempts to delay the security team with phaser fire and explosions had only worked about half as well as he would have liked. Despite the fact that he had set his own weapons back down to a heavy stun he had still killed people for this mission, and now those deaths were for nothing!

Of course they had clearly decided to show the same amount of mercy on their side, having killed a good man already, which only made this all the more frustrating.

When he felt the static electricity of the transporters washing over him he cursed and muttered, ducking back into cover so he could stop moving and let himself be beamed out for the rescue. Grateful as he was, he still wanted to punch something or get a stiff drink but the thought that was constantly going around and around in his head was the one thing that made all of this feel all the more hopeless. "I could have been more useful in the air."

[Sithick | Allegiant Bridge ] Attn: Steelpheonix, EAC, Auctor, and Others.

Shields were down! He had just got them back up, and yet the shields were yet again down. What was more was that with the arrival of the fleet they were going to be in a terrible position.

The last time he was in a ship that was this badly damaged he had been the only survivor. This time however there was one key difference this time they had Jaya. He had to put every last amount of faith he had in her. He couldn't give her more shields, but going back to the hole he had made previously he searched other things he could deploy.

Their was very little he could do from the bridge of the ship. The Allegiant already had several shoddy last minute repairs, and he would be having a word with the few survivors of the Black Opal engineering team today about their transporter malfunctions. Reports, gods he loved reports he wanted to live to write more reports!

Looking to Jaya he simply had nothing left to say, just a rather forlorn and hopeful look towards her. "Get us the hellz out of here."

Sithick's eyes darted however when the light of a tranporter started to form a life form on the bridge. He blinked not sure who would try to board a ship that was so clearly sinking, it was either very desperate or really foolish.

Sithick turned his body to line up with the bright light, and once the creature was fully formed Sithick launched himself towards it. He had nothing he could fix, but now he had something he could hopefully hit.

He made sure to put all of his strength towards one powerful shoulder tackle aimed squarely at the new comers body, aiming to strike it as hard as he could. of course that was assuming he could hit the thing in the middle of the air. Zero G combat was always so tricky.

[ Ens Ryuan Sel | Command Center | EOC Tower | Starbase 84 ] Attn: Striker N7 & Auctor Lucan

"No plan survives contact with the enemy" (paraphrased) -- Moltke the Elder

The plan had been simple, infiltrate the enemy facility, lock down the command center, isolate and pacify the commander, attempt to determine his allegiance and either rescue or eliminate him as a threat. That plan, as had the other elements in play she could tell, had gone awry, leaving them fighting a losing battle. So it was the thoughts of a Terran general from a bygone era that rang in Sel's ears as she crashed to the deck plating.

She felt the sickening snap as something in her ankle broke, a second snap as her wrist stopped her forward progress against a nearby bulkhead. It didn't however stop her forehead from contacting something hard causing her to see stars as her vision swam. Grunting in pain she only had time to glance back, to see her comrade Zaraq collapsed on the floor, to watch in detached horror as the possessed human crushed the Zaraq's head with his own rifle, like the Klingon was a Christmas nut.

She said a silent prayer as she unsteadily got to her feet, head swimming from the dizziness, the pain of her injuries making every move excruciating, the rush of adrenaline the only thing keeping her moving through the pain. Raising her rifle, now set as high as she dared, Sel kept the wavering weapon trained on Hawthorne, ready to take a shot when Ida or Drauc moved away from the possessed Hawthorne. The way they fought however, and the assistance of another as yet unknown officer into the fight, only ruined Sel's chances of getting in a clean shot, and as unsteady as she was, she wouldn't risk her own officers' safety for a chance at the man.

It didn't take much however, given the size of the room, and the number of displays placed around it, to see how the Theurgy fared. She'd seen tactical readouts like this before and noted the second vessel flagged as hostile, not Theurgy but another Starfleet vessel, perhaps an ally, a mole she'd not been privy to? And the screens only seemed to grow more chaotic as first a Starfleet task force beamed in, and then unknowns. That however was a matter for those in space, the more imminent threat lay before her, shielded from her fire.

And then, as if to change the whole tactical situation on it's head, the blaring of alarms as a shuttle-craft of some description  penetrated the command center's perimeter defenses. Ryuan had little time to react as phaser fire penetrated the upper transparasteel windows of the command center, sending debris scattering, and her ducking for cover as phaser fire far more powerful then her own weapons bracketed the room, tearing the place up like a scene from a old holo-vid war movie.

Crawling, staying low to avoid as much fire as she could, Sel crawled along the floor, weapon abandoned as it was no longer of use to her, towards Drauc & Cam, both of whom were sprawled out on the floor. Right now all she could hope to do was drag them both behind cover but as she reached Cam, her mission priority, she heard Thea's voice over her combadge. She had seconds to decide and being closer to Cam, she placed a hand on the young officer's ankle, holding on for dear life as the transporter gripped them both.

Her last glimpse of Drauc as she faded from existence, the last expression on her face was one of sadness. A choice had been made, one would stay and die, the other leave and hopefully live. She hoped Drauc understood the gravity of her choice, her loyalty to her people, her mission.

---

OOC: Command Center layout: https://johneaves.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cc-d.jpg?w=1400&h= (Concept Art by John Eaves)

[ Drauc T'Laus | Command Center | EOC Tower | Starbase 84 ] Attn: All

From his prone position, Drauc saw the Bajoran security guard from the Theurgy secure the human Ensign in their beam-out, likely ending up on the Theurgy. With the young woman not having a combadge, he could respect the Bajoran's choice. Yet Drauc blamed her not, because the battle was still being fought, and he was still alive... walking the righteous path.

Drauc had heard Hawthorne call for reinforcements, and it did not take long until every security guard inside and below the EOC Tower soaring height knew that their base commander was in danger. Looking out, Dracu saw the Aerowing strafing and firing high-energy beams into the already destroyed area, and Drauc could do naught more than admire the bold move that the Resolve's Captain had made. He could not fathom what drove Kendrick to such personal extremes - putting his life on the line when he had more crew than his First Officer to send out. Then again, it did seem like he was the only one left - the others having beamed out.

[My people see it, Captain,] came the voice from Hawthorne's combadge. It was someone Drauc recognised from his time in custody. A human named Mackenzie, the Asst. Chief of Security. [All units with visual contact, fire at will! I repeat, fire at will!]

Crawling to the next cover, Drauc saw how the Aerowing was suddenly under heavy fire. Apparently, the transparent panels of the EOC tower had been folded away on the lower levels, granting leave for the security forces on those levels to fire upon Kendrick and the Resolve's auxiliary scoutship. With so much phaser energy concentrated upon the ship, it did not take long for the shields to wear down, and the hull taking the brunt of the assault.

Drauc did not remain idle however, when Kendrick stopped firing into the command center. He got back on his feet, driven by battle instincts that he'd thought died inside him when he'd lost his brother. He ran towards Hawhtorne, and resumed the fight. He might be alone... but the victor had yet to be decided. With his brown, threadbare cloak whirling as he attacked the possessed human, and with the high altitude air of the dome coursing through the broken panels, Drauc would keep his promise to Kendrick... should the Aerowing crash down at the base of the EOC tower.

There was no room for further thought, as he exchanged strikes with the the Captain - only primal instinct of survival.

---

OOC: Command Center layout: https://johneaves.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cc-d.jpg?w=1400&h= (Concept Art by John Eaves)

[ Deacon | Allegiant Bridge ] Attn: Kaligos, EAC, Auctor, and Others

No gravity?  What sort of insanity had he transported himself into?  Admittedly, it was a marked improvement over impending vaporization.  A warp core breach was not one of those things he'd hoped to see first hand, at least not up close and in person.  Now where was he?  Another Starfleet vessel, for certain.  The humans clearly had a predilection for variety when it came to their ships, but he was fairly certain that there were certain consistencies between them... hulls, nacelles, environmental systems... gravity.

He was so caught in his attempt to orient himself that he very nearly missed the approaching gorn launching at him from a seat near the fore.  Deacon was no expert in Zero-G combat, but that was never his calling.  Had he anything but black fur, likely he'd have suffered the full regimen of military training and be expected to face this challenge head-on.  Black Priests, on the other hand, stood apart and did their best to look intimidating and the best way to do that was to be infuriatingly untouchable. 

With a sideways kick, his foot made contact with a nearby chair and he was sent out of the gorn's path.  Seriously, who would mistake this for an attack?  Well, truthfully, his people weren't always known for their stellar planning, but somehow he felt insulted by the presumption.  And truth be told, it did take every final shred of willpower he had to resist the instinct to throw down with the gorn, but then he'd have to kill everything else on the ship and pilot the whole thing himself and this day had already been taxing enough.

"I... surrender," he said, making a face as if the word itself had soured on the tongue.  "My claws are sheathed," he added, lifting his hands to demonstrate that he had, in fact, retracted his claws back into his meaty fingers, "and I'm unarmed."  His gaze was locked on the gorn but his statement was to whomever else might have been present.  He didn't expect gorn to stop unless stopped.  The reptile clearly had the advantage of height and reach and that clearly gave him the upper hand in this circumstance, and if nothing else, Kzinti prefered to choose their battlefields.

[OOC: If you want to know what he sounds like, he sounds like Chrisjen Avasarala from the Expanse, right down to the accent, except an octave lower.  :) ]

[Captain Tristan Kendrick | Aerowing ] Attn: All
The sight of the command center being ripped apart brought Kendrick a slight amount of joy. He knew that this wasn't going to last however. Te pulse phasers were doing their work, but he was worried. Worried that Hawthorne would get away, worried that his ship's warp core could breach, and take down too much of this station. When the reinforcements began firing upon him, he wanted one thing, and one thing only. So, he had the tactical systems ignore the new targets.

With so much fire on him, the Aerowing shuddered and lost it's shields with the usual line of sparks and explosions and plasma fires. The same kind of damage that had ripped the Resolve apart. He supposed if he ran now, he could get to the transporter pad. He could jump to the closest ship, make another run for it.

No, he was past that point. His radiation poisoning was too severe, being too dead to keep this going. "I was supposed to retire." He shook his head as he voiced the thought. The computer screeched it's concerns about structural integrity. Then, he saw something through the raining sparks on the small bridge. Two persons, fighting. He gave another scan of the command center. He would rather only hit Hawthorne, having thought all Theurgy crew had beamed out by then, if they had even been there to begin with. Then, the LCARS screen told him the other life form was a Romulan. There was literally only one person it could be, and he knew what he had meant to do when he returned to Starbase 84. Drauc made it...

"Computer, lock onto the Romulan life sign and prepare for a site to site transport." Now, he just had too figure out where to put the man. Their were a few ships that were taking heat in the battle, with limited times and options. A familiar one had had no shields left. He opened up the consule controls and picked out the one person he knew could use a calm head. He tried to hail the destroyed command center again. "Tell Tancredi... Tell her I said goodbye.."

With that last comment, suspecting the Romulan would never hear it, he energised the transporter systems before they frayed, and beamed the man to the Fuzzy Flayer. Moments after, the transporter systems went offline, that part of his controls exploding from overheating. But hopefully, the man would be gone and safe.

[Warning. Warp core breach imminent.]

"Oh no you don't... You will explode when I tell you too. Arm self destruct, Alpha-Command-Kendrick-Three, and..." He pushed the commands. "Full ahead!" The Aerowing started to move. pushing forward as fast as atmospheric flight would allow. It's engines were clipped, trailing smoke and fire as the ship lurched forward, and crashed against the EOC Tower's top level. It was still firing the phasers as it went in, the entirety of the vessel overheating as metal scratched and smashed against metal. He remembered the three years with his crew. Closed his eyes in the reverie.

Then... nothing.

[ Ian Hawthorne | Command Center | EOC Tower | Starbase 84 ] Attn: All

The shoulder and neck of Ian Hawthorne host's body had been grazed by a pulse phaser bolt when the Resolve's auxiliary craft appeared and opened fire - the voice of Captain Kendrick booming inside the command center. As much as he revelled in the sensation of pain - from the strike his neck had suffered from Lieutenant Commander Marquez and the phaser burn alike - the suppressed host-mind of Ian Hawthorne did manage to wrest a semblance of control in the commotion. In severe agony, Ian was of two minds simultaneously, where parasite and host coexisted in control of the injured flesh-puppet they wore. Having taken cover, the parasite called for reinforcements, but the rightful owner of the body...

...his eyes lay upon Cameron Henshaw, where she lay prone on the floor to avoid the rapid fire from Kendrick's shuttle. He wanted to say something, make sure she wasn't hurt, to ask forgiveness since he had not been strong enough. To tell her he did love her, and that it hadn't been him that tried to kill her. He met her eyes across the distance, separated by the phaser fire that whisked by between them, and while he could not say anything, his gaze was twisted in regret. I'm sorry... Oh, Cammie, I am so sorry...

Then, as he looked into her eyes for the last time, she vanished - beamed away from the area - and if she had been the last anchor for the original owner of the body, the nameless darkness seized him again. Starbase security opened fire against Kendrick, and in the respite of the phasers straying away, he stood up in hope to see the Resolve's Captain finally die.

Only what he did see was the Romulan in the threadbare cloak coming at him, savage strikes landing across his head and chest. With an inhuman sound escaping his throat and the abyss inside, Ian began to fight back - trading blows with the last remaining adversary left in the Ops center. The Romulan seemed able to anticipate his strikes, giving him an advantage at the onset of the fight, but he was no match - the brief bout soon shifting to Ian's favour. In seconds, he had the Romulan down on his knees, bleeding and reeling in imminent defeat. Ian thought he heard a voice overriding the winds, but he cared not, just about to strike the blade of his bionic hand into the fool's torso...

...when the Romlan vanished - beamed out like Cammie and the rest.

Looking behind him, Ian saw the burning craft Kendrick flew outside the broken glass panels, still there, and it's searing stream of phaser fire returned when the shuttle adjusted its altitude. Ian was caught in the middle of it - flying backwards when a couple of bolts hit his limbs. He landed hard against the railing above the bottom level, the host body no longer receptive to movement. One arm gone and a part of his torso missing, charred and with his uniform on fire, Ian raised his eyes to see the Aerowing lurch forward - entering through the broken glass panels with a loud, screeching noise and with phasers still ablaze.

In the last moment before the warp core detonated, Captain Hawthorne smiled...

...because Cammie was safe, and his nightmare had finally ended.

---

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | USS Allegiant | Bridge | Upper Deck ] Attn: EAC, Kaligos & Steelphoenix

The orders from Commander Trent were utterly clear, and it was pure happenstance that had them already close to Vector 03 and the Allegiant's docking bay... if they only could catch up with it while it moved to reintegrate with the other Vectors of the Theurgy. A big 'if' right there.

"Get us the hellz out of here," said Sithick, and Jennifer could not have said it better. "As the Petty Officer says, step on it!" urged Dewitt, directing herself to Jaya Thorne. The hope of survival against all odds that filled her voice almost forgave the archaic expression - the saying a remnant from when humans drove automobiles on wheels in the city streets. All brittle hope escaped her though, when the shimmer of a transporter beam-in lit the damaged bridge interior. They were being boarded, and Dewitt reached for her hand phaser, having it by her hip where she sat strapped to her chair.

Yet as she took aim, Sithick had already thrust himself towards the new figure on the small bridge, and she refrained from discharging her stun beam - the mass of the gorn in her sights. The figure avoided Sithick's attack, drifting away in the last moment, and Dewitt adjusted her aim. Then she heard it speak, saw dark fur against dark bulkhead, and fanged teeth moving. Golden eyes looked back at her, and whatever it was, the figure surrendered. Jaws clenched, Dewitt almost stunned the figure anyway because at the present critical juncture of their operation, she did not want Jaya Thorne distracted.

"Then shut up and hold on to something!" she called over the sharp noises of the damaged bridge - debris and liquid fire in the air.

With her phaser still pointed towards the new passenger, Jennifer turned her head to see if Thorne could make it in time...

[Hylota Vojona | Isolation Ward 02| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]

          Hylota tried her best to keep her breathing under control as she was covered and crowded by the other two, she was not thinking completely straight. To Hylota the battle was not her concern, she had no control over it and she was completely at the mercy of the forces of the battle, she could not change that, but as a member of medical she had been trained to tune out the threat to the ship and focus on patients, she did not worry about the battle unless it came to her.

As Maal began to get proper scans he was able ton see why the egg was not moving so comfortably through her, it was not too large to pass, but it was a partially calcified mass that would be painful to move through her sensitive insides, and from what could be seen at least one other egg was like that and was already moving through her. Groaning Hylota pushed against her eggs as she began to dilate and the first egg began to make its way out.

As Hayden then told Maal to look after her while she went to get phasers Hylota took a long deep breath. "Just don't put it in my reach or I might do something I will regret out of discomfort." Hylota squirmed and tensed as she began to pushed her egg as it started to crown, the egg was mostly spherical but had strange indistinguishable calcified matter inside of  the membrane that  held it all together, but as it moved into the water there was a distortion in the water as other fluids began to mix in with the water as Hylota began to scream in discomfort from the laying of the deformed egg.

[ MCPO Nolak Kalmil | Main Engineering | Vector 03 |  USS Theurgy ]

Master Chief Nolak Kalmil held the near empty bottle next to him as he admired his handy work. The mess in front of him looked like a demented robotic spider took up habitat under the tanks. There were wire crossing every which way, and connected to the fuel injection main circuit boards, circuit breakers, and some bypassed their original connection points completely.  He swished around the remaining liquor left in the bottle as he reached over and overrode a couple final adjustments to the power board.

The bottle in hand he raised it to his lips and finished the last of liquid. He then placed the empty bottle into the tool belt. Shouting out to Thea still standing at the computer station, “I’ve done all I can do here, how do we look?”

The holographic projection of Thea monitoring the computer said in a somewhat monotone voice, “Master Chief, it appears your repairs have caused more errors messages and problems than fixes. However, power output has increased 18%, and appears to be stable despite the errors indicated. Can I now transport you out of here and into sickbay?  I fear for your health.” She said with concern in her voice.

As Nolak crawled his way out from under the tanks he continued to fiddle with a panel here, or a wire connection there as he went. “My place is in engineering, Thea.” He said as he emerged from under the crawl space and sat up rubbing his aching shoulder. Feeling a bit drunk from drinking he sat by the tanks for a short while looking around the steamy warp chamber feeling at peace. He loved being here instead of anywhere else on the ship. The ship shook and rattled again from another strike. He shook himself back into the action.

He rose to his feet and moved next to Thea standing at the computer panel. He checked the read outs for himself. Indeed the damage report grid was flashing mostly red after his jimmy rigging, and he went through each damage issue and manually overrode the safety errors.  He then went about and directed the extra power to the ships shields and maneuvering thrusters. Speaking to Thea, “Thanks for your concerns. I’m feeling better now.”

He pressed the battle bridge intercom button and spoke, “Greetings up there, hope you got a plan to get us out of here, because this was the very last trick up my sleeve. Anymore tampering and we might as well chuck the warp core out and use it like a weapon the same way the Resolve’s core was used. Also ignore any critical readings coming from engineering now. I’ve got things so rewired and bypassed in here if we have a core breach, we won’t know about it until after the fact, at which point we won’t have to worry much anymore.  Over, and out.” 

He closed the channel and leaned on the computer station drunkenly.  Looking up at the tactical display he watched as the fleet maneuvered about trying to seal off any chance of escape; Vector 01 still appeared to be adrift in space; the USS Chester wasn't rounding about for another attack; and he wondered about those saucers attacking Task Force Archeron. There were other power signatures in the star field but those readings were harder to figure out with sensors also being jammed and some damage sustained in the battle.

“Looks like quite a party the Captain got us into this time. We did all of this just to broadcast a message. Even that appears to be all fowled up. With so many lives lost and it looks like we’ve got nothing to show for it. Guess I should have never have woke up, but it sure felt good being an engineer again one last time.”  He gave the computer panel a loving pat and turned to Thea next to him. “Sorry I got snippy with you. Do you have any clever advice left?”

[ Zelosa Ejek | Conference Lounge | U.S.S. Theurgy ] Attn: DocReno, FollowTomorrow, Auctor Lucan, Anyone else 

Zelosa Ejek felt queasy. Her mind was racing, covering what felt like a hundred topics a minute. Mentally, she tried to catalogue and come to terms with the developments when, suddenly, she was enveloped by arms. The touch was like a static shock, causing the young Cardassian woman to flinch, pushing out on those limbs closing around her. It was a visceral reaction, breaking the hold before it even really took place. Whether the hug was designed to bring her concentration back to the moment at hand or just provide comfort in a time of need, it certainly did the former. Stepping away, she twisted quickly, checking who it was that had given her such a fright.

“Lieutenant!” She scolded quietly, trying not to alert the others in the room. She wanted to chastise him, quoting regulations about workplace conduct and appropriate touching but instead she said nothing. In truth, it was not who had touched her that was the problem but the location. That sort of activity shouldn’t have happened in front of their colleagues. She understood that Keval wanted to show that he cared, but it should not have been done like that, it certainly wouldn't have been back on Cardassia. She was not a weak, frail flower that needed comfort and protection. Breathing a sigh through her nose, she leveled her head with a simple reminder. Different cultures, simpler minds.

In all this insanity that was Kendrick’s death, the end of the Resolve, and whatever was going on Theurgy, Ejek knew she was glad to have Keval there with her. She just wished he showed that he cared in a better way. What she liked about him was his logical side. In secret, that aspect of the man attracted her, though she’d never admit it. If it had been logical, subtle support, she'd like that a lot better. Instead, the Andorian received a disapproving look for his work, while Ejek felt a small blush of embarrassment running up the back of her neck ridges.

Finally averting her eyes from the silent staring content between them, she checked across the room. Whatever was happening on screen had provided suitable distraction from the cute but unwanted reaction of her colleague. It was at that point that she caught a glimpse of Suq. Leaving Keval behind, alongside all thought of their interaction, she rushed to her friend’s side. Kneeling beside the Efrosian with his head between his knees, she watched over him, a concerned look knitting her brow ridges.

“Suq, can you hear me? Are you alright?”

[ Lieutenant Keval ch'Rayya | Conference Room | USS Theurgy ] Attention: Arista, et al

Keval understood Zelosa's reaction, it was a near mirror of what happened a few years ago to him but in the end it had the desired result and he watched how she reacted with a trained eye as she went over to their fellow crewmate and offered to help.

Keval in turn went over to Zelosa, bent over just enough so that he could whisper into her right ear "I'm sorry about that but right now we need you, Zelosa..*I* need you because until we can find out what's happened to Striker..use what your feeling and focus it, we need you now more then ever."

The andorian then straightened back up and went to the middle of the room and in a very loud, clear tone he said "Alright, I know that things look bad right now but Kendrick knew what he was doing and he put our safety above everything including his own life."

Keval paused for a second, not just to let that sink but also to give himself a moment to think as he didn't realize how hard the loss of his friend was hitting him as his now late captain was like a brother to him after everything was said and done. "I know it's hard in that we just lost a home, our homecoming in turn has become something of a complete and utter mess, and now we're on a ship that's being hunted by our own fleet."

Keval motioned at the view screen that they had seen everything on. "I'm going to be upfront with you in that before all of this started today, the captain and I had a chat with the base's commander and he fed us a lot of bull about this *VERY* ship and it's crew which meant that right now, it's perhaps the best place for us to be..if not the safest." the Resolve's CTO and Second Officer said plainly as he turned around to take in every single one of his fellow officers. "I know that we've lost the only home that we've had for the past few years and we've lost a lot of people that we've cared about today..but we are the officers and crew of the Resolve and we have survived our exodus to come home and we *WILL* survive this exodus, I promise you."

Keval then turned to face where Zelosa was with Suq, his tone becoming less loud but just as clear. "We tend to our own, help our new shipmates, and survive..we owe it to our friends who aren't here now to carry on."
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[ Captain Marcus A. Slayton | Conference Room | Starbase 84 ] Attention: Et all.

As per tradition, the commanding officer of the USS Orcus was the last one to be beamed off of his command and was escorted into a conference room instead of being taken to sickbay, the medic that had been attending to him the entire way from his bridge had stayed by his side.

"I need to know the exact situation in local space, Number One..." Marcus was about to say when suddenly there was a powerful rocking of the station followed by a new series of alarms that made Marcus' left eye narrow.

"What in the name of the Prophets was that?!" the medic asked, her tone tight with concern.

"Collision alert..something rammed into the station itself." Marcus growled hotly despite the drugs in his system before he turned to look at his First Officer. "Secure me a terminal and then find out what the hell just happened."

His Executive Officer did just as he was told before helping Marcus over to a seat at the head of the table where an independent station was and accessed a secured line in the communications network. "Starship Archeron, this is Captain Slayton from Starbase Eighty Four. Security Code Slayton Orcus Gamma Gamma Six One Nine Orange, authenticate." Marcus said into the channel. "Put me through to the admiral."

[ Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark and Lt. (jg) Sarresh Morali| Main Bridge | USS Theurgy - Vector 01 ]

Elim Garak - the name meant something to Sarresh, but said something was buried deep in the recesses of his mind, and he wasn't in the mood to drag that out just then. No he was still shaking from head to toe in rage at the stupidity, the loss. This damn Trill had just cost them so much. Had just invalidated everything he'd done. "Dammit. DAMMIT," he barked, but it was too late. Ives was there, ordering Thea to beam away the injured former officer. With one source of rage gone, Sarresh was damned ready to lash out the follower.

Too late for that, however - Security already had him in hand. He had - he had to do something. Ives was back in his - her - command chair, issuing orders, but Sarresh wasn't stupid. The former Ash'reem had seen the look on Ives face as they both loomed over Rez: defeat. The captains biosigns screamed it in those damned eyes of Lt. Morali's. Furious and frustrated, he pushed away, stalking back to the auxiliary science station. He had...had to find away to fix this mess.

For an instant, in all the turmoil, Lt. Cmdr. Stark felt eyes on her. She glanced back, over her shoulder, and saw Lt. Tovarek looking her way. She managed a shaky nod, but that was it. There was too much going on, and Natalie knew she had to focus. The order had been given and lives were at stake. "Proceeding with transports now." Her voice utterly devoid of all emotion.

She didn't look at the man next to her, piloting the ship - the one from the Resolve. She didn't think about Aisha, or how helpful she had been during the SAR mission with her and Ida and how she was now a corpse, just like Winterbourne. Natalie compartmentalized, bottled, buried, sucked in a deep chest filling breath of air - and did her job. She worked with the transporter rooms across three vectors, coordinating and cajoling power where needed, sweeping the Starbase of their personnel.

And never mind the crazy, grinning man sitting where Aisha should have been. She'd just pulled the remaining crew off the Starbase's command center when she heard something, a gasped wail in the back of the bridge.

It hit like a ton of bricks. One minute he was pulling up the transmission pulse recording, trying to prase it for some clue some detail as to what else Joan - Edena - the fucking Trill - had hidden anything else he might be able to parse. Maybe something his training from the future would pick up on and trigger. The next minute, something triggered all right.

The tingling at the back of his neck was the first warning. It built up, pressure behind a wall, a damn threatening to crack. Readings were scrolling across his screen that had nothing at all to do with the message he'd been dissecting. In reality - the readings were all in his head. The screen was perfectly blank. But the damn was bursting, the engrematic programming buried deep in the recesses of his subconscious was releasing a new data packet, a warning. Memories surfaced, flooding the former Ash'reem.  He let out a pained wail of distress, crashing back against the console, twisting and falling forward onto the deck. He curled in around himself as sound, sight, all of it bled out.

Natalie whipped around in her seat, mouthing off a fast, "What the hell?" She wasn't the only one, and frankly, after a moments confusion, she understood. The last time she witnessed this, the Temporal Officer was still an Ash'reem - and the Calamity had been arriving on the scene. "Oh not again," she whispered, and then louder, "Its a seizure." The revelation spurred crewmen closer to the time traveler into action.

"Ami'kris....and Niga," he groaned out. He couldn't see anyone around him though he was sure, absolutely sure he was surrounded. Hands were positioning him, trying to support his head, keep him from choking on his own tongue. No, he saw a screen that didn't exist, hadn't been invented yet. a 29th century read out. Temporal waves, splitting - no, forking. The temporal incursion. The Ash'Reem DNA found on a mutated planet where none should exist. And now it was...oh no.

"Paradox....the cycle has been...not again. No, no, not like Niga, not again," he wailed, starting to come out of it. Something had happened. A new incursion. A new paradox. It hurt, oh, gods above it hurt. For one brilliant instant, Sarresh understood. Understood the implications of the first incursion, at Niga. Why Ash'reem DNA had been there - why he had come back. Damn them he had vol - it shifted before he could finish the thought.

The new incursion. His lab. Something....something of Amikris. She was there, at the center of it again even in death. "its happening again!" He snapped upright, eyes seeing again, as he pushed away from the people surrounding him. "NO no no noooo no no not again, not again, damn them all to hell and back not again!" He screamed and grabbed at the controls of the Auxiliary Science console. He had....he had to get to the other Vector.

Another jerk wracked his body. Pain in the back of his head, then...knowledge. His hands flew across the touch screen as new alarms sparked all over the bridge. In that brief moment of insight, Sarresh Morali used skills and knowledge, tactics that were buried deep in his subconscious mind to bend the ships abilities in ways they were never intended. Knowledge he didn't know he possessed, Just like when the Calamity assaulted them. Just like in the sickbay, after his revival. Skills he should not have, but did.

It took less then 5 seconds. But in that time, the former Ash'reem reconfigured the transporters to emit a phased variance pulse. Theurgy's shields were already back in place, the crew having been snapped away from the damaged starbase. That didn't mater. In an instant, Sarresh vanished in a sparkling haze as the transporters swept him from Vector to another - through the very active shields - flawlessly. And the second the computer confirmed his arrival on the other Vector, the subroutines self deleted, wiped from the ships memory banks.

[Ens. IrnaShall ch'Xinya | Stellar Cartography | USS Theurgy - Vector 3]

If it wasn’t for the fact that the figure slumped in the chair was constantly righting itself after every jostle of weapons fire, evasive maneuver, or any other motion an observer would think that the Andorian was dead.  In a way he was.  Fighting back a debilitating headache from where his head smashed into the console earlier (it was all but guaranteed that a concussion was the result), Shall had tried to keep up with the battle with Task Force Archeron, but then the boarding teams succeeded in sending out the Captain’s message with the Simulcast system.  When the subspace transmitter lit up like a beacon, an antenna shot into the air and quivered in excitement, but it was too bad that the message sent wasn’t the one that had originally been recorded.  Hearing his captain burn every last bridge they still had with the Federation was worse than a punch to the gut, and with that came a kick to the groin when the thought of their personal messages home came to mind.  A full range of emotions played out on Shall’s face and his lone antenna responded accordingly, wringing and lashing soon followed by pressing itself against his scalp, then a resolved weak flop to the side.

On the massive screens that wrapped around the laboratory, saucer shaped ships decloaked and came to the Theurgy’s aid, fighters that were logged as hostile changed sides, an Aeroshuttle found a way into Starbase 84, even a runabout tried to flee the battle only to be shot down moments away from warp.  Dark blue eyes watched it all, but the mind behind them didn’t see any of it.  After what felt like an eternity things started to change outside, the chaos of battle quickly reforming into the organization needed for the retreat.  The screens showed the other two vectors coming together along with his, fighters and other auxiliary craft made their best speeds to the various hangars littered throughout the different vectors.  At the same time, the drones that Shall’s superior had so brilliantly dreamed up formed up for one final maneuver.  All that was needed now was a destination and a course, and the one who’s job it was to provide that was completely zoned out.

Luckily, the Theurgy had a computer unlike any other in Starfleet, one that could be far more proactive when required.  Several reminders pinged both on the lab’s console as well as verbally through the comm.  The sound of a friendly voice got the Andorian to stir, his mind clawing out of the funk it dove into.  “Right, escape course….” Shall muttered to no one in particular.  Hesitant fingers played the controls, their strength and focus returning as he worked. The screen shifted, refocusing from a tactical view into one better suited for course plotting.  There was a lot of junk in local space, the result of exploding starships as well as the saucers’ odd strategy of tossing trash out behind them as they buzzed around.  Thankfully they were able to keep most of TF Archeron at bay giving the soon-to-be united Theurgy a path of escape.  A line soon appeared, showing the best path out of the system.

Quickly forwarding the course to the helm up on the Bridge, Shall keyed up the comm to confirm that it was received.  “Lt. S’lti, you should have our best possible course out of the system and towards the Azure Nebula.”

[ Asst. CSec Mackenzie | EOC Tower Ruin | Starbase 84 ] Attn: All

Picking himself up from the floor, Mackenzie realised he couldn't breathe, smoke filling his lungs. Eyes watering, he couldn't see anything either, even if he knew he should be in the Security Center. The stench was unbearable as he fumbled about for something, anything to help him get his bearings. He caught a piece of uniform. A sleeve, and as he scrambled towards the hand-hold in the smoke, he saw that it was Bradford, unmoving. Still struggling to get air down his lungs, Mackenzie checked the pulse. Nothing. He had to move on, away from the smoke, even if it seemed to fill the entire area. "Mackenzie to Lieutenant Dothnil... Come in..."

No answer. "Security to Captain Hawthone... Are you there, sir?"

The silence wasn't even pierced by warnings from the computer, the only sound being all-consuming fires and his shuffling feet as he made for what he believed to be the exit. He was not entirely sure he was unhurt, feeling numb in the aftermath of the blast. His hands were covered in dust from what he could see, and his fingers were shaking. He was in shock, and yet continued to move. Out of the smoke, towards the light beyond. His limping stride carried him forth out of sheer desperation, until the smoke receded and his dry eyes could make out something.

Suddenly, the floor vanished in front of him, and he almost fell down. Mind reeling, he could not quite grasp what he was seeing, but somehow, he was looking across the expanse of the Recreational Dome. Only it was barely recognisable. The air shimmered from heat, the fires stretching far and wide across the grass and the promenade. Trees burned like candles, and everything in sight was incinerated. Even though he saw it, he couldn't quite fathom what was in front of his eyes. He saw that the entire top side of the EOC tower had been reduced to a charred skeleton - everything flash-burned. But it extended beyond that, for even the floors of the tower above his level had been scorched, melted and twisted beyond recognition, the inside of the dome also showed signs of the blast. The reason he couldn't breathe wasn't because of the smoke, but the life support systems not able to compensate the atmosphere that had turned into plasma by the blast.

The Aerowing.

The Recreational Dome was a non-flight zone, and yet an enemy craft had made it inside. The blast had spread up and down the Travel Core, the shafts acting like conduits, and everything in their vicinity had been damaged. The terrifying realisation was that its warp core had detonated on the wrong side for all the base's shielding, the blast only mitigated by how it seemed to have gone off inside the top level of the tower. The shields were supposed to protect on-board systems from the radiation surge, but if a warp core breach were on the wrong side, there could be a radiation casualties unless they were all taken to the infirmary - hundreds of people - and a lot of systems must have fried across the whole starbase. Civilians may have been sequestered to their accommodations, safe from harm, but the EOC tower...

As he stood there on the precipice, stricken in horror, Mackenzie could not guess how many were dead or injured.

---

OOC: More posts coming. I owe the inspiration of this one to CanadianVet, his take on the aftermath excellent.

[ Admiral Sankolov (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Command_NPCs#Admiral_Sankolov) | Main Bridge | USS Archeron | Task Force Archeron ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]Having imagined the day the Theurgy was caught for three full months, Sankolov had not counted on Ives finding allies to stand with him in the field of battle. The questions his bridge crew asked out loud were irrelevant, about who they were and where they came from. Sankolov just watched from his chair, quietly annoyed, as the Theurgy moved to reintegrate into one ship again - likely meaning to try and run.

And these unknown allies of the Theurgy... they broke away from his Task Force's ships in order to defend Ives' escape.

Sankolov saw this, and knew what needed to be done. "Hail the Conquest and Supremacy," he said, voice even yet firm, watching from underneath his eyebrows how the saucers were finally out in the open, "tell them to fire off the pods they have deployed so far. All of them. Primary target are the saucers. Full barrage. Fire at will."

Wherever the force of saucers had come from, their graviton beam weaponry could represent a major shift in the power balance between the galactic powers, and his kin needed to escalate the conflict beyond any possible political amendments. All the flammable gas that Captain Hawthorne had been pumping out from Starbase 84 - building distrust between the Federation and the Romulan factions fighting over Romulus - Sankolov would ignite it all.

Another step in the arms raise was the perfect means to start that fire. Indeed, let Starfleet make this fledgling new beam weaponry its own, and Romulus - whoever governed it - would not stand idly by. From the debris of these saucers, Sankolov would take directed energy beam armament to its next generation, and he would make sure all the major powers in the Quadrant and beyond would catch up. Judging by the effects of the graviton beams upon his forces, all current shield technology would be rendered obsolete, and the casualty rates rise exponentially with the new armament. All defences would be rendered moot. All starbases, all planetary defences would be viable targets. This was, indeed, the means to raise fear... and unleash chaos. War would be within his kin's grasp, and then... they merely had to stroke the fires.

"Captain! There was a warp core detonation within the starbase! The readings are hard to make sense of, sensor readings poor, but judging by the yield... hundreds of people might be dead..."

Sankolov moved his eyes towards the starbase, and while he wanted to chuckle at the travesty of the development, he let himself wear a hard frown - ever acting composed. Always focused. Oh, now you've done it Ives. First that message, and now this? Could you possibly have made this easier for me? I doubt it...

"Send the Bellerophon, Seeker and Berlin," he said, but then his eyes moved back to the viewscreen. "Hail all ships. Have them focus on the task at hand. Destroy the saucers, and then the Theurgy. I repeat, all ships diverge on the Theurgy before she goes to warp. We will not loose her again."

"Captain Slayton is on the line, sir," said Ops, revealing that the Orcus' Commanding Officer was still alive. "He is on the starbase."

"Not now," said Sankolov quietly, eyes pinned on the saucers, the fighters and the Theurgy. "Tell him to stand by..." Instead, he watched it happen, riveted by the onslaught. For like fireworks rippling through space, all the pods deployed from the Supremacy and Conquest opened fire as one.

---

OOC: No need to post with Slayton in reply now that we are wrapping up, DocReno, but if you have ideas for what Sankolov could have said instead, let me know over PM and I will edit.

[ Thea (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Thea) | Main Engineering | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ][/color] Attn: MasterRat & Zenozine
[Show/Hide]"My place is in engineering, Thea."

This, Nolak Kalmil had said to the Ship A.I., who was projected on the platform not through her mobile emitter, but through her hologrid. Her emitter had been damaged on Starbase 84, and until Lin Kae could have a look at it, she would not use it again. She could but hope Kae would make it, knowing of the his emergency medical transport to sickbay. As she stood by the former Chief Engineer's side and listen to him speaking with her third Vector's battle bridge, Thea monitored the development in the battle through her sensor arrays, and she knew of the false message. She knew of Edena Rez, how she was dying. She knew of the temporal vortex, of Sarresh Morali, and she knew that it might all be for naught unless she could go to warp before Task Force Archeron reached her.

When Master Chief Kalmil leaned drunkenly on the station on the platform, she drew Thea's eye. She heard him talk of failure, and she could but agree. What she could no longer agree upon, was his aversion to the medical treatment that he needed. She also knew that O'Connell was back aboard, having beamed the current Chief Engineer out herself. What Nolak Kalmil did not know, since he had presumed to give her an order earlier and took her obedience for granted, was that she had been unshackled while he was in stasis. She would act out of her own free will, because she knew it to be the right thing to do for him.

"Apology accepted, Mister Kalmil," she said quietly to the Deltan. "Only one piece of advise. You should listen when such is given."

Then, with as much of an apologetic smile as she could muster given the circumstances, she energised the site-to-site transport, and sent Nolak Kalmil into the decontamination chamber in sickbay - filtering out his clothes on the way there. "Thea to Ensign Vojona," she said where she stood, contacting the nurse closest to Kalmil, "there is a patient in need of 12 cc:s of iodine solution in the decontamination chamber, and I believe he has yet to be granted medical leave."

Then, she watched Chief O'Connell entering the area, giving him a small nod before she vanished - needed on the bridge as she was.

[ Commander Carrigan Trent | Main Bridge | USS Theurgy ]

The withdrawal was well under way, and as the Vectors were being recovered, Commander Carrigan Trent was starting to breathe easier.  Soon, they would be able to go to warp, as soon as the fighters would be recovered.  In the meantime, he had to keep an eye on his sensors and keep firing his weapons to ward off those elements of the Task Force that were managing to get past the Asurian screening elements. 

But then, something flashed on his board, and he had to confirm the readings.  What he was seeing was impossible, yet there it was.  And he could only imagine the damage that would have caused... "Captain!  I'm reading a warp core breach... inside the Starbase.  I'd say a shuttle, maybe a fighter, but no bigger.  And it happened.... Oh my God."  Trent had never been known to let anything show on his face but a mask of calm intensity when he was on duty.  But this time he could not contain it.  "It went off... inside the dome.  I... I can't tell the extent of the damage from here, but I'm reading power spikes and a lot of unstable systems within Starbase 84; radiation levels are varied, and they range from hazardous all the way to instantly lethal.  I... I can't assess casualties."  That report, however, did not hang in the air for long, for Lieutenant Yukimura, who had been handling the EW and making sure their allies had targeting information on hand if they hadn't been cut into their barrage jammer's algorithm, made himself heard.

"Commander, the Asurians, they're not close enough to us anymore; they're out of the jammer's effective envelope."  Indeed, as Theurgy had been reintegrating, each Vector was radiating its own EW bubble, but as they were reintegrating, that bubble kept on shrinking, and now their allies were no longer protected by it.  "Sir!  I'm reading massive targeting activity from... Oh fuck."

Masuda did not need to amplify, for Trent brought up the required information, and yet even more horror crossed his face.  "Captain!  Supremacy and Conquest are lighting up their targeting arrays.  I'm seeing links to... Captain I'm seeing at least six hundred pods spooling up out there."  And then, he realized who was being lit up, and he immediately got on the channel with their Asurian allies.  "Break off!  Break off and go to warp!  NOW!" 

And just as he sent the message, a salvo like he'd only ever seen in simulations was launched from the deployed pods, a true vision of apocalypse.

---

[ CWO1 Sten "Papa Bear" Covington | Reaver-class fighter Cinsaj | On approach to the Fighter Bay ]

With the order to withdraw given, the Chief of the Deck was not going to waste his time.  And frankly, he'd had enough of this pilot shit.  Granted, a job needed doing and he was the only one who was even remotely qualified to fly that thing his ass was strapped into at the time.  But that didn't mean he was enjoying himself.  And already he'd come to realize that pilots must all be completely insane.  Especially Rawley who started singing while they were staring death in the face. 

But now, he was nearing the bay, as fast as the computer was recommending, and he was following the green boxes in his screen just like he had before now that he had requested a combat landing profile.  But this thing, which could literally fight itself if there was an operator to give it directions, did not have an auto-landing sequence.  That was something he would shoehorn in there the moment he had a chance.  But for now...

He contacted the landing coordinator in there, following the procedures he knew intimately... "Barn, this is Papa Bear coming in for a combat landing, and coming in hot!" 

But at least, there seemed to have been someone whose brains were working fine, for the moment he crossed the forcefield, one of the approach controllers must have turned on a tractor beam, for Sten decelerated faster than his thrusters should have allowed for, and before long his fighter was on the deck... and not just on the deck but right back in the maintenance bay he'd come from... 

Never had he been so glad he had originally hand-picked Theurgy's deck gang, and had ridden them hard.  And now he could really appreciate that approach.  And while, according to procedure, he should be disembarking now, and he had a pile of work to do on that deck, instead he leaned back into the seat and closed his eyes for a moment. 

He had survived his first, and hopefully last, combat mission in a fighter...

[ Vinata Vojona | Main Sickbay | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: MasterRat

---

          As Vinata finished cleaning up and seeing to the arm of his patient he had set about cleaning up the mess and seeing to the sanitation of the area when he received the comm transmission that he was going to be receiving a patient. Blinking it took Vinata to collect himself and fully realize what had just been said, that he was going to be dealing with a case of what sounded like radiation poisoning. Looking around Vinata located the decontamination chambers and made a note of its location as he rushed off to the medical supplies and picked up an empty hypospray.

As he trailed his finger along the list of chemicals he made sure to reread every line he thought was what he needed, he did not want to cause a repeat of what his sister had done with the corpse, he needed to make absolutely certain he had the right chemical and the correct dosage on top of that. As his finger stopped on the item he needed he began to pick it out when he heard the sound of the site to site beaming. Frantically he took the capsule of compressed iodine solution and set it to the proper dosage as he turned to face his patient.

As Vinata watched Nolak Kalmil fully materialize inside one of the chambers, seeing him through the window in the door, he froze up a little as he saw the fully nude patient standing there. It was not what Vinata was expecting, but with radiation contaminating all that it passed through, Vinata knew he needed to act quickly. Entering through the doors to the nude crewman, Vinata cleared his throat. "Um excuse me, I take it you were sent for radiation cleansing? My name is Vinata Vojona. I need to administer an iodine solution." He made a motion to get Kalmil turn to his side for the inoculation without making direct physical contact. He did not want to risk contamination. He waited for Kalmil to turn so that his arm would be presented to him, and once he would, Vinata would administer the hypospray before going to activate the chamber.

[Jaya Thorne (https://orig05.deviantart.net/12e0/f/2016/300/a/4/imgpsh_fullsize_by_auctor_lucan-damefg0.png) |  USS Allegiant Bridge | Vector 03 | Attn: Open Space Fighter Elements, Theurgy Bridge

There were worse situations than having 4% shields in the middle of an active space battle.  Jaya was sure of this, but she couldn't remember a time when things had seemed this dire.  Everything was exploding around the Allegiant as they raced through Vector 03 towards the Theurgy, but their own craft's lack of shields was actually helpful for one thing.  The transmission.  They could send it directly to whatever fighter was near enough to reach without having to worry about the shields getting in the way.  Jaya targeted the nearest friendly, the one who called himself Papa Bear, and delivered the message as she blasted by him. 

The mission wasn't over and the Allegiant was still worse for wear, but Jaya's body exhaled anyway.  It felt like she had just accomplished some great feat and now she was home free.  A sudden blast that rocked the ship and made the bridge crew flail about like clothes in a washer knocked Jaya out of her brief reverie. 

[Warning: Primary shields failing.]

 "Right.. space battle.."  The brunette's brown eyes refocused on her console as a single pursuant registered as a red blip.  She fingers tapped the screen several times and she smirked.  It was a lucky shot.  He was still a ways out and she was certain she could outmaneuver him if she concentrated.  But at that moment, her concentration was broken by an incomming message.

[All fighters and Allegiant combat landings and tactical docking!  Priority to Papa Bear,  Grey and White Wolves into the fighter and shuttle bays, Lone Wolves you board last.  All elements, you have no more than 90 seconds to park.  If you can't make it to the bay, latch onto the hull and we'll deal with you when we drop out of warp.  Lone Wolves and Allegiant, if you can't do either, you know the rendezvous.  Asurian elements, we're aborting the mission; if you could cover us while we get set up to withdraw it would be much appreciated.]

The first sentence gave Jaya all the information she needed to know.  They were docking, or they would be as soon as they rendezvoused with the ship.  Jaya was calculating their speed versus the distance to safety before Sithick or Dewitt had a chance to react.  Thank the cosmos they were already in Vector 03 and not too far off from the docking bay.  They would make it, possibly even with seconds to spare!  The helmswoman acknowledged her crewmate and her CO's sentiments with a simple "I'm on it!" and transferred all remaining power to their primary thrusters.  Hell, if she could get close enough to the Theurgy while dodging potshots, it was likely that she ship's point-defense grid would take care of her attacker. 

Jaya was still concentrating on flying when a shimmering beam of light appeared in the middle of the bridge.  It took only seconds for the light refraction to restabilize in the form of a... "What the hell??"

Suddenly a furry blue thing clothed in a uniform was floating on the bridge.  Jaya stared, unblinking, as her fingers briefly paused their evasive maneuvers and a second shot impacted against the Allegiant.  New alerts went off on the bridge and Jaya forced herself to ignore the intruder and focus solely on flying.  "You have one job! You have ONE job!!"  She rattled the mantra to herself on repeat.

[Warning: Intruder detected on Main Bridge.  Security has been alerted.  Warning: Critical Failure detected in Warp Core Area. Plasma Leak Detected.  Sealing Warp Core doors.  Warp Core offline]

"Damnit, then give me maximum impulse!!"  Jaya screamed at her console as the computer rejected her initial commands.  Her second input had a far better outcome as the Allegiant lurched forward and seemed to be accelerating.  "Come on baby, just hold together a little longer.  60 more seconds and we're home!" 

Somewhere in her peripheral, Sithick was moving and the blue creature was surrendering.  People were talking and she was certain that some of those words were meant for her, but Jaya was focused.  She had to get them out of there!  45 seconds to go.. the red dot vanished from Jaya's console as the Theurgy point-defense systems activated and fired upon the enemy ship.  Whether it was destroyed or disabled, Jaya didn't have time to check.  The docking bay was in her sights now.

"Theurgy Docking Bay, this is Allegiant actual.  Clear a space, we're coming home. ETA 30 seconds."

At 20 seconds, Jaya dropped power to 50% impulse.  At 10 seconds she killed the impulse engines altogether.  At 5 seconds she activated the reverse landing thrusters to ensure they were going slow enough to dock.  The Bay doors were open and Jaya sighed with relief when she felt the Theurgy's docking tractor beam engage.  She relinquished controls to the docking engineer aboard the Theurgy as he guided the Allegiant in.  The Yacht shuddered as it was locked into place and depressurized.  They were home, safe and sound.. mostly.

[ Deacon | USS Allegiant | Bridge ] Attn: Kaligos, EAC, Auctor, and Others

"Then shut up and hold on to something!" instructed a female, her phaser aimed pointedly at him.  While he was certain he could withstand a standard stun setting, under the circumstances he couldn't trust that the device wasn't set to something more lethal.  Then again, had he been human transporting onto a kzinti ship, he'd very likely be someone's meal by now.

The instruction, though, was not without merit.  Whatever course this vessel had and whatever its fate, doubtless the crew knew better than he. Carefully, eyes ever watching, he pulled himself towards an empty station chair, though he preferred to remain standing as much as possible.  Who knew when that giant lizard might take another shot?

[Warning: Intruder detected on Main Bridge.  Security has been alerted.]

"Yes, yes, take the unarmed hero into custody lest he do something stupid... like beam into the middle of a ship without gravity..." he mumbled to himself before the computer added:

[Warning: Critical Failure detected in Warp Core Area. Plasma Leak Detected.  Sealing Warp Core doors.  Warp Core offline]

Deacon cast his eyes upward.  "Irony?  Is that what this is, Fanged God?" he asked, perhaps a little louder than intended.

Perhaps a seat was a good idea, he considered, sliding ungracefully against the chair before he slowly started to drift away from it again.  "Damnable lack of gravity,"he cursed, his tail instinctively wrapping around the chair while he dug his claws into the fabric to remain in place.  Was this his fate now?  He'd turned on his own people, he'd betrayed his hosts on the station, and now he was... where?  Lost.  At the mercy of monkeys.  At best, they might toss him into a cell.  At worst, he could well be spaced.

"Amara, third-born-male of the Fanged God, spare a moment's gaze from homeworld to this distant hero and light my path that I might earn my name."

[ Dyan Cardamone | Transporter Room | USS Theurgy ]


For all of Asurian history, death was said to have a noise. A great ringing noise like hammers on the walls of a hollow shell, a rattling noise like the last breath out of liquid-filled lungs, a wet squelching like a blade through flesh. All death had a sound. You never forget someone's death-sound.

Dyan watched the screen with eager glee, the same giddy happiness that she had from her earlier 'victory'. Pride. Confidence. She waved her team-members over.
“Come look! My father, my brothers! They're here, they're fighting with us!”

Little colored dots swirled around, pestered the larger ships, effectively tore through the battlefield with the dual blades of surprise and superior technology. It seemed at first that they had no pattern, just a random assortment of movements akin to a furious swarm. It wasn't until they started to form a pattern around the Theurgy's vectors, a defensive line, that she could point to one ship, then another.
“My baby brothers, look, and my Daddy--” She prodded the screen, naming the dots as people she loved and cared for, “My cousins, my auntie--”

In one moment, the console showed many things at once. The Theurgy's vectors retreated in preparation for warp, leaving the Asurians open in their more organized formation. A hundred blips—no, six hundred at least-- lit up the screen. They raced from two ships, the Supremacy and Conquest, towards the saucers, lined up like targets at a fairgrounds game. Yes, the saucers did move—but not all of them, and not quickly enough. Before Dyan could even breathe, the lights that were her people, her blood and flesh shut off.

Out of all ships, she only counted six that made it out alive. The rest were so effectively destroyed that a spotted, debris-free wall of gravitational wells protected the Theurgy as she tucked her tail and ran. There'd be no bodies, no wreckage, as Asurian warfare tends to be, but there would be few Asurian survivors to greet this time. No brothers still in their jumpsuits, drinking it up at a bar, playing tricks on the women by pretending to be each other. No father to lounge with, to listen to his stories of conquest and bravery.

The gentle hum of the Theurgy around her, someone at work at the transporter console some ways behind her, her teammates as they regrouped after victory—these sounds stopped at once. For Dyan, the sound of death was her own voice, a wet scream as the realization set in.

She would never forget the sound of this massacre.

[ LT Daniel Havenborn | Cockpit | AC-307 Mark-II Valkyrie “Grey Wolf-01”] Attn: Auctor, Tancredi, anyone I missed

Daniel watched as the remaining interceptors had either broken off their assault or were currently engaged with other fighters.  He scanned the area for what was left of his squad finding that just Tancredi was left, her shuttle had a few fighters providing escort for the moment.  He silently cursed Captain Hawthorne for sending his people to attack them; he’d lost more than ninety percent of his squadron in less than an hour.  That was more than the losses they’d incurred during their trip home.  Tancredi’s shuttle looked beat up and as was his way he’d make sure that she landed before him. 

Daniel heard the orders from the Theurgy to land in their docking bay; he’d not be able to return to the Federation after all it seemed.  He’d been shunned from his home on Mars and now he couldn’t even return to his adopted home.  “Salvo to Meony, orders are to land in the Theurgy upper shuttle bay.  Make your approach now; I’ll be right behind you.”  He said into the squadron channel.  If they were the last two fighters from the Resolve than this was likely his last command as a squadron leader and he was going to do it right and protect the last member of his squadron that he knew for a fact was alive, besides Knight who was behind him.

Hearing an acknowledgement from Ensign Tancredi he took up a defensive position of the shuttle and watched as it moved into the shuttle bay.  Now it was his turn, he scanned the battlefield once again committing it to his memory, then maneuvered his craft around and lined it up with the shuttle bay.  A moment later he was slowing down and he felt the unmistakable feeling of a tractor beam helping guide him inside, a few moments later he felt his fighter land on the deck and for the first time since they had launched he relaxed and let out a long sigh.  “You holding up okay Knight?”  A moment passed as another fighter landed into the bay before he heard Knight speak. 

“With all that’s happened, no.  Not at all.”  Came the reply from his RIO. “Hold it together Uriah, I still need all the pilots I can get.”  Daniel heard an affirmative come from him and then a technician tapped on the cockpit window giving the universal sign for him to open up the cockpit.  He pressed the button and heard the audible hiss as the depressurized cockpit met a pressurized atmosphere.  He removed his helmet a moment later and breathed in deep, when the tech offered to help him he declined.  “I’m alright, just been breathing recycled air for awhile.”  He said as another fighter landed and was guided into an open berth.  “Actually there is something you could do for me, could you find out if any of my fighter pilots were rescued and brought onboard your ship and then direct me to their location.”  Daniel asked the technician.  The man nodded and went to speak to another officer; while he did that Daniel slowly got up and looked back at Uriah who had finally removed his helmet.  “It’ll be okay, Uriah.  Just stay with the fighter for now.”  He reached in and grabbed the tactical/soft case from the floor of the fighter and then slowly climbed down the ladder and felt the deck plating beneath his feet. 

As he saw the technician walking back he strapped the tactical/soft case to his thigh and listened to the man report in that the only other member of the Resolve’s fighter group to survive was in sickbay currently.  Daniel looked up at Uriah who nodded and he thanked the technician; then decided to make his way to see how Ensign K’Ren was doing.  Hopefully she’d be flying again in no time, though he wasn’t really sure what she’d be flying.

LT JG Alessia Garcia, Callsign "Angel" (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/thumb/9/9b/Alessia-Garcia-04.png/250px-Alessia-Garcia-04.png) | Cockpit | ACC-477 Mark I Valravn Flight Leader "White Wolf 09" | Vector 02 | Attn: Vector 02, White/Grey/Lone Wolves, anyone else

Everything was going to shit before Angel's eyes.  The interceptors on her tail kept her busy, but she could still see the carnage, both on her viewscreen and on her console.  Colored dots flickered into and out of existence seemingly at random, but she knew each dot represented a fighter.  At least one life was eliminated each time a dot disappeared from her screen, maybe two if that pilot had a RIO like she did.  Even if they weren't being killed outright, a disabled fighter was as good as dead in a battle like this one.  Someone else would come along and deliver the coup de grace while the pilot was helpless. 

Angel had been in skirmishes before, but she had missed her ultimate calling: the Dominion War.  It was over by the time she graduated.  She had always dreamt of flying alongside her brother, Jonas, and fighting for the Federation.. but that dream was snatched from her the moment that Jonas died.  His death had defined her in so many ways, and it was the reason for her current predicament.  She knew Iron Fox and Razor.  They were good men, her kind of men, and they were like her family.  They were solid and sturdy like rocks, keeping her grounded when she might otherwise fly away.  She had needed that back then, and now that the three of them had been reunited she was determined to keep it that way. 

The three interceptors on her tail had other intentions, however.  They were raining fire on her craft and she was damn near flying sideways in order to avoid the hits.  But her faithful RIO, Talon, kept her up to date on the shield status each time they were struck.  "Shields at 63%.  Angel, I recommend avoiding-"

"[Ssstorrrmfang to Angel, I got your bogiesss in my sssightsss.  Sssending carrre package now.. you might want to steerrr clearrr.]"

Angel glanced at her screen in time to see one of the three hostile signals disappear.  "It would seem that Stormfang got your message." Talon chirped in from the backseat.  Her Andorian RIO was being uncharacteristically talkative today.  "Incoming message, Angel, priority flagged.  Tuning in now."  As Talon handled the screens and messages and everything else, Angel executed a series of barrel rolls to dodge a new stream of projectiles.  As she leveled out, Talon relayed the message.

[All fighters and Allegiant combat landings and tactical docking!  Priority to Papa Bear,  Grey and White Wolves into the fighter and shuttle bays, Lone Wolves you board last.  All elements, you have no more than 90 seconds to park.  If you can't make it to the bay, latch onto the hull and we'll deal with you when we drop out of warp.  Lone Wolves and Allegiant, if you can't do either, you know the rendezvous.  Asurian elements, we're aborting the mission; if you could cover us while we get set up to withdraw it would be much appreciated.]

"Sounds like the right call.  Even with the addition of those... saucer-ships, we cannot hope to match the force of Task Force Acheron.  Initiating 90 second countdown."  Talon shared his thoughts as Angel did some quick course-corrections.  She grimmaced when she realized they were too far away to make it in to dock in 90 seconds. In fact, they had ended up far out on the other side of Starbase 84, over a hundred kilometers towards the RNZ. They wouldn't make it unless she gassed it and damn near warped into the docking bay.  Actually, that wasn't a terrible idea....

"[Stormfang, stay close.  This is gonna be a helluva trip.  On my mark, punch to warp, then drop after one second. That should get us close enough to barely make the cut-off.  Are you with me?]"  Angel walked through her plan with her fellow fighter.  By the amount of wreckage on the playing field, she knew that too many lives had been lost today already.  A new barrage of shots impacted against the Valravn's right side, fiercer than the last blows, just as Angel went to jump to warp.

"No good Angel, those Knights know how to concentrate their fire.  They're targeting the shields around our warp core."  Talon's report was not what Angel wanted to hear.  Why hadn't Stormfang eliminated them yet?  Whatever the reason, Angel knew she couldn't take too many more hits like that.  She had to shake these guys and her evasive maneuvers weren't cutting it!  Well, if they wanted a fight, they were about to get one.

"Talon, it's time to play Chicken.  Use the twin-mount and fire at will when I come about.  I'll drop the big boys."  Angel jumped to Warp Factor 1 for a mere second before dropping out and looping around upside down and backwards.  She was now staring down her last two attackers, albeit from a less than optimal angle.  She acquired her target locks and started firing her phaser array as she righted the ship.  "Haha, you're not the only ones with guns, ustedes cabrones!"¹  The Valravn's phaser array combined with a hail of torpedoes and the twin-mounted turrets proved more than effective at disabling one of the two enemies.  While that Interceptor listed through space, Angel flew past the second one and saw why Stormfang hadn't done more to help.  That Valravn was engaged in battle with another fighter, and as Angel moved to check on who, her screen lit up with new dots.  Her chocolate brown eyes went wide as she took in the sheer number of ships that the Task Force had brought. "Madre de dios..²  We have to go NOW!"

Angel rocketed towards Stormfang, bringing her arsenal in tow and unleashing it upon one of the two fighters that had captured Stormfang's attention.  Within seconds, that fighter was also disabled.  As Angel flew past, she felt another hit, make that two, impact against her right warp core.  "Shields at 37%.  We're down to 40 seconds, Angel.  Whatever you're doing, do it now."  Talon chimed in with his words of wisdom as two more shots slammed the right warp core.  "Angel, we've got incoming!  Looks like Stormfang wasn't a fun playmate. She's clear now and we've got three again."  Talon relayed this newest bit of data with an anxious tone.  30 seconds to go and three enemies to take out before docking?  There was no way.  She would miss the rendezvous and have to face the task force alone.  This time three shots rippled against her shields and Talon alerted her to their status: 21%.

She had to turn around again and fight.  She would rather die screaming into space, knowing that she took someone out than running like a coward.  She imagined Jonas had gone out the same way.  "..Talon.."

"[Angel, get to the Theurgy!  You are closer!  You can make it!  I'll keep them off you long enough for you to get away.  Tell Terror I'm ssssorry I couldn't make it.  ..Go!!  Now!!]"  As Stormfang spoke, one of the enemy blips on Angel's screen disappeared and another broke off and doubled back.  It was heading for Stormfang.  Angel couldn't just leave her friend behind, but this was the opportunity she needed to get to the Theurgy.  "[WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!  GO!!!!!]"  Stormfang shouted the order at Angel and then there was silence, for just a moment.

"[..I'm sorry..]"  Angel's voice sounded hollow in her own throat as she replied. 

Seconds later, Angel had spun around to face the Theurgy and sped up into full impulse in order to clear the gap between her and the docking bay.  Talon kept a countdown running.

10

She wasn't quite close enough yet, just a little further and she'd be within range.

9

One shot ricocheted off her right warp core and Talon responded with "Shields at 18%".

8

Angel focused on evasive maneuvers, but being done at near warp speeds, they were exceedingly difficult to pull off and put the ship under tons of stress.

7

Angel spun sideways in a roll and narrowly avoided getting hit again, but was now out of alignment with the lower shuttle bay.

6

Bright light darted past Angel's viewscreen, followed by an explosion somewhere very near to the aft of her fighter.  The concussive blast propelled Angel forward a bit further, putting her target of safety that much closer.

5

She was still too far away to make a clean landing, even after running her Valravn full-throttle to the designated shuttle bay.  She could feel her determination slipping away as the harsh realities of war started making themselves at home in her brain.  "We're not going to make it.." It was whispered, but her RIO still heard it. 

Talon didn't sound off the last four seconds.  Instead, he did some quick transferring of power and overrode the computer's alarms of overheating.  "We have to make it.  Punch it now, Angel."

How many seconds were left?  Angel didn't know.  Her countdown stopped at 5, but as  her own defeatism reared it's ugly head, Talon piped in with some encouragement.  Angel did as he said and punched it.  The power output was drastically increased, despite the blaring warnings that the computer kept chiming.  With one last all-or-nothing burst, Angel dove her fighter into the lower shuttle bay and kicked on the landing thrusters as the '90 second alarm' blarred that time was up.

No sooner had she entered the bay than did the tractor beam grab her Valravn, slowing her forward momentum drastically enough for a safe landing.  The jolt was gut-wrenching but once Angel felt her Valravn land safely in the bay, she pulled up her sensor readings.  Stormfang and Scythe were still dancing with certain death, as were Bacon and Vapor.  They wouldn't make it to the Theurgy in time now.  They would be left to the mercies of the Task Force.  Angel attempted a scan to see who else they might be praying for tonight when her monitor powered down and her cockpit hissed open.

"Wait!  I wasn't done!  Talon, I was still searching for our squad!"  She flung her helmet from her head as a string of Spanish obscenities exited her mouth.

"Ah, sorry Angel.  I diverted power from some of the systems to give you that last boost.  Apparently I also toggled an automatic landing setting.  It was an accident."  Talon looked genuinely distressed.  Her squad was his squad too, and they both were itching for information on who had made it aboard the Theurgy.  Talon's eyes fell to one of the deck engineers who was caring for their Valravn and Angel took his cue.

"Oi, you there, I need to know who else from the White Wolves made it aboard.  And about two of your own, Miles Renard, callsign Iron Fox, and Thomas Ravon, Callsign Razor.  Tell me they're aboard.."

---

1: The Spanish vulgarity used here translates to "you motherfuckers" ... roughly.
2: This Spanish expression translates to "mother of god".  It's an "oh my god" kind of expression.

[MCPO Nolak Kamil | Main Sickbay | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]  Attn: Auctor,  Zenozine

Master Chief Kamil watched the tactical display as his mind contemplated over Thea’s holographic projection. It accorded to him how much her physical appearance looked different to him. Her body had changed a lot since he last saw her a couple months ago. He felt like she had undergone some form of metamorphism and emerged a completely different entity. He last remembered her being more basic and utilitarian. Now, however she appeared more flesh and bone standing before him, with her bodily features more defined and realistic looking. Someone had spent a lot of time and loving care to her core programming to achieve these results, or something else had happened.

He would investigate farther once he had spare time to do so. Until then it kind of made him feel uneasy seeing her looking almost like a living person. More so with him not being able to sense her with his Deltan mind. This always bothered him about non organic beings. He glanced back at her as she spoke to him.

“Apology accepted, Mister Kalmil,” Her soft voice barely audible over constant hissing from the ruptured ventilation duct above them. “Only one piece of advice, you should listen when such is given.”

The apologetic smile caught him off guard as he suddenly started to feel his body dematerialize. His vision of engineering sparkled and faded from view as his body zipped across the cosmos during transportation. Moments later as the shimmering light show disappeared from his perspective, he rematerialize in the decontamination chamber in sickbay. From the sudden unexpected transport it caused him to stumble a few steps forward because he was no longer supporting his body upon the computer station in engineering. He grimaced from the sudden pain shooting from his left arm, as the sling and clothing disappeared in the transfer. The pain came from his his arm as it fell limp by his side. It took Nolak, a couple seconds while his drunken mind figured out where he was.

He glanced around the chamber.  He was standing in a rather plain sterile room with the light panels on the walls give off a pale bluish glow. The transparent wall facing the main sickbay operating room reflected the light and glowed a bluish hint. There were medical crew members working like busy bees in the crowded sickbay as they treated the injured in a frenzy manner. Glancing down at himself, he looked at his own naked body. He could see some of the effects from the radiation burns from his stay in the warp chamber. Small color variations spotted his body, and in some cases were starting to boil up creating odd bumps on his skin. His hands and fingertips were burned from welding, and his neck still ached from the neck surgery. A slight frown curled on his lips as he shook his head. He came to the realization that he was back right where he started the day, nude and in Sickbay.

Nolak’s expression and bald head flushed red as he looked at the colorful Ovri nurse entering the decontamination chamber holding a hyprospray. “Um, excuse me,” the Ovri nurse said. “I take it you were sent for radiation cleansing? My name is Vinata Vojona. I need to administer an iodine solution,” said the Ovri Ensign before him.

He didn’t recognize the young Ensign. In a calm disappointed voice Nolak said under his breath, “Not quite the clever plan I had intended, Thea.” To the Ovri nurse, “No, I was betrayed by a fellow crewmember and friend. It appears I’m to surrender to you. So, here I am as your prisoner Ensign Vojona. Let us get this treatment routine over with. I’ve been demoted to patient again, when I should be in main engineering keeping us alive.” He turned his body so that his uninjured right shoulder was facing the nurse.

Although he’d never admit it out loud, Thea did the right thing. He was dying in that warp chamber. It was a risk he was willing to take to ensure that everyone else survived. Being forced from his duty however, that did ticked him off so he felt bewilder, and betrayed.

“When we are done with this medical checkup, give me a PADD. I’m going to file a report against the A.I. Thea, for insubordination. It may not have any solid merits to stand on, but it will give me something to do while I’m imprisoned here.” He stood in a formal manner, nodded to the Ovri, “I’m Master Chief Nolak Kamil, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Ensign Vojona. Also, a word of caution, better lock the chamber behind you. I will try to return to my post otherwise.”

---

OOC: Reference for the room from Auctor Lucan; [Show/Hide]

[ Nurse Maal (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Nurse_Maal_(NPC)) | Isolation Ward 02 | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Attn: The Counselor (last cliffhanger post in this scene!)
[Show/Hide]Hurt after the panels from the ceiling had struck him over his back, Maal pushed the pain from his mind. He was back in the birthing pool with his one-time lover and the counselor again. The ship shook from sustained enemy fire. Hylota was in pain. Screaming. Intruder alert was sounded, and he realised O'Connor had spoken with him.

"Yes, yes..." he said by reflex, realising only after the counselor left to get the phasers what she had said. She meant to leave him there with Hylota? Eyes wide, he looked towards the Ovri, and she certainly did not make things any better when she said she'd use the phasers if they got within arms reach of her. Maal swallowed, fumbling for her four-fingered hand in the water and trying to let her hold it if she wanted to. Yet regardless what he might do, he was utterly without further means to help her, wasn't he? Was there naught he could do to help her?

"I..." he said, voice rumbling as he made eye-contact with Hylota - looking into those big, dark eyes of hers whenever she might meet his gaze between two contractions, "I can sing for you... A song of bravery, from my people. I have not practised, but it is supposed to lend strength..."

So, holding one of her hands with both of his, Maal sang from deep down in his throat, giving voice to the Warrior's Anthem in his Klingon tongue. And all the while, the battle raged outside.

Qoy qeylIs puqloD.
Qoy puqbe'pu'.
yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI'
Say'moHchu' may' 'Iw.
maSuv manong 'ej maHoHchu'.
nI'be' yInmaj 'ach wovqu'.
batlh maHeghbej 'ej yo' qIjDaq vavpu'ma' DImuv.
pa' reH maSuvtaHqu'.
mamevQo'. maSuvtaH. ma'ov.

---

OOC: Translation = [Show/Hide]

[ Lt Cmdr. Miles Renard (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Miles_Renard,_callsign_%22Iron-Fox%22) | Mk III Valkyrie Cockpit | Wolf-01 |  Lone Wolves Squadron ] Attn: All Fighter Elements
[Show/Hide][Husker to Iron Fox, are you coming or do you need a hand?] came from the squadron channel as Miles fought bitterly against the White Wolves that remained loyal to Slayton and the disabled Orcus. And while the Knight-class interceptors were predictable, known to him in all their abilities, the Valravn-fighters he was up against were another thing entirely. Of course, rumours had gone on about Director James Knight's new project, shrouded in mystery, but he wasn't up against fiction but cold fact. These were not interceptors at all, but superiority fighters like his own. Even as early prototypes, their potential was made plain to him while he fought for survival and to keep them at bay. For he was out there, along the saucers that had come to their aid - these Asurians that had barely given him two words of introduction.

Having learned that they were Dyan's people - sweet Dyan whom he'd had a budding relationship with before they reached Starbase 84 - he wondered how Ives had managed to gain their trust. Dyan must have helped. She had been picked for the boarding teams, and gained the help from her people. Dyan, who he had named his Valkyrie, but since he'd feared he wouldn't survive the battle, he had ended their relationship - instigated the fight in hope they'd continue if they were both alive afterwards. Not his finest hour, but he had done it for her, he believed, as much as himself.

Now, Miles fought alongside her people... and he realised he might have been wrong. They were far tougher than he'd given Dyan credit for. Knowing this, even as he fought with dying engines, he had answered Husker.

"You heard me, Husker! I will be right behind you!" he growled, baring slightly pointed teeth as he diverted all his remaining power to his one functioning impulse engine, only sparing enough for his pulse phasers. With precision... that was all he needed. He ended his call to the newest member of the Lone Wolves pack - perhaps the last one to hear his bark. "Go, that's an order!"

Mere seconds passed after that, as if in tranquillity, where he joined lines with the Asurians as the single fighter from the Theurgy's forces still engaged in combat. Even Rawley docked with the Theurgy, just ahead of Husker. Rawley, who's trust he'd betrayed, and created the schism that would eventually have split the pack. Seeing that all the pups were home, he switched off the comm system too. He needn't speak with the Asurians either, for their minds and his were the same. Defiant against the odds facing them; the full force of Task Force Archeron.

"Now... what are you waiting for?" he asked quietly, and then charged ahead of the Asurians. The Valravn fighters were falling back, tails between their legs, and Miles gave chase - aching fingers squeezing the triggers still. Along lances of green graviton beams he raced, Valkyrie leaking plasma. The first Valravn fighter was caught by his twin lines of pulse phaser energy, then the second. "I am your measure!"

That was when the torpedo pods went off as one, like a new layer of stars superimposed before the rest - casting the feet he faced in brilliance. Not a sound was heard, no air to act the conduit between the pods and his fighter, but he saw them coming. With resignation and regret, he let go of his stick, switched off his tortured, remaining engine... and closed his eyes.

"Keep them safe, Thea."

[Nathan | Transporter Room | USS Theurgy ]

Having just gotten out of the station Nathan had no idea what was going on out in space. He looked a the view screen and again felt that need to be outthere. To have wings again to be in a ship so he could help.

He had thought he had put those feelings down, thought that he could walk away from the cockpit and just focus on trying to bring down the people on the inside. He had even gone so far as to set up a mock little conspiracy board in his room so he could keep track of his own personal case, and find out exactly what had happened the day he had shot down one of his fellow pilots.

The transporter room was chaotic and clustered. Ida, oh he wanted to talk to her or do something, but as she ran out with a member of the medical staff to escort a red-collared officer he did not recognize on a gurney, now was clearly not the time. Leaving an assortment of others from the boarding teams, Sel, Winn who he was sure was going to give him hell for his behavior, and Selena the cyborg who had been a great help in their mission up until the very last moment.

Then there was Cardamone, and her pointing out to the larger viewscreen showing what was going on out in space.

Now looking out at the massive space fleet of alien ships, and the task force assembled to hunt them down, the cold realization hit him that none of it mattered. His confessed lie, his quest for some semblance of answers, his job in security.

Every ship that exploded Nathan blamed himself because once again he wasn't being the asset he needed to be. He had picked the ground assault, and delivered a fake message that instead of inspiring change had only brought shame and pain to the people aboard the ship.

Nathan left the transporter room. hearing the screams of Cardamone behind him. Perhaps one of her people died. He knew he should stick around or do something to comfort her, but honestly he didn't have the words. Their was nothing that could be said against that kind of loss and while his heart went out to her he couldn't stay to just watch this fight. He walked with purpose down to the nearest turbolift.

"Fighter Assault Bay." His voice stressed and dry as he started to feel the platform move. Which one of the docking bays didn't matter, he was going to end up going to all of them to count the ships.

[ Lt. JG. Suq | Conference Room | U.S.S. Theurgy ] Attn: Ejek

His face was startlingly pale, he felt cold and sweaty and clammy, and as much as he wanted to get a hug from Ejek--or anyone, really. He stifled the urge to hug thiugh, because that was Ejek's voice, and if he went in for the hug he is certain she would be displeased. But it was clear he was Not Okay. Years and years of being Okay, and suddenly he wasn't.

He opened his mouth to speak, and nothing came out, but he was trying. Words had to push through a wave of nausea first.
"I...I killed officers, with the...the warp core, that was my idea, I killed them--Kendrick, god--I don't know. I'll be okay. " He tried to assure her, but he wasn't sure himself. All those years being lost and this never happened before. He should be able to handle this, and he wasn't.  Ejek being there made him realize just how weak he was. He had to man up, he had to swallow it down...he had to....he had to....

He had to throw up.
Not in Ejek's face, he turned to his corner and heaved. Thankfully, he hadn't eaten yet.

[ Ens Ryuan Sel | Transporter Room | USS Theurgy ]

The transport back to the ship had been almost anticlimactic in how calm it was after the chaos of combat in the EOC. Despite not being out of the woods yet, Sel still breathed a sigh of relief as she materilized on the padd and could take in a breath of familiar ship's air. The chaos however of the transporter room assaulted her senses as the teams beamed back in. Quickly moving off the pad, Sel made room for the remaining away team members. As she moved aside, she saw Cameron Henshaw, standing to one side, most likely in shock as she had the first real chance to absorb the enormity of her father's betrayal, the twisted evil of the creature that had possessed him.

Glancing at Ida, she nodded as her boss helped a medic transfer their unknown compatriot onto a hover gurney for transport to sickbay. Who he was she did not know, but like Drauc he had his reasons, and like Drauc he paid for those reasons. She wondered what those reasons were, who he reported to, who he had betrayed. What mattered though was he was safe, at least as safe as one could be on a ship targeted for destruction by her enemies.

Glancing back at the transporter padd she saw Wenn Cinn, Ravenholm, and Isley beam in as the last survivors of the raid materialized on the ship. She hoped that others had made it back but given the losses her team had sustained she knew there were few survivors, that many had died on the starbase, died for what they believed in, died for truth. They would be mourning the loss of their own, even as they fled the starbase and licked their wounds, that much Sel knew.

[ Krystal “Meony” Tancredi | Tribble Squadron | Fuzzy Flayer ] Attn: All fighter allies & Theurgy crew
[Show/Hide]“Sonofabitch!” Tancredi came to with a start. This was the second time she'd lost consciousness in as many times. But then again, the Fuzzy Flayer had never had its consoles blow up in her face repeatedly. The controls were a mess of wires and damaged displays, but by sheer miracle, still functional enough...that she could see from a quick visual examination. Her seat restraints had snapped and she was feeling only half as heavy as she ought to, suggesting gradual decline of the artificial gravity generator. The last she could remember, she had been in formation with the last of the Resolve's fighter elements, alongside new allies and all sorts of other surprises. Did Havenborn and Uriah make it?

She vaguely recalled something before a stray shot knocked into the unshielded section of her battered fighter transport's viewscreen. :: Salvo to Meony, orders...to land in the Theurgy upper shuttle bay.  Make...approach now; I'll be right behind you. ::

And she had been on her way to complying with that when she'd taken the shot, and despite the clear damage to her own suit, which would make it fatal for her if the ship's hull was breached, which by yet another miracle, it still wasn't. Maybe that Romulan metal really did strengthen and reinforce its durability...and she was drawing pistols to look at whoever was beaming into her ship. “Romulan! Hey, ya doin' all right?”

She quite literally forgot his name for a moment, despite having a steel-trap memory, but she really had no time to think on it as she holstered her babies, and returned to coaxing her shuttle towards the Theurgy. “Sorry, cain't talk, Ah gotta get mah baby in first!”

Venting smoke and plasma from the port nacelle, Tancredi slapped on the override and forced a shutdown, shunting power to the remaining nacelle and to the impulse engines, she was able to keep the ship from burning anyone who got too close to her, once she was brought inside and docked. To her relief, she could see K'Ren's fighter, or what was left of it, and she hoped the woman and her co-pilot had made it...did she take note earlier? She could no longer remember, and her head was still spinning. A slick sensation on her brow suggested she was bleeding, probably from being thrown about inside the shuttle once her restraints broke.

She was probably nursing some broken or bruised ribs too, since breathing was starting to hurt like no one's business. She would laugh at the pain, but that hurt too much, and whether she'd admit it or not, that was no fun. The moment the shuttle settled down and she issued the last command, it shut off on its own, making a grunt and whine, like a wounded faithful animal bringing its master to safety, and settling itself to die. “Ah'm sorry, baby...Ah'm so sorry...” wheezed Tancredi, stroking the consoles lovingly.

Slowly getting up, she turned to look at the Romulan again, “Ah hope ya cain walk dat off,” said the redhead, studying his wounds. Did anyone escape unhurt? Very unlikely. “C'mon, lessee...wha...dis sheep...has ta...offer...” add mildly concussed too to the list. Or very.

Havenborn and Knight made it too. And that made the girl smile. With effort and no small amount of cussing, she managed to get her helmet off, as the doors of the shuttle popped open, and she staggered out, casually wiping off the blood from a large gash on her brow. “Ah s'ppose dis'd do. Now, where's our good cap'n? Ah'd better make sure...he's...okay...” she leaned back against the side of the shuttle, eyes closing. She suddenly felt so tired, and a sleep right here felt perfect, to hell with everything else, a girl needed her sleep.

[ Drauc T'Laus (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Drauc_T%27Laus) | The Fuzzy Flayer | Upper Shuttle Bay | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Triage
[Show/Hide]The fight had not ended well. The supposedly parasite-infected Base Commander had countered Drauc's attacks faster than he could launch them. He had tried everything he could, but soon enough, Drauc had sustained too many strikes to remain on his feet. He had been on his knees, struggling to remain upright. Through the blood in his eyes, he had seen Captain Hawthorne pull back his hand to deliver the final blow. Yet as he saw this, Drauc heard a voice over the winds, a transmission. It had been Kendrick, wishing him to say good bye to someone.

The next thing he knew. Hawthorne had let his strike fall, but instead of feeling it... Drauc had ended up inside the small bridge of a shuttle, seeing someone with the same kind of exosuit that K'Ren had worn on the Aerowing. The profile of the suit suggested a female as she turned and took aim against him - the orange light of phaser beams outside the viewscreen reflecting against her figure. He had hardly been in any condition to move, to disarm her, and when she dismissed him, he could barely get his bearings in the tumultuous flight. The poor condition of the shuttle was alarming, but at least it seemed the pilot was still able to make it move - heading towards a shuttle bay of some sort. He could read Federation Standard letters above the open bay doors. The USS Theurgy...

Remembering - through the pain and vertigo - what ThanIda zh'Wann and her boarding team had spoken of, he knew it could be safe ground. The battle outside was raging, and he expected the broken shuttle to split apart any second from another hit, but by some miracle, the shuttle touched down inside the shuttle bay. The pilot made it.

Slowly, Drauc tried to pick himself up from the floor, seeing the human remove her helmet and her flaxen red hair spilling down her shoulders. It was the woman from the Resolve, who had aided in breaking him and the Orion officer named A'vura out of the starbase's brig. Krystal Tancredi, he remembered, and her fear of solus bats. She seemed a bit worse for wear after the battle too, but she got the airlock open and stepped out on the deck of the shuttle bay. With slow steps, aching all over and bleeding from his face, Drauc stepped out after her. He wasn't sure he could 'walk it off', but he could still move. He heard her speak of Kendrick, and realised he owed it to the Resolve's Commanding Officer to relay his words. It was the least he could do. The righteous thing. He turned to face Tancredi, his calloused hands idle by his sides.

"Captain Kendrick," he rasped, not sure how he might continue, "he was out there too... in the Aerowing. He had brought it inside Starbase 84, firing its phasers into Ops - trying to kill Hawthorne. It was he who beamed me aboard your shuttle. I was in in his line of fire, fighting the base commander."

Saved my life. Drauc paused, flexing his hands inside the sleeves of his threadbare cloak. He tried not to absorb the pilot's thoughts - leave her mind her own. "The Aerowing was leaking plasma. On fire. He fought well... but he might not have made it. He told me to tell you good bye. My condolences."

[ Krystal “Meony” Tancredi | Docking Bay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: Drauc T'Laus & any EMT or anyone around near a battered Type 8 shuttle
[Show/Hide]
Tancredi weakly opened her eyes when she realized that the Romulan was talking to her. Frowning, she struggled to stay conscious when she noticed how her vision was so blurry and everything was echoing in her head and the dizzyness and the migraine intensified at the slightest move of her head. He mentioned Captain Kendrick, and she smiled weakly, more of a grimace, as she leaned heavily against the shuttle. "That's mah captain," said Tancredi, "always thinking of an' lookin' out for us all..."

She frowned and stifled a groan as the pain intensified again, but she heard his explanation, and she recalled vaguely when the captain himself led the rescue team to get her away from her would be executors, her tormentors. She had looked like she had been through a meat grinder and then a tenderizer. She laughed in the face of her enemies, ready to meet death. But Kendrick was there. He prevented her death, carried her back, treated her wounds personally and stayed by her side until she woke. Well, he stayed by as much as he could while captaining. But he was the brother she wished she had. He was untouchable.

He told Drauc...that was the Romulan's name, right? To tell her goodbye? Naw, he'd probably just said that like in case.

"No...need for condolences, hon," said Tancredi, her voice quivering, "Ah've...been through worse scraps with 'im an' Ah know he'll make it. He's...probably...here...already...ooh Ah need a driiii..."

Her last words trailed off as she slid against the shuttle, sideways, her bleeding head a grisly mask of crimson and flesh, her vision swimming, then dimming...

And then she dreamt of her crew, her family, and the Resolve traversing space, forever safe, forever happy.

[Wenn Cinn | Transporter Room | USS Theurgy] Joint-Post by Arista & Auctor Lucan. Attn: All

Wenn Cinn stepped off the transporter pad with a heavy sigh. The disappointment and frustration of the mission had taken its toll on the large Bajoran. Whilst there was a part of him which wanted to just go back to his quarters and drink, or head down to the gym and smack around a punching bag, above all else, Cinn wanted to get the right message, beam back to Starbase 84 by myself and get it out. It was a fruitless desire, he knew. The communications tower was no doubt swarming with security by this point. Even if he could get back, he very much doubted that he could defend himself long enough. He certainly couldn’t ask the others to join him on that suicide mission. Especially since Theurgy was likely to go to warp any minute.

As he looked between the crowd, Cinn could see the damage done to them all, well, except Cardamone, who was joyously whooping and hollering calling out ships and identifying them as the relevant family member they were. It broke the tension in the room and couldn’t help but bring a smile to Cinn’s lip. In the end, it had all gone wrong, but there was a little joy. Someone had been reunited. All Cinn could do is pray that it would end better than with Henshaw. By the looks of her, the mission to stop Hawthorne had ended as well as the plan to send out the message.

“Wenn to Security, the away teams are back. Anything to report?” Cinn queried, pressing his combadge. The security centre would be able to give him a suitable report on the situation aboard Theurgy, however after a few minutes there had been no reply. “Wenn to Security Centre, please respond.” He tried again. The security department knew better than to ignore a request from the chief. Something was wrong.

“Cal, head down to security. Find out why they’re not responding.” He ordered and once again, Cinn got no reply. Looking over the crowd, the Bajoran scouted for his enlisted officer to no avail. Cinn looked towards the transporter operator. “Calvin Reager?” He asked, the question simple. The response was as equally clear. A brief shake of the head and averted eyes. It told Cinn everything he needed to know. Calvin Reager had not made it back. Cinn had lost one of the most dependable of his department. He swallowed and pushed down the emotion. He knew losses were possible but out of all them, he had never imagined that Reagar would be the one to fall.

“Thea, I need a sit-rep. What’s going on? Why is there no response in the security centre?” Cinn implored. The last thing he needed now was the computer to offline. Luckily the response was near enough instantaneous.

[Communications in the Security Center were deactivated by Doctor Maya along with internal Sensors. An Intruder Alert has been issued,] began Thea, replying without being present through the intercom system.

“Maya?” Cinn repeated after Thea, confused. Why would Maya have done that? “Do you know where she is now?”

[After Maya attacked Doctor Nicander in sickbay, she used the Jefferies tubes to reach Security. With sensors down, I do not know what happened to her, but no Vulcan life-signs have yet left the area. Doctor Nicander and Provisional Warrant Officer McMillan tried to pursue Maya, and they discovered how she released Sonja Acreth from the Brig.]

“Acreth?!” Exclaimed Cinn, incredulously. He couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. How could it be, that after all that happened that Maya had turned traitor? Had she secretly been one all along?

As if on cue, Cardamone gave a blood curdling scream. From the viewscreen, the real cause of her distress was obvious. Much like a scene from one of those old human science fiction movies that Cinn had seen at the academy - twirling, dancing, saucer-like ships were now being blown to smithereens and along with it, Dyan’s family. Cinn could do naught but feel for her. He had lost his family many moons ago during the occupation but while covered over, the mental scar was still sore. If it wasn’t for the reports coming from Thea, Cinn would have immediately gone to comfort the young Asurian. He looked for Isley, wanting to wave the disgraced wolf over. It would be a valuable experience for the newly demoted officer to learn to console grieving colleagues. Cinn had clocked him when beaming back onto the ship, but now he was gone. Typical. The half Romulan never seemed to be in the right place, or to be doing the right thing. For now, Cinn had to let it go, but he wouldn’t forget. He tried to bring himself back to task, although it was all starting to get overwhelming. He just had to focus on one item at time. Trying to place the wailing woman to the back of his mind, he desperately tried to recall what it was that Thea had said again. Acreth. That was it. Acreth was loose. “What the Kosst is going on?” He cursed. “Please tell me you’ve managed to stop her?”

[My hologrid and its force-field emitters were deactivated by Maya along the path Sonja Acreth took. She headed for the Temporal Observatory Lab, with Nicander and McMillan in pursuit. Sonja Acreth has killed eleven officers on her way there, nine of them were of intercepting security details. Currently, Acreth is in the lab, and Nicander and McMillan have just entered as well, trying to stop her.]

“Nicander and McMillan? They don’t stand a chance.” By now, Cinn was re-fixing his SAFTI gear and checking the power levels on his rifle. His mind whirred over possible breaching plans for the Temporal Observatory, occasionally getting side-tracked remembering how Doctor Nicander had been so easily overpowered during the interrogation with Acreth previously. “Can you work out what Acreth is doing there?”

[With the lab equipment left behind by the USS Relativity, Sonja Acreth has created a temporal vortex – the temporal breach is active now. Internal sensors cannot penetrate the distortion.]

“I’m on my way. Alert all Security personnel, priority one threat. Acreth must be stopped.” Cinn slowed his push through the throng to the door. “Is Vector 1 aware of the situation?” He paused, at the lip of the doorway. “Thea, Does the Captain know?”

[Negative. There has also been unforeseen development on the bridge. Edena Rez – possessed by her former host Jona Rez – switch the simulcast message and deleted all the attached personal logs. A security officer on the bridge shot her, and now she is in sickbay. Her life-sign is fading. Stand by…] Thea paused, before continuing. [Junior Lieutenant Morali has just now also beamed himself to the Temporal Observatory Lab.]

Edena? Cinn hadn’t considered anything happening to her, and now she was dying. As the AI told him, Cinn managed to croak out a few unintelligible words. Overcome with emotion, he was stuck to the spot, and leant back against the door. He could feel the tension in the metal, pushing gently into his back, reminding him that he was in way. And what of Morali? Was he defending his lab or was this all part of plan for his so-called cult? Conspiracy theories whirled through his brain. It was all too much. He couldn’t just sit by anymore, he needed to get moving.

Cinn set off running for the turbolift. But where should he go? Sickbay or the Temporal Observation Laboratory? He knew which he should call for. The ship came above all crew. He knew that. He had used that logic to leave Cardamone behind, grieving for her lost family. But now, even with the ship on the brink of literal calamity he couldn’t get the image of Edena from his mind. That radiant smile, those soulful eyes, contorting in pain in his mind’s eye as he couldn’t help but think of her slowly passing. His mind told him, in cold stoic logic, Ship before crew – always, but his heart screamed at him a different tune. Up to the point the doors of the lift opened, he had no idea which direction he was going to call.

Then in the moment of need, he spoke a destination and the turbolift whisked him away. 

[ Chris "Husker" Slayton | Lone-Wolf 04 > Fighter Assault Bay | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] ATTN: Renard, Eun, and Lone Wolves

Husker gripped his controls tightly as he heard Renard's growl for him to do the combat landing and that the other man would be right behind him but the young Asgardian's eyes narrowed as he had a sinking feeling that wasn't going to be the case.

"Computer, set following message to tight beam point to point access. I don't care if he doesn't have a channel open but ensure that it's logged." Husker stated firmly.

*Confirmed*

"Renard, I wasn't able to help Kanti or Fasha today and I'll carry that weight for the rest of my days but I'll follow orders, but one way or another drinks are on you at the bar..and we'll be back." Christopher said into the channel before he closed his side of the channel before turning his fighter in such a tight, power turn that his primary engine went close into the redline from the damage that had been done to it previously.

Husker then forced the throttle wide open as his Valkyrie then roared past everything as his time started to count down the final seconds that he had before the Theurgy was going to jump to warp.

*Warning, primary impulse drive coil is now past acceptable operational conditions.* the computer said in his ears at which point Husker simply shook his head.

"Come on baby, give me just enough juice to get me home and then you can fall apart." Husker begged as he started shunting all of the power that his bird had from weapons to life support into the engine in order to increase his speed and also try to stabilize the impulse coil long enough to land safely on the ship.

The energy being shunted around and into the two sections did just that as the fighter sped up just enough to make the lower bay suddenly start to loom large and inviting before Husker's bird at which point he opened a channel. "This is Lone Wolf Zero Four coming in slightly hot, I have the ball but not sure how long the impulse prime coil will be happy with me...Eun, sorry about the scuff marks."

At that point he quickly reduced the systems just enough as he made his combat landing on the deck and quickly made adjustments to keep from crashing into any of the other Wolves before the primary coil gave completely and the crash restraints kept him from adding another bit of damage to his bird.

"Husker to Ghost, what's our status?" Christopher asked respectfully. "Are we all aboard?"
 

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Main Engineering | Decks 24-25 | USS Theurgy  ] 

Despite the fact that the Theurgy’s stardrive vectors hadn’t been reassembled, Thea could still adjust the transporter to the proper frequency necessary to beam through her own deflector shields.  So that was how Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert “Billy Bob” O’Connell (http://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=William_Robert_%22Billy_Bob%22_O%27Connell) managed to get from Transporter Room Three in Vector Two to Transporter Room Four in Vector Three.  From there it was a short walk comparatively speaking to get to main engineering.  Thea had informed him that he was need there ASAP.  That probably meant that Ensign Carla Abner was either in sickbay or the morgue. 

By the time Billy Bob entered main engineering, Thea was just leaving.  She gave him a nod and then vanished like a digital ghost.  The reason why he noticed her is because of the momentary vision of glowing green lines as she faded away.  The reason why he didn’t notice her before was because main engineering was a disaster area.  Smoke obscured vision and irritated nostrils.  Exposed conduit was everywhere.  Jets of steam from damaged pipes increased the humidity in the area and plastered hair to the scalp and there didn’t seem to be enough engineers on duty, which meant that many of them were either repairing something out of sight, dead and out of sight, or receiving medical care and out of sight.  None of this was a surprise, ever since he left the turbolift the whole deck looked like this.  At least the warp core was thrumming steadily and the fire extinguish system was working.

There was no sign of Abner so he marched the master systems display table.  “Sitrep,” he ordered, “Where’s Abner?”

“Um, I think she’s dead sir,” one of the few engineers remaining called out.  It was Petty Officer Zil Arex; the Bollian propulsion technician’s bald blue seamed dome was shiny from all of the moisture that the steam had produced.  “No wait, I heard they beamed her sickbay.”

Rihen Neyah heard the Chief Engineer and turned his way, and she smiled in her blinding way - the relief clear on her sweat-beaded face. "O'Connell! You made it back!" She ran the short distance up to him, the fact that she had her undershirt unzipped as far as the uniform jacket arrived far from her mind at that point.

Billy Bob blinked twice as his tired eyes took in the view of the ravishing Risian as she bobbled up to him.  He had just come back from a fire fight and fist fight with the security of Starbase 84 and physically and mentally his tired bones felt that the the mission should be over.  But it wasn’t quite over yet; they still needed to complete exfiltration and get the Theurgy out of harm’s way before Starfleet destroyed them.  But something about the seeing the divine Miss Rihen jog over to him with her bouncing bosom and her beatific smile seemed to reinvigorate him.

Bouncing up to his side, Rihen told him what he needed to know. The report she'd give him was not cheerful news, however, so the smile and relief at her superior officer being in one piece was replaced by the shifting tide of her mix of good and bad news - talking really fast as she told it.

"Early on, we lost inertial dampeners, and Abner fell down somewhere below. I managed to restore the dampeners using the gravity wells in the hologrid, but I wasn't alone doing it. Someone named Nolak Kalmil came here, and he took command when Abner was lost, talked to the bridge at every turn. Lin Kae - oh, Kae - he helped too! Ventral shields were busted, but he found the flaw, fixed it with Kalmil's help, only... Kae was trapped over in that room, there was an explosion inside, and the fire suppression system was offline. I fixed that too, but I had to run to the root cause to do it - an EPS conduit towards the aft of this deck - and then double back all the way here. Oh, before I went, Doctor Duv got her with her triage team, and some of them are still here. I think they saw to Abner, not sure. Oh, my. When I got back, Lin Kae and Duv were gone, and Kalmil had climbed the warp core itself, fixing it. Thea helped him finish up, but I heard talk about him having radiation poisoning, so it looked like Thea beamed him to Sickbay. That was like just now, before you walked in."

Once she finished up, she cocked a hip and wafted air against her face and bosom. "Gosh, what a day, huh? But it's not over yet, right? I just hope Kae, Abner and Kalmil are okay..."

“Okay, now calm down, Warrant Officer,” Billy stammered as he resisted the urge to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.  Being in such close proximity to her was bad enough but actually touching her was a distraction that he wasn’t sure he could handle right now.  “As you jest said, it’s not over yet.  How are the shields?”

“Buckling, Master Chief, but holding,” Petty Officer Arex replied wearily.

Billy Bob looked into Arex’s eyes and saw how demoralized they were.  And no wonder, they had lost two officers of the watch, Abner and Kalmil, either to injury or the grim reaper and they still weren’t out of the woods.  Seeing Kalmil come back from the dead only to lose him again must have been especially bad for the enlisted folks who had been aboard since the beginning.  But the look of hope in Rihen’s eyes told Billy what he needed to do.  It was time to restore morale and but the spring back into his people’s steps long enough to the Theurgy to escape the wrath of Starfleet.

Master Chief O’Connell turned theatrically and marched away from master systems display table to the center of the room where he could be seen by the most people in engineering regardless of what deck they were on and tapped his combage.  “Attention all engineers,” he growled in an exaggerated drill sergeant voice, “This is your acting chief engineer Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert O’Connell and I have jest returned from my suicide mission to discover that you numbnutted, pencil-dicked, saggy pussied, penis sucking, carpet munching, hamfisted, morons have damn broke my ship!  I did not jus’ returned from a firefight jest t’ have yew numbnuts burn out every sensor in Starfleet with a humgongous fireball from our destruction!  Rest assured, I will not allow any of you smooth headed mother rutting father fucking jackasses blow us up before I have the chance to ream the asses of each and every gorram one of you!  Ah don’t care how many chief acting engineers you idgits kill with yore stupidity, yore not gettin’ outta this so easy!  You folks seem t’ have short memories so let me remind you of William Robert O’Connell’s first law of the black:

“Serve your ship.  Do your job.  Stick by your shipmates and do what it takes to keep her flyin’.

"Oh and by the way, it’s good to be back ya’ll.  Now git yore asses back to work and git us out of here afore I lose my temper huh?  Starfleet kin throw anything they want at us but I swear by the Lord Almighty that nothin’s gonna stop us from keepin’ her soarin’ on through the black ‘til the end of time!  This ain’t the end, this ain’t even the beginning of th’ end and there’s a lot more adventures fur the USS Theurgy ahead an’ I expect y'all t’ be there fur each and every one o’ them!”

~ Fin

[Sithick | Allegiant Bridge ] Attn: Steelpheonix, EAC, Auctor, and Others.

Sithick had only encountered one other situation as intense as this. It had resulted in his previous ships distruction and his resulting freedom from his Klingon slavers. This time however he would go down with his ship. Not because it was the honorable thing to do, but because there was no way back to the Federation he had known and served. He had no home outside of the ship branded as traitors. Sink or swim for him there were no second chances.

For the moment he just had to float and watch. His attention going to the creature he had tried to tackle leaving it be for the moment as the commander had put it, to just grab onto something and shut up. Becuase their intruder did not matter. The only thing that mattered was the return to theurgy which each passing second seemed to be all the more difficult.

He and the rest of the team had restored this Yacht once before, they could do it again, but now that team was two men lighter. One was fighting in his death bed in the medical bay, the other had been spaced when the warp core had lost oxygen. Had he been down in the engineering room there would have been a small chance that he would have survived, he had survived the cold oxygen-less atmosphere of space before through careful exposure, this would have been more traumatic but there was a chance he could have survived, which of course meant that he should have been down there instead.

All of these thoughts were weighing heavily on the Gorn as he watched them get closer and closer to the ship. No gods to pray too, just Jaya's skill at this moment everyones survival was on her shoulders.

She did not disapoint, and the Gorn let out a soft yelping noise as he felt the cabin depressurize as it reached the landing pad, and his body hit the ground landing ass first. If his jaw could have smiled he would have, what counted as the creatures lips peeled back in a wide toothy grin as his yellow eyes almost welled up with tears. They had lost one of their own, another was wounded, but thanks to Jaya the rest would live to fight another day.

Sithick pulled himself to his feet, a moment of Joy coming over him as he quickly moved on the pilot, the prisoner he should have been securing long forgotten. The Gorn instead rushed to Jaya's side his foot falls heavy against the metal, as he grabbed the pilot disengaging her chair and lifting her up for a moment. His broad arms wrapping around her to press her close against his chest in a hug. He had seen others do this often, but had never actually done it himself. To the tall, strong creature Jaya was pretty much a toy in his arms, but a comfortable one.

His translator forgotten in the moment the Gorn spoke in the first and native language. It was a low guttural set of noises which hardly fit with the jubilant atmosphere of the room. "You beautiful creature, we are in your debt today, May your brood always be safe."

As he gave a blessing he quickly remembered himself, in literally every essence of the word. This was not his usual scene, and he quickly dropped Jaya, and tried to make himself seem professional again, fearing being chastised.

[ Temporal Observatory Lab | USS Theurgy | Vector 02 ] Joint-Post by Triage, Brutus & Auctor Lucan

Through the dark entity inside him, Doctor Nicander had a déjà vu experience that bridged the entire space-time continuum when he entered the Temporal Observatory Lab. The abyss in his soul echoed with past experiences, where he entered the room through those doors. This time, he had forced his way inside, and there was a Radiant with him, but like in all cycles past, Sonja Acreth was there, and the room vibrated with the tear of the temporal vortex she'd made. She had the stasis unit with the vector in her hand, and she turned to face him - covered in the blood of the Theurgy's crew.

"You?" she said, a smile touching her sanguine lips when she saw him step through the smoke in the doorway. She would think he'd come to join her, stepping through the dark portal with the twisting, crackling frame - fickle lightning from the vortex licking the equipment in the lab. She might think she would have his company, like she'd had in other cycles. Yet then, she saw Heather McMillan step through the doorway as well, and the smile faded from her bloodied face.

When the dark-haired woman locked eyes with the Radiant, the frail biochemist looked ready to faint dead away. It was the way she looked at her, like she could kill with just her gaze. Only her concern for Lucan’s well-being overrode her fear and kept her knees from giving way completely. But it was only barely that she maintained what sliver of courage she could find within herself to not bolt out of the room or scream for help. Not that screaming would do her much good at present. She lost her voice somewhere right when Sonja Acreth’s eyes settled on her. The woman’s face being caked with blood did not help the queasiness in her stomach either, nor the nightmarish vortex behind her.

That was the moment when the parasite stirred inside Lucan, fighting him, trying with teeth and nails to wrest control back from the host. Diminished as the darkness in the abyss had become at the touch of the Radiant, Lucan still felt its presence keenly - the will of the nameless darkness trying to compel him. He was already weakened from using his Câroon powers to breach the door, vertigo making him stumble and spread his feet wide to keep his balance. His eyes still glowed brightly, mouth spilling light into the twisting storm from the vortex, and his tattooed hands were fists at his sides. Yet regardless his resolve, and his conviction to end the cycles... he still found himself doubting. Is it not easier to just let it begin anew?

He turned his head, and the bright orbs of his eyes fell upon the Radiant. Was it not easier to kill her, to unleash his powers upon her instead of Acreth? Killing Acreth was unprecedented. It had never been done before, yet the Radiant had been in the room before, only to be killed by Acreth, Lucan, or them both. Killing Acreth, a fellow kin of the dark, that was unknown ground. Dangerous. He could not predict the outcome. We know that all beauty will die.

The feeling in the room was palpable, and stifling. Like a moment in eternity, where all things moved, and yet nothing did all at once. McMillan met the man’s look with her own. He had a look of conflict on his face; why? Meanwhile, she returned his look with one of confusion, fear, and obliviousness. She didn’t know what to do, and frankly, her only thought was if Acreth tried anything, the Radiant could buy him time by throwing herself in the way of danger. It was her nature, and that was not something that needed one iota of thought, but why was the doctor looking conflicted? Was there more than she realized going on here? What did Sonja Acreth have with Lucan? Then she turned back to the still murderous looking woman near the vortex. “Miss Acreth,” said McMillan.

As Lucan had looked at the Radiant, he saw her trust in him. Her fear. Has darkness truly taken over me, consumed my mortal soul? All my virtues sacrificed? He clenched his jaw, shining eyes returning to Acreth instead of Heather, and he saw the bloodied human forego speech and reach for her hand phaser on a desk. No... I can't justify it any more.

"No!" he called, and he channelled the energy from the EPS grid again, roaring fire filling his zi'naaq. The lights in the lab dimmed, only his eyes and the Radiant herself challenging the conflagrations around the portal. With his lab coat flaring out behind him from the distortion of the vortex, he reached forth with his tattooed hands. The thing inside coiled in protest, tried to stop him. Forgive me my sins. Forgive me for what I have been.

And then he unleashed the fire, screaming with his shining mouth agape. A torrent of raw, fiery energy tore through the lab, about to consume Acreth where she stood - her phaser already raised against Heather McMillan. Acreth was caught unaware, eyes wide, and tried to get away. In the face of his rare display of Câroon power, she must have forgotten herself. Forgot the force field she had already raised as a shield, and threw herself to the deck plating... even if the invisible wall stopped the flames from reaching her.

Mind reeling, knees failing him, Lucan could barely keep himself conscious in the wake of being a funnel for so much energy. No! He fell down, on his hands and knees - utterly spent. The light in his eyes had winked out. He trembled from lassitude and failure. Eyes clouding over. And yet his determination had not abandoned him. In fear that Acreth might crawl through the vortex, beginning the cycle nonetheless, he besought McMillan to act - her powers able to penetrate the force field. "Blind her!"

Despite how far gone Acreth was, could the Radiant guide the host back from the darkness, like she'd done to him?

McMillan stood there. She could only stand and stare, mouth agape, at the sheer amount of power that Nicander had displayed all of a sudden, and even Acreth couldn’t stay up against the onslaught, regardless of the protection she had erected. Probably just as well that neither of them had tried rushing forward. But the doctor’s words rang in her head, and it was like a strange phenomenon. Normally such an order - literately meant or not - would make the young woman balk, even outright refuse, since that constituted as harming someone. She still felt guilty for stunning officers with a flash of light during the mutiny.

But this was different.

There was an odd desire growing within her, something that she felt only once, and so subtly she had thought it an imagination in a flight of fancy during a high-stress situation, but now, now it seemed stronger, in the presence of Acreth and Nicander. She knew that using her gifts, the lights, actually produced a form of pleasure for her, literally like something sexual, and could become addictive, making her use it more and more. But she now felt like she needed to shine, to flare, to burst with light and everything she had, and it was almost impossible to deny now all of a sudden. So when the doctor told her to blind Acreth, and keeping in mind what the woman had done to who knows how many officers of Starfleet who would never see home again, as a form of justification, McMillan filled the whole room with all the light within her soul. And as she shone, she hurriedly slipped out of her lab coat, tore off her uniform jacket and undershirt - making herself brighter with each garment shed.

Her body became translucent as she shifted from flesh to the suns of the galaxy, with a purifying flare of brightness, an absolute absence of darkness. She completely forgot, when she was lost in the bliss of letting free all that light, to tell Nicander to shield his eyes. So to spare him, she raised her bare arms towards where Acreth were, and her light focused into a straight beam. This was enough to pierce even bulkheads and the hull of the the Theurgy - the wavelength beyond known science.

Nicander had covered his eyes with his arm, lying on the deck plates of the lab. The storm of the vortex roared still, and yet he could not see anything, the light all-consuming. He realised that the Radiant might not want to stop, even if she was well beyond the point to stun or even blind Acreth. So he shouted over the din. "Stop! It's enough!" There was no answer. "McMillan! Stop it!"

The young woman showed no indication of having heard the Câroon shouting, as she tilted her head back, lost in an indescribable bliss. It was like nothing she had felt before. Even the pleasure of contact with Commander Carrigan Trent did not compare to this. Unfiltered, unrestrained, purest light, and McMillan couldn't have stopped herself if not for a sobering reminder that nobody else could stand to see her like this, literally, and that when all was said and done, she still needed the people, for solace, for guidance. So, reopening her eyes, she finally had enough sense to realize what she was doing, and that helped her bring her light back down. After such flaring, however, she couldn't completely shut down her light, and she could only reduce it to tolerable levels, but she would still brighten up a dark room with daylight. "D-doctor...?"

When the light faded at last, the afterimage remained as Lucan blinked and tried to get his bearings. His pale grey eyes ventured to the vortex, and he saw Acreth... She was fumbling, breathing as if she drew breath for the first time in years. Perhaps it was the first time since long that the host used her own lungs, and yet she saw nothing. She stumbled, the stasis-chamber in one hand and the phaser in the other, until she dropped the weapon. It clattered against the deck, and she kept hyperventilating.

"Stop moving!" Lucan tried to shout where he laid, but he could not make his voice carry over the distortion of the breach. Even if he could get back on his feet, the force-field would still be in the way. Acreth was panicking, and... "Don't..!"

With growing alarm, Lucan saw her stumble, fumbling for a hand-hold. With dread and defeat filling him, he saw her take the crooked step, and got too close. The vortex caught her, and she screamed - utterly terrified. Perhaps she knew, through the darkness that had left her, what awaited her on the other side. Whether or not she did, she was gone the next second. And since the vortex had been made for one transfer... it shut itself like a closing maw.

The silence in the aftermath was deafening - ringing in Lucan's ears. No...

What just happened? wondered McMillan, with a slight panic. The woman had fallen through the portal and it closed, and she wasn't sure if this was the desired intent, or if she had messed up royally again. "Uhm...m-mission accomplished?" said the young woman hopefully, "I mean, this is what we needed to do, right? Stopped her from bringing something in from wherever that was? What was that by the way? Some sort of a time-space vortex? You have a generator that can do that? Sorry!"

McMillan shook her head, realizing that she was talking to a mildly concussed, recently flashed man here, and she was excitedly going on about a machine. She really needed to work on her brain-mouth filter. "Can you stand up? Let me give you a hand...uh..." she hoped he wouldn't need her help, or they'd both be in trouble, considering her strength was no where near sufficient to lift someone like the doctor, and she'd very likely crumple under his weight. Fortunately, she thought she heard footsteps, perhaps announcing the arrival of security forces at last. "Ov-over here!" said McMillan, calling out enthusiastically.

Can the winds be so cruel`? Lucan was asking himself where he laid, not looking at the Radiant. In her uniform trousers and her bra, she lit the room, and Lucan saw someone else standing there. The owner of the lab. How long had he been standing there?

Sarresh Morali sunk to his knees, shaking, just having witnessed the vortex closing. "You're wrong... You don't know anything..."

It was then that McMillan realized she was semi-undressed in the presence of a superior very male officer and someone else around, making her squeak and quickly pull on her uniform and coat then she fumbled to adjust everything with the clumsiest fingers in history.

On his knees, Sarresh put his shaking hands against the deck plates, digging his hideous, human fingernails into the metal. He stared at the point where the vortex had closed, his mind reeling in impossibilities of centuries past and future. In his mind's eye, he saw Amikris Neotin, the reason he was here in the first place. Couldn't save you. Never could... he thought, the fork remaining in the time-stream. He had failed. "Time has passed us by..."[/color] he muttered, chocking on his vocal cords, the human reaction to grief making his throat strained. "Can you f-forgive me for trying again?"

He doubted the two idiots could hear him. They had thought Acreth meant to bring something to the present. He knew he shouldn't blame them, but they had been right there, able to do something to stop her. He had seen it! The thing in her hand. The DNA of his people. The last sample aboard of the Ash'reem genome. Now, it made perfect sense! He had volunteered because he had seen the nature of the Niga virus. He had known what it did to Amikris. The missing nucleic acids, making her fertile like no other Ash'reem.

But his treatment... His bloody memory engram treatment was not aiding the mission. It was just forking the stream over and over again. Here I am... left in a lost timeline. I'm reduced to a fool that just rush in where he's rushed before! Endlessly... He turned his ocular implants to the medical personnel who had failed, tears making his metallic eyes gleam. "You have just restarted everything! The cycle without end... We are left here, trying to salvage what is already lost. You could have stopped it!"

Of course, Lucan knew this already, but he had no time to make another lie. His combadge chirped, and Doctor Duv was heard. [Doctor Nicander, this is Duv, Edena Rez has been brought in Sickbay with a serious laceration and trauma. Readings show that the pressure inside her head is rising rapidly so we'll need to act fast. I remember she was your patient, so how do you wish to proceed on this matter? I needn't tell you how time critical this situation is.] Hearing this, Nicander blinked, trying to pick himself up from the floor. He suspected Jona Rez had gotten himself attacked, and he shed a small hope that the Trill had failed in his endeavour to stop the Simulcast. With the kind of injury Duv described, the host was likely dying, yet Duv wasn't finished. [An alternative is that I stabilize her as best as I can and prepare her for a joining.]

Hearing the message from the doctor's combadge, Sarresh began to chuckle, both horrified at how the memories were starting to fade away already, and at the same time... quite relieved. After what he had just seen, after what he just lost - again - he just wanted ignorance to return. Like a soothing balm of primal stupidity, where he was reduced to the same kind of idiots that let Acreth through the temporal breach. "You should take that call, Doctor... All we have left now... is what a man long dead might still tell us." He could not help laughing, shaking his head and feeling tears fall on the back of his ugly hands.

"Go, else there are no more forks in our path into the darkness..."

[ Derik Veradin, Thea, Tovarek & Captain Ives | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Joint-Post by Mathis, Nolan & Auctor Lucan. Attn: All

Derik finally had a few moments to survey the full layout of the controls in front of him and at first it was threatening to overwhelm him. It appeared to be like the Resolve's in overall layout and control pattern - the two starships not too far apart in terms of when they were commissioned - but three times the size. Taking a deep breath to calm himself and focus, it clicked into place. The central area controlled Vector 1 while the side screens provided views and info for Vectors 2 and 3, currently being piloted by autopilot or someone else, but Derik could tell that he had the ability to override or send orders from his console as well.

More commotion rang out across the bridge, including expletives from the OPS officer sitting next to him. She was shouting about someone behind him having a seizure. Derik couldn't allow himself to be distracted, though, with a new ship and a complicated reintegration maneuver he'd never attempted about to happen. Why was there a bright beam of light exiting the hull of Vector 02 on his screen?

He did his best to focus and block out everything but his station and the orders directed at him, such as the one he had previously received from who he assumed was the XO and then one from Ives. The orders had confused him a bit though. Who was this 'Thea' that was supposed to guide his hand? What did that even mean? It was not like he could ask either, the Captain was ordering someone to find out where Sarresh Morali had gone. Was he the one who had the seizure? Derik kept an eye on the readout showing all the incoming fighters, support craft and the other vectors as they came closer, and Derik followed the XO's orders, keeping the ship as steady as possible as various craft began to dock and line up for reintegration.

Then, Thea materialised next to Derik, leaning over his shoulder. "Ensign Veradin, I am Thea, the ship you are flying. Please change my trajectory one degree to the port side, else we will lose five seconds before reintegration. I also recommend powering up all three of my Vectors' warp engines now. They all respond to that lever over there."

His focus being what it was, Derik still couldn't help jumping halfway out of his chair at the surprise materialization of a female hologram next to him that leaned over his shoulder. "Fuck me sideways," he exhaled, though only loud enough for Natalie and Thea to likely hear him. She leaned in over his shoulder and started giving him pointers for minor course corrections. Listening to the Captain's earlier command, he made the suggested correction. "So, you're Thea then."

"Yes." When the new helmsman had done was she'd recommended, Thea straightened where she stood, hands folded behind her back. She looked at the viewscreen, and saw what was out there with her sensors as well. In the aftermath of the massive barrage that had hit the Asurian forces, spotting individual vessels was futile. She could but hope the fighter elements would make it in time. "Reintegration will be complete in ten seconds," she announced, even as the Archeron herself began to fire against her shields. As Thea counted, the last fighters that could docked with the different vectors, and latches secured the Allegiant underneath her saucer. "Nine. Eight. Seven. Six..."

The incoming fire from the task force and debris from the battle threatened to push the vectors out of alignment. Just a few more seconds wais all they needed. They weren't to be that lucky. A broadside of phaser fire shot shook Vector 01 and the CONN display lit up with red and orange alerts with the words, 'INTEGRATION OUT OF ALIGNMENT.' Derik had only a few seconds to correct it.

"Five..." Thea did not end the count-down.

Brand new ship, sweat running down his temples, and having no for sure idea what to do to fix a maneuver he'd never attempted, Derik stared blankly at the console for what seemed like an eternity.

"Four..." Thea continued, still hoping the Trill would manage to compensate.

Derik held his breath, eyed the trajectories of the three vectors, and punched in a course correction for Vector 01. Vector 02 adjusted automatically in response, Derik assumed that was thanks to Thea. His displays lit up green again showing a correct reintegration course. He exhaled in relief and heard the countdown end.

"...Three. Two. One... Reintegration sequence complete."

"Maximum warp. Engage!" called Captain Ives from her chair, holding on to her armrests but her voice still crystal sharp.

Derik had received their course from Stellar Cartography and had just laid it in as the countdown was closing out. He shouted to be heard above the noise on the bridge, "Warp ready. Tovarek, 3, 2, 1, now!" Derik slammed his hand down on the console to send them to warp. For a moment, he flashed back to Resolve and hoped they wouldn't have a repeat of an inoperative drive. He smiled and finally allowed himself to relax as the stars started to stretch across the viewscreen.

Tovarek had counted along with the countdown from the Trill pilot as his drones had all been placed in position behind the reintegrated ship. The readings were nominal and the time to push was nearing. As Derik shouted 'Now', Simon hit the execute order as the drones fired up their warp drives and catapulted themselves forward along with the Theurgy, only to divert into various directions mid-warp. The objective to mask the trail of the Theurgy would be no problem and for now, it seemed like the drones had done exactly what they were designed for.

As the shooting stars lit everyone's faces on the bridge. Captain Ives got to her feet, and the tension seemed to leave most people. She looked towards Tovarek, getting a nod of confirmation. The drones were right behind them, mimicking their warp trail and starting to deviate from their course, one by one. "Damage report," said Ives...

...but Thea was not as relieved. She remained standing where she was, a frown coming to her. "Captain...."

"What is it, Thea?"

"The damage to one of my starboard nacelles has degraded our current warp field." She turned her head and looked at Ives. "As a result, I can't go any faster than Warp 8,5. This will allow Task Force Archeron to catch up with me within five minutes, unless the drones can give us another minute or two depending on which warp trails are pursued first and which ships pursue ours."

The CONN display confirmed to Derik what Thea was saying. An image of the nacelle in question was radiating damage on a side screen. They were approaching their top speed already and their 20-light-year trip to the Azure Nebula was projected to take much longer than probably expected. He opened his mouth to say as much, but Thea beat him to it, fear almost touching her voice.

"At Warp 9,995, I would not only have been able to outrun them... but reach the Azure Nebula in 5,767 hours. With this velocity, it will take me 5,828 days. Needless to say... we will never make it there."

Curses and sharp intakes of breath were heard around the bridge, the knowledge sinking in. Captain Ives curled her upper lip and rounded on the bridge crew. "Repairing that nacelle is our top priority, and I want it fully functioning now."

It seemed that even in their escape, they had failed...

[Doctor Hayden O'Connor| Main Sickbay| USS Theurgy| Vector 02]

Hayden didn't want to leave Hylota alone with Maal since he appeared to be so frazzled emotionally and now physically hurt, but she thought under the circumstances, it was better for her to get the phasers. She didn't want to risk additional injury to Maal and she wasn't entirely certain he was focused enough to reach for weapons so they could defend themselves. Of course, even as Hayden rushed as much as she dared while getting out of the pool, she prayed the weapons would be unnecessary and the worst she would ever be considered was over prepared.

She forced herself to move carefully, trying to anticipate based on the groans of the ship when she might have to steady her footing or hold onto something quickly because of a sudden list of the ship or a quick maneuver. Helmsman were concerned about survival, after all, not a smooth ride for laboring crewmembers. Hylota's screams of pain only led her to feel more torn about her decision, but she knew she couldn't afford to turn back now. Her heart racing, after what felt like an eternity, she finally made her way toward the cabinet where she'd stashed several phasers. O'Connor had stashed extra weapons, because at the time she wasn't sure how many people would be with her attending the birth. O'Connor knew the female Ovri wanted as few people as possible, but giving birth under battle conditions meant, clearly, that not all wishes or circumstances could be honored.

So focused was she on her task that when the Klingon nurse started singing, she was startled at first by the sound. Turning, she realized if they were about to die, at the very least they could pass triumphantly, a warrior song ringing in all of their ears. If Hayden didn't know any better, she might've assumed she was watching a scene in a holo-film.

If only that were true.

With no time to waste, Hayden knew she need to get back to Hylota and Maal quickly. O'Connor didn't think she had anything to be concerned about related to the female Ovri’s labor, despite Hylota's obvious pain, but the truth was, she couldn't be certain. Deep down, she knew anything could go wrong, and as much as she tried to prepare ahead of time, not all circumstances could be anticipated. Even if she had created a billion backup plans, there was no guarantee any of them would work.  At this point, she wasn't even sure there was much of a ship left outside of the fragile safety of this room.

Despite her careful movement, Hayden almost fell herself at least twice on her way back. It was only by sheer luck she didn't go down hard, fearing if she did, she might not be able to get back up properly. Gritting her teeth to suppress her own growls of frustration, Hayden eventually made it back into the water, both phasers above her head so as to keep them dry. Handing one to the Klingon nurse, she offered him a small smile of encouragement.

To Hylota, she said, "You're doing great, sweetie. I know it's really hard, but try not to scream, as that wastes your energy. Take slow, deep breaths, and moan if you need to." In the meantime, Hayden took a look at the female Ovri's progress. The water was cloudy, but she could still see the unusual egg trying to emerge. The calcified mass was concerning, but her first priority was to help Hylota relax enough so the egg could fully emerge. “Slow, easy pushes. I know you want this one out and over, but I think it will only hurt more if you force it out too quickly. Let us know if you'd like to try a different position."

Borrowing Maal’s tricorder, Hayden was pleased to see Hylota continued to dilate around the egg. At first, she was concerned the unusual shape and size of the egg would slow such a process, but she could only hope in time, her opening would be large enough to accommodate it. In the meantime, she looked over at Maal and ran a quick scan over his body. They were both preoccupied, obviously, but O'Connor wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she'd allowed her distractions to prevent her from seeing serious injury. 

It appeared the Klingon nurse was going to have lots of bruises and abrasions, she just hoped that was all there was to it.

[ Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Joint-Post by Hastata-Nerada & Auctor Lucan. Attn: All.

Vivian Martin suddenly looked up as she realized the dawning opportunity before them.

"Sir," she announced, speaking directly to Ives, "I know someone who can patch the warp field through the deflector. It should be able to compensate."

Hearing this, Ives turned to the human woman with the dark hair, seeing her rank and division and recognising the fact that she might be a science officer from the Resolve - her arriving together with the helmsman. "I am hardly in the position to say no to any ideas at this point." Ives looked towards Thea, who made no warning to what was being suggested. Turning her oaken eyes back to the woman, Ives nodded. "Time is short. If it can be done without slowing down or stopping, then do it."

Wasting no time, Martin tapped her combadge, and deep below decks a gently glowing, blue, serpentine alien received her message. "Martin to F'Rell, do you remember when you calibrated the deflector shield when we were trapped by Fen Domar forces? We need you to do that again but for the Theurgy."

Down there, responding with a deft movement of her tendril, F'Rell simply replied, [This is F'Rell, I am on my way now.] before snaking her way towards where she sensed the deflector.

On the bridge, Ives spoke to the woman again. "What's your name?"

"Apologies sir," Answered the woman. "Lieutenant Commander Vivian Martin of the U.S.S. Resolve, chief of science."

"Martin, what will this person named F'Rell do, and does she need help?"

"F'Rell is a... individual who came aboard the Resolve during our journey back, it should uh, it should be easy to isolate her based on biosignature." Martin straightened her posture and continued. "She has advanced knowledge of warp and gravity mechanics, and has helped the Resolve in a situation like this before, but it would probably help if..." She hesitated, unsure if she had the correct idea as to the nature of the entity which she heard referred to. "...Thea... assisted in some way?"

"You've got it. Thea?"

"Yes, ma'am," said the Ship A.I. "Tracing communication and locking on to combadge. Energizing transport for the individual now and heading to the deflector controls myself." Having said this, Thea's projection shimmered as it vanished from the bridge.

"Trent," said Jien and rounded on the Tactical station, "give the person all the security access she needs to the deflector controls. Authorisation Ives-Gamma-Four-Seven."

---

[  F'Rell & Thea | Deflector Dish Control Room | Quaternary Computer Core | Deck 23 ]

The transport was sudden and bright, leaving F'Rell stunned and drifting within the room. She gently bumped against the computer core, sensing its vibrations. As her senses returned, she cast her gaze around the room, attempting to orient herself.

Behind the T'fanrell, Thea materialised, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise as she saw the creature in her quaternary computer core. The species was uncatalogued in her database, and Thea would have started a new file hadn't the situation been less of an emergency. "F'Rell, I am Thea, the A.I. of this ship. Lieutenant Commander Martin suggested I might be of assistance. What can I do?"

"Ah, an A.I.?" Muttered F'Rell through her translator. "Good, this is an improvement. I wish to modify your deflector shield to emit a series of graviton pulses to compensate for instability in your warp field." She stabilized herself and swam towards the nearest console. "Noble Ancillary, I require the algorithms you are currently running that are governing warp field output, and a readout and analysis of the graviton field coherence."

"Acknowledged," said Thea, filing away the strange title the alien had used for her. This was not the time to ask for an explanation. The task force could catch up with her any moment. As for the task, she needn't use the duty stations present to begin, the calculations required initiated in her background processes and quickly yielding the results needed. "Sending the results to the screen in front of you now. Do you need anything else?"

After some consideration, F'Rell requested a system directory, and before long had completed the modified inputs to the Theurgy's deflector. "Noble Ancillary," she said again, barely shifting her focus from the screen before her. "I require you to re-synchronize the output of your subspace accelerators with the shield harmonics I have given you."

"Re-sequencing now," said Thea immediately, and the deck beneath her feet jolted with the mid-warp change to the deflector shield's output. The tremor could be felt on all her decks, the bridge included, but after having done it, Thea could not help the smile that touched her digital features. "Warp field stabilizing. The deflector is compensating for the damaged nacelle."

F'Rell gave an approximation of a nod. "Noble Ancillary, you now briefly have the blessing necessary to safely flee any pursuers. In your measurements, your warp speed is now 9,998 for six of your hours before your deflector shield must be reset and undergo some repairs."

"That is more than enough for us to reach our destination and go into hiding," said Thea and she raised her eyes, speaking and letting her voice be heard on the intercom on the bridge. "Re-calibration successful. Accelerating to new maximum warp speed. ETA to the Azure Nebula: 3 hours, 32 minutes and 47 seconds."

---

[ Main Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Theurgy ] Joint-Post by Hastata-Nerada & Auctor Lucan. Attn: All.

The silent sigh of relief that swept through the bridge could not have escaped anyone, and Jien even allowed herself a faint smile, despite all that had happened. "We'll make it," she said and turned to Vivian Martin. "Thank you."

The tension in Martin's body visibly relaxed before she regained her composure and answered Ives. "I appreciate the sentiment sir, but I merely relayed the request."

[ Captain Jien Ives (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Captain_Jien_Ives) | Main Bridge | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]"Nonetheless," said Ives to Vivian Martin and inclined her head, then she turned to the rest of the bridge crew. "Locate Sarresh Morali and verify that the enemy has not brought something new across. Whatever temporal breach have occured, I want to know what happened." Hopefully, there wasn't another Calamity out there, chasing them again. No, there was no time to consider the ramifications if that might have happened. She continued giving orders, heart still beating fast.

"Someone find Sar-unga...Petty Officer Dyan Cardamone. Those saucers that came to our aid out there were our last resort."

Pausing, she realised that only she and Trent knew about the accord struck with the Asurians, since the hope had been that they hadn't needed to call for their aid. "A couple of days ago, our Asurian crewmember helped gain her people's aid, a partnership struck between them and I... but they just paid dearly to enable our escape. We need to establish communication with the Asurians as soon as it's safe to do so, to gauge the extent of their losses, and make sure we have not lost them as allies. Please realise, they just made themselves the enemy of the whole Federation, and with the simulcast false... they might have done it in vain." The last thing they needed were more enemies, that much was certain.

"Furthermore, I want Sickbay to make Edena Rez a priority, since the knowledge of Jona Rez' contacts is something we need in order to continue. The people out there that can decrypt the truth Jona hid in the simulcast can also give us the decryption key, and make this mission a success after all. Until we know any others, I want someone to dig up everything that is accessible on Elim Garak, and find a way to reach him without compromising our position." Jien knew he was the Cardassian ambassador on Earth, and it might be he resided right in the enemy's nest.

"Stellar Cartography, keep an eye out for Sankolov and his ships." Then, her eyes ventured to the back of the helmsman from the Resolve and then to Vivian Martin. There were a lot of new faces on the ship, people who had already lost so much before the battle, only to return to a hostile Federation, and taking refuge on a ship of outlaws. "Thea, how many of the Resolve's crew made it aboard?"

[Of the Resolve's crew complement of 321 - as estimated on long range sensors as she left Starbase 84 - 197 individuals have made it aboard, Captain. There were no escape pods launched, and aside from the senior staff, the survivors are currently amassed around my airlocks and my transporter rooms. Twenty people still remain in my transporter buffers, and we have sixteen crewmembers from the USS Orcus split between my Upper and Lower Shuttle Bays, with a total of eight Valravn-class fighters powering down. We also have five new life-signs without Starfleet combadges, ma'man, but they appear to be non-hostile.]

Civilians, all caught up in this mess, thought Jien, sorting out what priorities to make, but first, she needed to know what was on many of her own crew's minds. The body of Aisha S'Iti had already been beamed off the bridge, vanishing while they had their warp field restored. Yet it seemed like Jien could still see her lying there, with the back of her head gone. "What about our crew?"

[Total estimated casualties are 109, plus 47 injured, ma'am, leaving us with a total crew complement of 722 survivors. This amounts to 940 aboard, if counting civilians, the crew from the Resolve and the pilots from the Orcus.]

The numbers sobering - if not staggering - Jien felt numb as she walked towards her chair, slowly sitting down. She raised her eyes to Vivian Martin, to the helmsman, and considered the unknown faces of the Resolve's senior staff in the adjacent briefing room.

"Then 940 it is," she said quietly, a silent reassurance given to them all, that in her regard, they were in this together, and they would have to start functioning as one crew if they were to survive. With resignation towards the cut of their losses and the mission failure, and trying - despite it all - to look ahead, she shifted... to his male form, and looked towards the CONN officer in front of him. He could not wear his feelings about the defeat on his sleeve... even though he wanted to rage. "Helmsman, what's your name?"

"Ensign Derik Veradin, sir," came the reply.

"Mister Veradin, continue to the given coordinates. We will hide in the Azure Nebula, where few would dare follow. From there, we'll find the way forth."

- FIN

[Selena Ravenlolm | Transporter Room | USS Theurgy]

The transporter beam hadn’t even let go of Selena before she was cursing up a blue streak.  Why in the name of the Great Bird had they beamed everyone away now?  At the very least she could’ve disabled the Simulcast, keep it from spreading further than it already had, but no, Thea was leaving and wouldn’t leave anyone still living behind.  As soon as she could move the cyborg was off the pad and pushed some junior officer away from the auxiliary console with little more than a forceful “Move.”  Fingers flew over the controls to bring up various status reports, including a tactical view of the retreat.  Dots and symbols of various sizes and colors signified what was what and who’s side they were on.  When a finger prodded the screen naming who was on the new saucers she just ignored it, too much was going on in her own mind.

That changed in an instant though, when two Federation ships spit out a volley that had never been seen outside of a simulation before.  Represented by little more than a blob, the sudden motion caught Selena’s eye just in time to see the majority of the saucers just disappear, completely unable to avoid or defend themselves against hundreds of torpedoes at once.  The full impact of what had just happened didn’t heat until Cardamone started screaming.

Jumping from the sudden noice, Selena whirled around and grabbed the other woman, pulling her into a bear hug so that she could scream into her shoulder, hopefully muffling the sound enough that it wouldn’t interrupt the transporter operator.  “Shhhh….just let it out, take it to me for now…” she whispers to the grieving woman, steeling herself for the impending onslaught.

[ Corridor Outside Transporter Room 03 | Deck 12 | USS Theurgy ] Joint-Post by Striker N7 and Auctor Lucan*

Carrying his bulky and lightly-charred 'lucky' knapsack, Ensign James "Jimmy" Mariner stank of ozone and singed clothing from his last-minute rogue action to stash and collect as many valuable datarods and chips from the Resolve's computer and several other areas where fires raged and the hull still had pressure. His Trill friend Jaesa Cloi had suffered plasma burns and had inhaled toxic gas and was ushered out some time ago by the Resolve's medics.

One of the last ones to leave the Resolve, Ensign Mariner's knapsack bag was nearly overflowing with datarods and mementos that were hastily-collected. Jimmy lost track of the time, and his sense of direction, coughing smoke and, even breathing through his uniform in a makeshift gas mask until he could find his own on the way out, adding the fatigue of carrying a growingly-heavy knapsack. As if some deity from the heavens noticed his actions, he was beamed out by the Theurgy, just as Mariner managed to tuck an important PaDD under his shoulder.

Jimmy had only really managed to secure personal logs and replicator menus, but Jimmy couldn't just leave some equipment designs, not after all they'd gone through to make them in order to find substitutions for tell-tale Federation fire during their 3-year return home. Marquez wouldn't easily forgive losing the Ancient West and World War II combat simulators. Jimmy himself was not going to leave the synthetic taste of his Australian beer. Plus, he was one of the crew, the family under the same hull, and barely an officer by regulation standards. As a combat-proven security operator however, the junior security officer would not allow himself the last three years' worth of accomplishments and keepsakes.

Safe aboard the Theurgy, Jimmy and 20 other personnel from the resolve stayed in the corridor outside transporter room 3. Most of them were nervous, others scared, but Jimmy was just anxious. He hated sitting still when he could be doing something somehow, but he was told repeatedly to stay out of the way. Still,

Mariner impatiently paced the corridor, for what seemed like an eternity. Crammed together with his fellow survivors, the Australian security officer was worried about the Resolve's XO.

"Take this," Jimmy handed his bulky bag off to the nearest of any gold-shirt. "Make sure the counselor sees this one." He distinguished the Cardassian-marked datarod in particular. being on his A-game as he stepped down the corridor, further away from the surprisingly amiable Theurgy security guards. "Computer, can you scan for Captain Kendrick or Lt.  Commander Marquez? Their respective Federation serial numbers are--" Jimmy figured the computer would know, but the young man knew how to filter their records if they weren't in the system.

[Captain Kendrick is not on board. Lieutenant Commander Marquez is currently in Transporter Room 3 on Vector 02, Deck 12.]

"But that's right here, isn't it?" The security guards posted in the corridor were there for a reason, but they did not appear hostile. "Mind if I go to my XO, Gents? He may be a prude but the guy owes me some bars of Latinum. No way I'm going to let him off the hook there."

As if on cue, the sliding door opened and a hover gurney appeared, pushed by a medic and with an Andorian Lieutenant who looked like she'd seen battle. And on the hover gurney, there laid Lt Commander Marquez. The pain in his torso by now had been contained by righteous indignation, nerves and adrenaline alone, but he was muttering incoherently. "Kendr.... Aero..." He rasped, wheezing.

"Boss!" Mariner raced over to the XO's side. "Oi! You! Give us a space for the holo-gurney here, ey? C'mon, C'mon, Vamoos!" Jimmy wasted no time rushing to Marquez's side, despite his orders to stay put.

ThanIda zh'Wann's eyes cut towards the unknown pinkskin, recognised how he seemed to know the prone officer that had come to the boarding team's aid. She had barely gotten three words out of the transporter operator, merely heard that they had the crew of an allied ship named the USS Resolve aboard, and after what she had learned from Drauc T'Laus and overheard in the command center of Starbase 84, she reckoned that the man - as well as the rest of the unknown faces in the corridor - were of the same crew.

"Who are you, and can you confirm the identity of this man?" she asked, the hover gurney not stopping - just as little as Ida did.

Jimmy's eyes sparkled as he regarded the Andorian, clearly finding her attractive until he noticed her rank was one grade above his, so he skipped the pleasantries. "Hey there, Left-enant. Jimmy Mariner, Resolve's Security, this Pit Bull here is Resolve's Exec, Striker Marquez. He owes me some latinum, and a promotion." The Australian was clearly kidding, but he followed the gurney to sickbay. Jimmy continued, but kept it brief. "He's my XO, and a good friend. "Not sure what's a better sight to see, him alive or seeing that there's a tougher sum'bitch in the galaxy than he is-- Hehe, Hear that, Boss? Looks like ya owe me more latinum for winning that bet, ey?" Jimmy smirked, goading his XO.

"I see," said Ida, and she remembered back when the Resolve was lost, and the name of the ship's first officer. "Leon Marquez." She did not have the presence of mind to appreciate the pinkskin's humour.

Marquez stirred, either wincing in pain or chuckling, Jimmy couldn't tell, but his vitals weren't looking good. "Come on, Left-enant, how much further?"

Ida clenched her jaw, knowing she could not linger. "Marquez, can you  hear me? You will be taken to sickbay immediately, and your security guard here can accompany you. I must report the outcome in the EOC to my superior officers. Crewman," she said to the medic, "take them so sickbay now. Hurry!" Saying this, Ida drew to a halt and watched the gurney being led away down the corridor. She was not entirely sure what had happened at the end of the mission, but with her combadge, she started to try contact people who would know.

Why couldn't she shake the feeling that things had not gone as they should?

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OOC: This is Part 1, and Striker N7 will post Part 2.

[ Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Joint-Post by Striker N7 and Nolan

Jimmy Mariner kept stimulating his friend and companion with his usual colorful attitude of mock insults and in-jokes, himself always leaving himself open for counter-punches. Mariner wasn't keen on slowing down anytime soon for anything, particularly when he barged into sickbay with the Andorian's enlistee showing him the way.

Things were hectic in the medical section as it was until Duv heard a rather loud gentleman stir up her general population. She looked annoyed at the ensign before she gave a short yet loud warning "Ensign! What seems to be the problem?" She strode over to the man who had seemed to seen better days and scanned him over quickly before Mariner spoke up once more.

"He's the Resolve's Exec; he needs medical attention. Upper torso trauma. Probably needs some Tequila to get him going. Fancy some? Keeps your engines going, if ya take my meaning." Mariner was serious despite the remark, but began his characteristic humor, assisting however possible. "C'mon, Luv, heal thy patient and all that! Put your spots into it."

Duv shot the man a look as he mentioned tequila and shook her head. When he even provoked her to put her spots in to it, the good doctor snapped back at him "In case you haven't noticed... Ensign... I have a full sickbay!" She angled for his name as her eyes had narrowed to him. "Your XO here has a few fractures rib wise and some lacerations." she explained.

"Sorry, Luv. Name's Jimmy Mariner. Charmed. Now, can ya kindly bring him back for me, he owes me some latinum." Jimmy quipped, largely to get a rise from the unconscious XO.

"They'll heal but he'll need some rest and refrain from doing anything intensive. The other wounds can be fixed with a dermal spray." She showed him the spray before her attention was called by another nurse "Doctor, we need you here." Duv sighed and looked at Mariner "You had basic training with dermal sprays and the such right. Bring him back to his quarters or wherever you guys are resting. Keep him off his feet for a few days and report back to sickbay in three days. We'll see how his ribs held up until then." she spoke quickly before she left he duo once more.

"Hear that, Boss? The cute Trill Doc there says you'll be on your feet in no time," Jimmy reacted at the doctor's instructions as he got the tools necessary to begin curing his boss, wishing he had less on his mind than the day's events or his brush with death earlier. Of course he didn't mean to offend, but biting humor tended to get a good reaction from people, even a hard man like Marquez could find the humor intended. But the devices seemed to either be ineffective or taking their time to heal the injuries. Mariner continued.

"C'mon, ya stubborn taco-eating jack-ass, you. I nearly got my arse fried off in the Resolve getting your damn stuff! I dunno if these chaps here can even spell carne asada. C'mon!" Mariner was growing desperate. "Wake up, ya stubborn ee-jit: Cloi's alive!"  Jimmy cited the unconscious second host of the Cloi Symbiont, but didn't mention she was unconscious and under life support respiratory equipment, nor did he mention that she would have to be placed in stasis indefinitely, but Cloi was once Marquez's fiancée.

Marquez's EKG seemed to monitor a normalizing heart rate as the injuries seemed to fade away. Jimmy knew it was only a matter of time. Jimmy sighed out of relief. "Thank God, Mate, who would've looked after Sharky if you kicked the bucket? I would've fed your-- what?"

"--ter.  --Ter!"

Jimmy listened in to Marquez, brushing his way past some of the medical staff to replicate a glass of water and poured into Marquez's mouth. Striker accepted it and moments later began to sit up and stir. Marquez continued to murmur something. Jimmy listened in, unable to hear, setting aside the water on a nearby tray.  "This.... one's.... for..."  Jimmy couldn't hear, but soon howled an aloud 'Oi!' as Marquez spilled the rather-chilly water on the Austrailian's head.  "...for setting... it... to... Ando..rian... temperature." Marquez rasped, opening his eyes and-- was he smiling?

Dripping wet and plainly annoyed, Mariner stepped away, shaking himself off like a wet dog for a moment before contacting the Resolve crew. "Mariner to Keval... 'Leather-skin' Marquez is alive. Laid out in sickbay, but he'll be up and congratulating you by day's end. Just one thing, Sir: Sharky's gotta pee sometime. If anyone gives you or the chaps any shite, remind them that Pit Bulls get territorial and are good shots."

Noticing someone was chuckling at the spilt water, Jimmy cast a, 'What are you lookin' at?' regard.
____

OOC: [Show/Hide]

[ Vinata Vojona | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ]

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          Vinata listened to what Nolak had to say before simply giving a confirming nod, truthfully Vinata was not sure what to say on the matter, as far as he was aware he was tasked with cleansing a patient contaminated with radiation, he was unaware of any foul play or dishonest activities that had occurred. Of course as Nolak began to explain his intentions and how he wanted to be at his post Vinata nodded again before looking to the injured shoulder as he administered the iodine solution. Once he had performed his first task he decided he might as well take a more hands on approach.

Clearing his throat Vinata spoke in a melodic voice that could easily make his mistaken as a woman. "I am sorry that you feel imprisoned here, but in your current condition I do not think you would have been able to maintain stable functionality for very long, and with the level of poisoning you have taken I fear you could be at risk of numerous cancerous tumors if you were to put off cleansing sir." Vinata turned and left the chamber, locking it behind him as instructed, but as the machine began to start up the door opened once more and Vinata reentered.

"I am sorry I have been a bit short with you Master Chief Nolak Kamil, but the serious of your condition required direct attention, and due to the state of your body we must have you cleansed before further healing can be undertaken." Swallowing Vinata took a deep breath, a tad bit uncomfortable with what he was intending, the reasons his own, but to Nolak it might seem as though Vinata was being shy around a nude man. "With the injuries you have taken I feel it would be beneficial if I were to be here to assist in the cleansing of your body as you will likely struggle to reach all places with your existing wounds." Vinata took a deep breath and let out a chirping sound as he exhaled, he also did not want to go back to the other patients, after cleaning up a severed limb he was at his limits for gore he needed to calm himself or risk a panic attack. "I realize you must not want to be be burdened with a doting nurse...but please allow me to help you sir."

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[ Hylota Vojona | Main Sickbay | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ]

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          Hylota clenched her jaw firmly and pushed against her eggs, once one would squeeze past the opening there would be a moment of relief before the next would begin to spread her vaginal opening, stretching her as she began to push the egg out of herself once more.  They felt firmer and less flexible than Hylota had thought they would be, they were actually rather uncomfortable to force out and she was beginning to see why this was considered more of a commitment than just laying an unfertilized clutch, and she was just glad that she was not dealing with this situation alone, after all that she had been through she doubted she could have maintained any level of composure if she was alone.

Of course as Maal held her and tried to comfort her with a traditional Klingon song Hylota was too busy clenching her jaw as she pushed a calcified egg out once more, the movement was slow and grating as she pushed, but as the Klingon balled began she ground her jaw, if ever there was something she would question as music it was very primal sounding, more a chorus of growls and roars used to form words and music, unlike Ovri music which was more a chorus of chirps and various sounds. What the Klingon's considered music was not something the Ovri would create, but all the same there was a strange rhythm to it and it served the purpose of being encouraging in her labored state.

Wailing as another egg was pushed out she let out heavy labored breaths as she tried to collect herself as the next egg began to crown, it was not comfortable by any means, the feeling of her flesh stretching and squeezing over the spheres provided a stinging tingling pain that coupled with the pained strain of her muscles sent Hylota's mind into a wash of hazy pain for a moment, it was not blinding but it did make it so Hylota did not notice Hayden arriving back in the room, as she climbed into the pool with Hylota and tried to get her to go slowly with the latest calcified egg and to try not to scream Hylota croaked. "It feels like I am passing glass, I will scream if I Gods Damned Feel Like IT!" Hylota took a long deep breath as she tried to calm herself, slowing herself and pushing a bit less aggressively, it took a while but the egg did slip free, dead and malformed Hylota payed it no more attention as she relished the moment of relief before the next egg came.

Hylota pushed the next two eggs out without much harm as they were clearly dummy eggs and slipped out with enough force. As the third egg began to crown Hylota began to groan and hiss in discomfort as one of the calcified eggs seemed to be on its way out as well. It was a slow process as Hylota began to push less and she tightened her hold on Maal, she took a long deep breath before looking to Maal, her eyes a mixture of anger, pain and yet pleading for comfort, she finally passed the dummy egg and croaked as she moved on to the next, this one moved more smoothly than the previous calcified eggs, but it was still slower than the dummy eggs. It took a moment but as it crowned it was clear this egg was different, unlike the deformed eggs this one still had a smooth flexible shell that pushed against the rough form inside and it shifted to pass more easily. Although it was not clear to the naked eye that the egg was anything special, but with the tricorder it was clear, the egg held a viable offspring, the first Ovri Klingon child and the first child to be born to the Theurgy, oddly fitting to be born in a battle.