Star Trek: Theurgy

CHAPTER 03: FROM THE ASHES | DAY 04 | 1130 hrs.


“Tactical Log, stardate 57551.35. The pursuit of Savi fighters ended late last night, and this new morning, the Stallion finds itself truly alone in the Azure Nebula. We have taken our escape into a dense part of it, where there might not be any sirilium gas, but where subspace communication is impossible. Even if we wanted to try and contact the other Vectors, despite what the Continuance Protocol says we might do, there is no such chance. The reason why we remain quiet is because the threat has been deemed the kind that might trace our communication. This is, possibly, the explanation for how the Savi and the Asurians could find us so quickly. After Captain Ives had spoken with the Asurian queen, it is likely the subspace signal that Petty Officer Dyan Cardamone had set up was traceable.

As of 1145 hours, we should be setting a course for the first rendezvous point. It is the first of three sets of coordinates and times in the protocol, and we have no way of knowing if the other two Vectors will be there. After we move out, we expect to reach the rendezvous point at 1300 hrs. and wait there for one hour, hoping the other Vectors will be there. If not, the second time we have a chance to reintegrate won't be for another day.

The Stallion is in a bad shape, since the Savi dreadnought blew a hole straight through it. Repairs have been ongoing through the night, the lack of sirillium gas the only thing that has made the repair work easier. The radiation is not much better here, however, since we still can't drop the shields and raise such that might protect us from enemy fire. As a tactical officer, I lament the current conditions if the Savi finds us. We will not be able to hold our own against them. Of the three Vectors, the one I am on is the least capable in battle. In my home country, we have a saying. Shān yǔ yù lái fēng mǎn lóu. It means 'Coming events cast their shadows before them.' Or as the westerners say, 'I have a very bad feeling about this.'”

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]Seated in the Commanding Officer's chair, Masuda warily watched the sensor readings on the viewscreen. Captain Stark and First Officer Ejek were not present at the time, so he had the conn, but if he were to be entirely truthful to himself, he didn't like it one bit. He had never thought it so, but he actually did miss the peace and quiet of the Black Opal. He was not twenty any more, and things were a little bit too 'exciting' for his own taste. It didn't mean he wouldn't be doing his duty if it came down to it, but if it was up to him, he'd rather return to China and his family. He missed the life of farming, and if he could, he meant to grow a garden of his own one day.

"Lieutenant Yukimura, I... I'm picking up something faint," said Yvette Conway at Ops, and turned her head. "I think it is a distess call, sir."

Masuda frowned, not having expected that their current, slow trajectory would pick up anything so far into the nebula. "Let's hear it."

[Th-s is Cap---- --ya -ie--- of the Fede----on Star--ip -ay---. We req---t im----ate assist----, I repe--, immediate assista---. We hav- tak-- heav- dama-- and ar- withou- mai- p-wer. Pleas-, help -s, you are -ur only hop-. I repeat, this i- Captain An-- -ie--er of the Federa--on Starship...]

Masuda rose from his chair, slowly stepping up to Conway at the Ops station. "Try to clear it up, if you can. Send a message to Stark and Ejek too that their presence is requested on the bridge," he said, knowing that he couldn't make the call to answer this distress call, since they were just about to set a course for the first rendezvous point with the other Vectors.

"Aye, sir. Message sent." Then, after some adjustments, the message was repeated.

[This is Capt--- Anya Zieg--- of the Federat--- Starship Cayuga. We request immedi--- assistance, I repeat, immediate ---istance. We have --ken heavy damage and are without main power. Please, --lp us, you are our only hope. I repeat, th-- is Captain Anya Ziegler of the Federation Starship Cayuga. We request...]

---

OOC: This is the starter for Chapter 03: From the Ashes. Since Ziegler is Stark's former First Officer, the first and second Rendevouz with the other Vectors will be missed, since the Stallion will remain with the Cayuga and assist in her repairs as well as its own. This thread denotes the first encounter, and all Supplemental Threads that are started will either have to be set before this time of 1130 hrs. on Day 04, or afterwards. Just like in the interregnum, Supplemental threads are started at your leisure! Supplemental threads relating to the Stallion or the Cayuga should be named Chapter 03: Supplemental [ Day X | YYYY hrs. ] Insert Title, and they should extend no further than the end of Day 05.

These are the main tasks to solve, your Mission Objectives in this Chapter: [Show/Hide]Known staff on the Stallion: [Show/Hide]Known staff on the Cayuga: [Show/Hide]

[ Lieutenant J.G. Ejek | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]

She knew that there would be little rest in this situation. She felt it in her bones. It was familiar, aching feeling that had come to dominate her life for the past three years. On the run, alone, frightened, and everything around you is deadly.

She had only four days to savor life without the constant threat to her life, but to bear that ache again felt like so much more than she could handle. Without an escape, it would’ve been likely that she would’ve panicked by now. There was an escape though. She was not trapped here with her fears all alone. She was no child.

Instead, she was a woman. She could be dead tomorrow, in an hour, in a minute. What purpose was there in worrying about the fate of the universe, or even the ship? She knew by now that to concern herself with anything other than the here and now was a waste of energy and brainpower that could be spent more efficiently on other tasks. She also knew that, as the temporary XO, she'd need all the wits she could gather about herself. After all, she was clever, but this wasn't her day job, and if she wanted these Federation types to learn how it's done, she'd have to set the example.

When she got the message, she had been meditating on all these thoughts, and more. Like the vulcans, she sought to control her emotions, and like the humans, she did so by feeling them. She could stand in the river, let it rush by her legs, but she did not let it sweep her away. It calmed her, eased the ache that came to settle in her very existence, so when she stood up and left to the bridge, she was herself. She had her time to process everything that had happened within the past few days. She had expelled her concerns about the future. She was here, now, and she found her center once more.

The doors of the bridge opened in silence, her steps onto the bridge were almost as silent. She had not done anything in particular with her appearance, but her usual confidence in her posture gave her a certain aura. Like she belonged in this position. She surveyed those at their stations and the view screen, and on seeing nobody in a state of immediate panic, assumed the worst anyways. Optimism was for peacetime.
“Morning Lieutenant. I won’t bother prefixing that with ‘good’ until I know what surprise you have in store for me.” She bemused as she settled into the XO’s chair. Her chair. She knew Stark would be on her way, but for right now, she was the highest ranking person in the room. She would savor the little glories while she had them.
“I don’t suppose we’re facing yet another enemy. Klingon pirates? Borg?” Her humor was as dry as fine wine.

[Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark, Captain | Temporary Quarters | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ]Attn: @Griff @StarDuster @FollowTomorrow @Doc M. @Auctor Lucan @Arista @Triton (Security checkpoint)
[Show/Hide]
Five hours of sleep was not enough; it was never enough. It was, sadly, all that Natalie had managed. And it was far more than others might have allowed themselves in the given situation, were they left in charge of a starship on the run. And even as a simple Vector of a greater ship, the Stallion was a vessel in its own right. Having fled the battle with the Savi in the state they were in, dodging about to loose the Fighters that were on their trail, and with a gaping hole in the side of the ship, it had been very, very hard to resist succumbing to the desire to pick up a tool kit and head down from the battle bridge, to loose herself in the reassuring familiarity of repairs.

Instead she'd stayed in that center seat for two solid shifts, before handing over command to Lt. Masuda and hauling herself off to the temporary quarters assigned to her as part of the protocols. She'd ordered the Tactical officer to get some sleep hours before hand. Now, she was stepping out of the sonic shower, coffee in hand, padding nude across the small refresher alcove in the equally small NCO quarters she'd been given. COps had taken the mug in there with her shortly after the computer had awoken her at the designated hour. The voice, so very much like the Thea she knew, but without the spark that defined her, had called her to consciousness. It was a harsh reminder of what had happened, as was the unfamiliar quarters and the weight upon her shoulders.

She hoped that it, along with the two tablets she had immediately swallowed after replicating the drink, would do something for the headache she'd given herself, bumping her head against the top of the inset bunk that served for her bed. Hardly an auspicious start to her first full day of command.

Looking at her self over the rim of the cup, naked in the mirror, Stark could see bags under her eyes, but she felt...not dead at the very least. Worried. Tired. Scared, so very scared. And hurt. They had lost people, friends. Stolen away. Thea she thought bitterly, before she shut her eyes and set the warm mug down. Sucking in a deep, slow breath, Natalie counted backward from ten. She had not wanted command like this. A part of her hoped, begged, almost, that the rendezvous would be successful. She needed them to be successful because deep inside she was unsure if she could lead these people on their own, leaving their friends behind and spreading the word, the truth.

"But thats what I have to do," she reminded herself , looking up, pale eyes in an equally pale face, ringed by damp brunette locks of hair looking back at her from the mirror. Hardening. Determined, resolved. She stood up straight, looked herself over, and gave a small nod. Then she swept the coffee up and marched off to the rooms drawers, fishing out the standard underclothes that were provided (in her size, replicated in advanced). From there, she pulled her shirt on, zipped it up and clipped her pips to the yellow collar - one black, two gold. She was in temporary command for now - her rank and department unchanged. If things did not pan out - if they did not meet up with there rest of the Theurgy then that might be a different story.

From there she stepped into her skirt, zipped her jacket, and pulled on her boots. She had just put her hair up into a high tail atop her head, and called up a report from O'Connell (bless him, she'd be lost without his help) when the comm's chimed. She looked at the chronograph on the wall - still at least an hour before she was due back on the bridge.

"Captain Stark, Lieutenant Ejek to the bridge." The voice of Yvette Conway came over the speaker. That was it. Her frown deepened as her fingers brushed her own combadge. "Stark to bridge, I'll be there shortly." Captain Stark. Not how I wanted to hear those words. Not that I thought I ever would. Drink in hand, she tucked the report from Billy Bob under her arm and set off.

[Battle bridge | Vector 03 |  USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]
Less than five minutes after Ejek had arrived on the bridge, Natalie Stark stepped out of the turbolift and back onto the smaller, cramped battle bridge. Her eyes swept back, towards where Conway perched on a stool behind the ops console to her left, and over to the right, where Lt. Masuda had resumed the Tactical station. Towards the front of the bridge, near the swirl of the Azure Nebula that filled the viewscreen, Natalie could see the helm officer on duty, PO3 Lillee t'Jellaieu. Natalie had read up on the files of the Romulan, as well as all the other offices she had at her disposal and set up the duty roster accordingly, with assistance from her Carrdassian first officer. Neither of them had been familiar with the Romulan woman, but her service record showed she had some of the most experience of all the conn officers available to her.

Giving a very faint nod of approval towards the non com, whom seemed to have the ship well in hand, Natalie allowed her gaze to then sweep across the rest of the bridge, taking in the other officers on duty, getting a feel for who she had on hand, and the general temperature of the bridge. Tense, Natalie decided.

Finally, she settled in on Lt. (jg) Ejek in the left hand "XO" chair - Natalie's own seat, on the right. lay vacant. Waiting for her to sit down into it.

Her chair. Her command.

"Status report." She ordered, sipping the coffee from where she stood between the banks of stations in the rear of the bridge. For the moment, Natalie felt content to remain among her crew, before taking that center seat. She justified this with the reasoning that form here, she'd be better able to see, and judge, her crews reactions - the battle bridge shared a lot in common with the layout of an Intrepid-class starship, with many of the stations behind the command well.

And anything that kept her from turning her head nearly all the way around might be for the best just then, with the headache having yet to fade away.

Obliging her Captain, Conway turned in her stations at Ops and summarized shortly. "We've picked up a distress call, Captain. Its faint, and garbled, but its Federation." An eyebrow arched up on Natalie's face as her eyes darted to Ejek, and then to the Lieutenant at Tactical, before returning to Conway. "Go ahead and play it for me, Yvette." With her, at least, there was a familiar rapport, easy to fall back into.

As before, the static ridden comm message filled the bridge.

[This is Capt--- Anya Zieg--- of the Federat--- Starship Cayuga. We request immedi--- assistance, I repeat, immediate ---istance. We have --ken heavy damage and are without main power. Please, --lp us, you are our only hope. I repeat, th-- is Captain Anya Ziegler of the Federation Starship Cayuga. We request...]

Those that had heard it prior focused more on their duties - or their Captain - than the message itself. Stark however, frowned. Something about ...Oh. Oh shit. Recognition dawned on her face, and she felt herself grip the handle of her mug tighter. She shut her eyes, and sucked in a slow breath.

"Play it again," She ordered, listening. Yes. That was her. She remembered the voice and the name. There was little chance that it was someone else. Anya Zigler - this was bad. Very bad. And yet....she couldn't ignore it. Mission or not..... She made the decision in less than a second. Squaring her shoulders, she walked over to the secondary console that set nestled between, and behind, the command chairs and pulled up what records they had on the USS Cayuga She confirmed, in less than half a minute, that the officer in question was exactly whom she suspected. She then threw the details of the ship up on the view screen with a few deft commands.

"We have a problem, ladies and gentlemen," Natalie began as she moved her way around and down, to sit in her seat. No hesitation. Make a decision and stick to it, Trent had said. We'll I've certainly made mine. "That ship is out there somewhere in distress. I want it found, and a course laid in." That seemed to meet with approval, and she could , with a slight turn - and a bit of flare of pain in her head - see Masuda and Conway going to work.

"The issue however is that I know the officer in command of the Cayuga. I thought I recognized the name, and the voice, and the records confirmed my suspicions. Her name is Anya Zigler. She is an extremely competent officer, and quite loyal. She and her crew will be well aware of the accusations against our vessel. And given her past that could make things very complicated, considering she used to be Captain Ives' XO, when I first joined the Theurgy."

Natalie let that revelation settle for a moment, then turned to her own XO. "Ejek, I need you to be the one to hail the Cayuga." She imagined she might see surprise on the Cardassian's face, but she wasn't sure, she didn't know Ejek well enough, but she raised a hand to forestall the obvious question.  "I was only the Assistant Chief of Operations when Zigler was the XO, but we served on the bridge during Beta shift on more than one occasion. She might very well recognize my voice, and until we know where she stands and whether or not this is some kind of trap, I'd rather she didn't hear me. We'll answer, audio only. The nebula makes enough interference as is that it'll be reasonable."

Hoping to see understanding in Cardassians face, she turned and checked the Starfleet registry for a vessel, based on the last logs they had, which might be in the area. Finding a suitable ship that had been tasked with long range exploration and support, Natalie made her choice again.

"Petty Officer t'Jellaieu, lay in the course as soon as you have it from Lt. Masuda. Ensign Cir'Cie," She turned her attention to the science offier currently on duty again and was privately pleased with herself as she maintained her confident, collected demenor. "This soup we're in is doing a number on our sensors. I can only imagine that it is doing the same for the Cayuga especially if its damaged. I want you to work with Engineering and work on our power output. See if we can fake the profile of a Nebula-class starship."

She watched the vulcan's impassive response and gave an approving nod. A few quick taps of her chair console opened up a quick channel to enginnering.

"Chief O'Connell," she began. "Not sure if you've had the bandwidth to follow along, but we're recieving a distress signal from the USS Cayuga. Could be a trap, could be legitimate. Either way, we need to be ready to go investigate. Get any repair crews back inside, stat, and put a patch one anything that we can. Oh, and see if you can help Ens. Cir'Cie make us look like a completely different ship to sensors. She has the details."

Satisfied there, she turned to Ops once again. "In the mean time, Lt. Conway, open up a channel to respond to the signal. Tell them that this is the USS Jamestown responding. Lieutenant," she paused, looking at Ejek, to her left, and smiling. "This is your show. Proceed at your discretion."

---

Battle Bridge Blueprints: [Show/Hide]OOC: Before anyone gets too comfortable with the belief that this is going to be a 'repairs only' kind of thread, I should point out that I've just had a lovely discussion with the GM about whats in store, and he has assured me (Rather ominously) that this is far from what is in store for all of us.

EDIT: Rehashed the last part of the post. More tags for players, tasks laid down. Any questions or concerns, feel free to pm me or Lucan.

Also! All of the Bridge images featured in this post, are renders by Daniel for the Star Trek Voyager Game Project, used with his consent, given 2017-11-15. Here is the homepage https://www.facebook.com/STVOYAGERGP/
This is to be the standard bridge layout for the battle bridges for the Stallion and the Sword.

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Holodeck 4 | Deck 21 | USS Theurgy  ] Atten: @Brutus, @FollowTomorrow, @StarDuster, @Triton.

It was uncanny.  Whatever they had shot the Theurgy with had passed through the superstructure of the Stallion and gone right out the other side.  It was like the ship had been shot with an enormous pistol or hit by an old fashioned cannon ball.  Acting Chief Engineer Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert ‘Billy Bob’ O’Connell had spent  last night patching the hull and getting the structural integrity field back to minimum safety standards  but only now was he walking through the tunnel the enemy had dug in the Stallion to take in the damage for himself.

Debris scattered all over the deck making footing treacherous.  Conduit was dangling from the gaping wounds in the walls and from the overhead where the deck above had been damaged as well.  Billy Bob O’Connell took a deep breath and absently tried to scratch his nose.  He didn’t succeed of course because he was wearing an EVA suit because most of the area that the shot had hit wasn’t airtight yet.  It wouldn’t do to waste atmosphere until all of the temporary force fields were up and working again.  Not that any member of his department trusted those force fields after losing computer function yesterday.  For right now they would be doing this old school, sealed up in EVA suits like in the olden days.

O’Connell considered it lucky that the shot had hit the part of the ship that held most of the holodecks the Theurgy carried.  A few tens of meters further aft and the shot would have hit the main deutronium tanks, and that would have caused problems the ship might not have recovered from.  All in all, the Stallion had been pretty lucky.  Now all he could do was hope that the other two stardrive vectors had fared even half as well.

As always, he was shorthanded.  Not only had Chief Petty Officer Lavar Manfredi, his senior propulsion chief and unofficial right hand been beamed away to the vector one stardrive section as part of the “Continuance Protocol”, but the attack by the Asurian boarding party had put many of his staff unlucky enough to be in Main Engineering in either sickbay or the morgue.  Thankfully his shipfitting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipfitter) staff that he had in the Stallion weren’t in Main Engineering or the shuttlebay when the Asurians attacked.  As a matter of fact following him and also wearing white Starfleet issue EVA suits were a dozen of them right now. 

“Ladies an’ gentlemen, we have our work cut out fur us,” he drawled offhandedly.  “I reckon it’s gonna be quite a spell afore any of us are relaxin’ on th’ holodeck.”

As if to prove his point, the boss called.

[ Stark to O’Connell. ] a feminine voice beckoned over his space suit’s communications system.

“This is O’Connell, go ahead Commander,” the master chief replied.

[ Chief O'Connell, not sure if you've had the bandwidth to follow along, but we're receiving a distress signal from the USS Cayuga. Could be a trap, could be legitimate. Either way, we need to be ready to go investigate. Get any repair crews back inside, stat, and put a patch one anything that we can. Oh, and see if you can help Ens. Cir'Cie make us look like a completely different ship to sensors. She has the details. ]

“Aye-aye Ma’am,” he sighed.  “I’ll bring them in now,”

[ Thank you O’Connell.  Stark out. ]

---

[ Lieutenant Junior Grade Yvette Conway (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Operations_NPCs #Lieutenant Junior Grade Yvette Conway) | Vector 03 Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]  Atten: @Brutus, @FollowTomorrow, @StarDuster, @Triton.

Back on the bridge Natalie Stark wasn’t finished doling out assignments.  "In the meantime, Lt. Conway, open up a channel to respond to the signal. Tell them that this is the USS Jamestown responding." 

“Aye Commander,” Lieutenant (junior grade) Yvette Conway acknowledged.

“Lieutenant,"  Natalie Stark smiled as she glanced over at Lieutenant (junior grade) Zelosa Ejek, "This is your show. Proceed at your discretion." 

Conway hadn’t been a hundred percent certain that Ejek would be a face they would trust, but when she had time to think about it, she had to admit that no one in Starfleet would expect a band of fugitives to let a Cardassian do the talking for them.

Turning her attention back to her console, Yvette Conway opened a channel.  Clearing her throat and speaking in her calmest, most professional tone, in an almost sweet voice she said.  “Cayuga, this is the Federation Starfleet vessel USS Jamestown responding to your hail.  What is the nature of your emergency?”

---

OOC:  I hope I didn’t overstep my bounds there adding some telephone etiquette to Stark’s dialogue, but it always bothers me when little bits of dialogue like that which don’t require a full post aren’t there.

[ Captain Anya Ziegler (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Anya_Ziegler) | Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @Masorin  @DocReno @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @Fife @Absinthe @Brutus @Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow , Anyone else 
[Show/Hide]
It had been days since they had encountered the Borg and, while things were significantly less than ideal, a new semblance of normalcy had started to take place. On the bridge of Cayuga, Captain Anya Ziegler sat in the centre chair, raktajino warming her hands as she mindlessly watched the blue emanating from the azure nebula on the viewscreen.

She had allowed herself the small privilege of a 3-minute shower before beginning her shift and that had felt glorious. In nearly any other situation, Anya would have stayed for longer, feeling the magical rejuvenation that came with pressurised warm water against porcelain skin. The condition of the ship meant that she couldn’t justify anything more than those 3 decadent minutes. The various reports from Engineering and Operations departments told her as much.

Cayuga was still without full power, although backup and auxiliary had been restored. It wasn’t enough to get the ship underway, not with the damage to the nacelles and various decks, but it did give them that critical protection against the radiation of the nebula. At least for the time being. Repair crews were still working around the clock, many of the teams made up completely of crewmen outside of the engineering division. That department had been decimated during the attack. Slowly though, parts of the ship had returned from the dead. The recently promoted chief of security, Winter Bannin, had managed to get approximately 40% of the replicators online herself and that allowed the crew to cut back on emergency rations.

The story was the same across many of the ships systems. Holodecks and the shuttle bay were offline – the shuttles themselves have been jerry rigged by crewmen in EVA suits directly into the power conduits to provide additional battery power for the ship.  Some corridors were dark or illuminated only by flickering light panels. Elsewhere, any non-critical systems were shut down and repairs side-lined for what Anya had called ‘The Big Four’ – Environmental Support, Shields, Communications and Propulsion. She had heard reports of crewmembers having to bunk with others when they had found their quarters no longer habitable and, in the spirit of sacrifice, Ziegler had taken the decision to open her ready room as makeshift mess hall, seeming as the replicator on the bridge wasn’t one of those lucky few. If it wasn’t for the fact that she enjoyed privacy so much, Anya would keep the room as its new purpose after they were rescued.

Assuming they were rescued.

Ziegler didn’t allow herself to think such thoughts, especially not while on duty. The distress call was broadcasting almost constantly, although muted on the bridge, she didn’t want to listen to herself repeatedly. They would just need to wait and survive. Eventually it would be picked up. She wanted to be a monolith. A sign of inspiration or the crew to draw strength from, even if she had none herself. So, shift after shift and only when not asleep, Ziegler sat in the command chair waiting. She kept her back straight, her shoulders relaxed and an eye on the various readouts displays on the arms of her seat. Anya wanted to personify elegance and composure in a crisis and while she might look as if she was starting off into space, her mind worked effortlessly trying to think of shortcuts and workarounds, something they could do to get the ship back underway.

A beeping broke the silence across the bridge. Normally such a quiet tone, the electronic alert filled the command centre, causing most there to turn to look – Ziegler included.

When the operations officer announced it was an incoming hail, Anya felt a wave of relief surge through her. Part of her wanted to cry, but she would remain steadfast. Moving her cup into one hand, she pressed a few buttons to verify the reading herself before allowing herself to say the words she had waiting so long to say.

“Open a channel.”

The voice from the speakers crackled due to the interference from the nebula, but it was that of an angel.

[Cayuga, this is the Federation Starfleet vessel USS Jamestown responding to your hail.  What is the nature of your emergency?]

Crinkling her brow, Anya searched her mind for recollection of the name. Jamestown was a nebula class vessel, but she couldn’t remember who commanded it. Before she replied, Ziegler contemplated the words that Jamestown had used. Did they not receive the whole priority one broad band distress signal? Did they not understand how important they were? Silently cursing the blue mess around the two ships, Ziegler remembered the chances the distress call would have been heard at all was so insignificant that she should get over having to explain herself again, especially in front of the crew.

“Jamestown, this is Captain Ziegler of the Cayuga. We’ve come under attack and require immediate assistance.” Pausing, she took a breath. “The ship is currently adrift without main power and auxiliary is struggling to protect us against the radiation of the nebula. It is imperative that I speak with your commanding officer straightaway.” 

[ Chief Medical Officer T’Panu | Sickbay | USS Cayuga ]

T’Panu awoke from a long, much needed sleep. She had been pulling double shifts since the Borg attack. It felt like just yesterday they were being attacked; the cold, dark presence of the Borg being right in front of their eyes. She couldn’t believe they had survived, but feared for all those that didn’t. She hoped that whoever they had to leave behind weren’t assimilated; she knew better, after her last encounter. She feared the day when she would run into someone she used to know, hopeful it would never come to that day.

She recalled all the medical equipment she had used and signed out, thinking about what she needed to fix and replace. It had been such a hectic few days she was only beginning to figure out where to start. She knew she had to figure it out, and soon, as no one knew if the Borg would be attacking again. Everyone knew better, but was still hoping for the best.

T’Panu still felt in a daze. Did this really happen? Was there anything more that could have been done to save more of the crew? She knew better than to ask these questions, but simply couldn’t help it. She felt responsible for not being able to save more people. Would if she worked faster? What if she hadn’t wasted so much time wondering what was going on? She lay awake the last few nights lost in thought. She should have been sleeping, but who could sleep with so many unanswered questions? T’Panu was kept focused thanks to the fear that ran as cold as ice through her body.

She knew there had to be something more to do, some answer to defeating the Borg, once and for all...but what? What could a simple medical officer come up with to help? She thought about cloning tribbles...she did have one in her lab. Maybe being born pregnant would help replenish their numbers? But she knew everyone would kill her if they had a tribble problem. Truth is, she would go crazy, too. If only they could get ahold of some Borg technology, but the last thing anyone would need is a bunch of assimilated people on this ship. What about a special frequency phaser that disrupts their mechanical functions? At least long enough we could burn those son of a bitches to the ground. She made a mental reminder to write all her ideas down to get a second opinion on; but for now, they were just a simple rouse to get revenge on the Borg in her mind...for now.

[Lt. Winter Bannin| Bridge| Deck 01 | USS Cayuga] ATTN: @Arista @Masorin @Gadget @Veridian @lisavw @Hastata-Nerada

Winter was standing at her now usual position on the bridge over where the secondary tactical station was, her rifle at the easy ready as she cast a glance over at Kyle at his own station, the younger man's dark eyes were constantly alert despite how tired that he was feeling.

The hybrid allowed herself a moment to rest her eyes on her captain which made her lips tingle as she recalled the sensation of finally being able to kiss the other woman as she unconciously started to bring her right hand up to her face before she stopped and realized what she was doing at which point she snapped the hand in question back down as her face slowly turned the same hue as her hair.

It was good however to see Anya had apparently gotten a shower in somehow as she looked a little less stressed out and more alert which brought a small, private smile to her face especially since Winter hadn't allowed herself that much of a luxery.

Suddenly the now familiar tone of an alert broke both the silence of the bridge but also her inner thoughts as the hybrid's head snapped towards the sound, fingers tightening on the grip of her weapon but when she heard what it was, her grip loosened and she felt not only the waves of relief from her fellow bridge crew members but also her own personal.

[Cayuga, this is the Federation Starfleet vessel USS Jamestown responding to your hail.  What is the nature of your emergency?]

At that moment she turned her head to look over at Anya and saw the crinkling of her brow as she too also recalled a starship called the "Jamestown" but she wondered why an older block Nebula would be sent to the nebula at the same time as a newer science ship of the line?

Once more Winter's thoughts were interrupted by an external source which was Anya explaining the current status of the Cayuga and while she was hoping for and that their ship could be recovered at which point Winter would finally allow herself time to take a shower and relax...maybe even find the time to actually talk with Anya...

But the more that she tried to focus on the positive side of things like a rescue for her crewmates, her instincts however were starting to tell her that something else was about...it gnawed on the edges of her conciousness and caused her gut to agree with her mind as she moved from her station to stand next to Anya, lending the other woman her quiet strength as they waited for an answer.

And hopes that her feelings about the situation unfolding were wrong.

[PO1 Lillee t’Jellaieu] (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | NCO Quarters | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @@Arista, @@DocM, @Follow Tomorrow, @StarDuster

[Show/Hide]
Lillee was, on the whole, proud of her ability to adapt to rapid-changing circumstances. It was a necessary skill for a pilot, especially a combat pilot, and that skill had kept her alive through some tough fights in her career. Even so, the chaotic slaughter that had been the final battle of the Dominion War had nothing on her current circumstances. Running endless attack runs on Jem’hadar fighters and Breen frigates all while trying to stay close enough to Federation and Romulan capital ships to avoid dying? Easy. Becoming the emergency CONN officer on a vector of a renegade starship several months in the future, executing a mysterious “Continuance Protocol” that Lillee had never even heard of, all while protecting an awful “truth” that she hadn’t even really looked into yet? Mere days after being woken from medical stasis, without any time to process...anything, in a damaged vector of a starship currently facing three separate enemy forces?

That was a different story entirely.

Thus, that morning before reporting in for her shift, Lillee simply sat on her bed in her underclothes and wept silently, the tears streaming steadily down her cheeks. It was all just completely and utterly insane! The Starfleet conspiracy, the Theurgy’s bloody escape from Federation space, the Asurians that Lillee had shot to save that strange Rihannsu, her own still-healing injuries, the even freakier other aliens who had kidnapped many of the crew, the damage to the vector they were calling Stallion...it was a non-stop barrage of madness. Even stranger, in what few conversations that Lillee had had with some of the Theurgy crew, she discovered that they were all becoming accustomed to it. One of them, a young and brash Bajoran crewman, had cheerfully informed her that their current circumstances were still much better than the Niga incident. When the entire crew had become sex-crazsd slaves to galaxy-conquering plant. Because that was a thing. A real thing that happened.

And so the tears fell.

What truly ached, what really unsettled Lillee’s green blood, was that she had no idea what was going on, nor any power to do anything. Mnhei’sahe had all but deserted her. Sure, she could get in an escape pod and go home, but then what? If the Theurgy crew were telling the truth (and Lillee’s instincts were increasingly bent toward believing them), she’d likely be subjected to intense interrogation by the corrupted Starfleet then imprisoned indefinitely. Or worse, she’d simply be murdered to be safe. She’d never see her children again. On the other hand, even if the Theurgy crew were wrong...then what? No matter what the reason, she’d be running away, fleeing simply because she wanted to avoid a complicated and difficult problem. It was simple cowardice. Lillee knew truly that as much as she desperately wanted to hold her girls in her arms again and watch them get up to their antics, she would never be able to look them in the eye if she fled. Once the heart itself was stained, it became almost impossible to truly wipe away, and the stain of cowardice tended to stick more than most.

And so the tears kept falling.

In due course, having left her vest and thighs quite damp with salty tears, Lillee finally recovered enough to get to the shower and get herself cleaned. She hungered for some kind of release for her frustration, whether it be bloodshed or some simple hard sex, but neither was in the offing if she guessed correctly. Instead, in the NCO quarters that weren’t even hers with the usual occupants on one of the other vectors, she gamely got dressed and left to get to work. There was a job to be done.


[PO1 Lillee t’Jellaieu] (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]

An hour later, manning the helm of the battered vector in the Battle Bridge, Lillee listened as the senior staff discovered the distress call of another Federation ship somewhere in the psychadelic mess that was the Azure Nebula. She didn’t know a thing about any of the officers, but they were at least acting like officers, a reassuring thing given the circumstances. Thus, as soon as the distress call came in and the acting captain arrived, Lillee quietly began plotting an approximate course to the Cayuga’s location, ready to engage the moment that she had more precise coordinates and the acting captain gave the order. There was a certain desperate improvisation to it all, as if everyone were actors playing a role, which was painfully true. Nobody on the Stallion were doing their real jobs. It was a worrying indicator of their troubles that Lillee, who hadn’t piloted anything bigger than a Steamrunner-class frigate in six years, was still the best CONN officer they could find. Still, it was just like swinging an honour blade to be at the helm of a starship once more. Or like riding a bike, as the humans called it. Softies.

Then the acting captain gave the order, and Lillee finally felt a faint sensation of relief that they would finally be doing something proactive, even if that entailed ‘rescuing’ a fellow Starfleet ship that would likely open fire the moment they identified their would-be rescuers. Still, it was something. Thus, with practiced skill (and subdued satisfaction that her skills hadn’t atrophied), Lillee plotted the course, a serpentine route that best took advantage of the Azure Nebula’s currents and eddies. Given the Stallion’s surprising sublight speed, they would get there soon enough.

“Course laid in,” the Romulan NCO duly called out to Commander Stark, her features settling into a cold, relaxed manner. It was time to get to work.

[ Lt. Cmdr. Zelosa Ejek | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | U.S.S. Theurgy]

Her show. She would have liked the sound of that, if the situation would go her way. Her way would mean not communicating with any ships that weren't also the U.S.S. Theurgy. Some poor helpless Federation ship emitting a distress signal was the perfect cover for an ambush. Foolishly, it was Federation policy to jump to the rescue, of course, so she and everyone else here would just be walking brazenly into a box with 'trap' written on every side. Maybe, if the situation was minor enough, she'd be able to convince the captain out of this. And maybe she was made of doves.

Of course, she wasn't able to decide for herself what ship they'd be masquerading as. She had to quickly look up the U.S.S. Jamestown on the computer on her armrest. The captain was one Armstrong Williams, decidedly not a woman. The XO was...unpronouncable, but also not a woman. Fantastic, the ship was a sausage festival. Typical Feds.
"Computer, disguise my voice on all outgoing transmissions to be male, upper fourties, with a southern United States accent."She rubbed her temple with her hands, but then settled herself. Now was the time to become some human named Armstrong...
"...Parameters not recognized. Please request help with vocal alteration to hear a full list of parameters required." The computer answered back, and Ejek felt her headache grow. Why did this have to be her problem? "Right. Someone else will be doing the talking, because none of the bridge staff on the Jamestown are female. I want to know their status and what disabled their ship."

Patiently, she awaited the response. She briefly leafed over what the computer knew of the Jamestown. What in the known universe was a ship like this doing in the middle of the Azure Nebula anyways? Especially considering the Cayuga was better built all around.

Furthermore...what was out there that could distress the Cayuga so? Certainly couldn't be the task force,  could it? Perhaps the parasites had established a foothold in the ship's crew. Most likely, this was an Archeron or Savi trap.
"Captain, you know this is very likely to be a trap, right?" She had to check. She wouldn't overestimate the Federation's competence anytime soon.

[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Battle Bridge | Vector 3 | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy
[Show/Hide]
Jimmy was rewarded with a decent night's sleep ever since his arrival to the vector after assisting in the sweep and mop-up of any Asurian intruders. After reporting for duty and being issued his temporary quarters; Jimmy grabbed dinner-- a well-earned prime rib in the arboretum lounge and stored his equipment in the security checkpoint on the main bridge deck before checking out.

The next day, the vector's acting security chief awoke himself a few minutes of exercise in his temporary quarters and some dry-run pep talk in the mirror, an excuse to brandish his voice mimicry through holonovel impersonations: You talkin' to me? You talkin to me, goat-head? I know what you're thinkin'. 'Did he leave the phaser on 'kill', or only 'stun'?' Well, to tell you the truth, In all this excitement, I lost track, myself. But being as this phaser -is- set to maximum-- the most powerful setting there is, which could blast those horns --clean-- off, You'd best ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? ...Well do you, goat?" Normally, Jimmy would have practiced this or a similar morning ritual with Sharky, but his dear pit bull was on Vector 2 somewhere and hopefully with Meony or K'ren. It was then when he had to report for duty, which he did after a light breakfast of birria beef stew.

Jimmy preferred Raktajino. ever since a decade earlier, when Pete Mariner was invited to Qo'onos to film on the Klingon homeworld for an insight into their culture, join in on hunting wild game and even tour the fabled Klingon Academy. While Jimmy himself was only a kid, and one of his father's best cameramen, he went along for the experience. The facility itself left a lasting impact on the young man to the point of him appreciating every cup of Klingon coffee ever since. Fortunately, Theurgy's replicators had done a good job in synthesizing the stuff. He sighed as he looked around the Arboretum and wished he could come to the towering bay more often, given the limited availability of holodecks at this time.

Despite Jimmy's excitement for his temporary command assignment and chance to once again hold a leadership position, it was clear Mariner wanted to take his responsibilities seriously. If anything happened to the other two vectors, it fell to the Stallion to survive and finish what the rest of the crew had started in their mission of vindication and survival. His first order of business was to set up shop in the main bridge's security checkpoint and report to the ship's XO. With that foremost in mind, he made his first personal log in a while themed after his father's documentary series, sporting Pete Mariner's thick Australian accent to boot.

Mariner's log, Stardate.... 57505.37. The continuance protocol of the USS Theurgy has me posted to its third Vector. With no other officers in my department aboard Vector three with the rank of Junior Leftenant or above, I have been advanced to acting security chief of the vector designated the "Stallion". This isn't like a strike or away team where I gotta paragraph objectives for redshirts, put on a good show in the field and buy a round for a job well done. Despite some praiseworthy heroics on the Sud Lang base recently, I've still got a good example to show, a fortress to hold down... and a father to make proud... Computer, pause." Jimmy halted in haste as a situation developed on the bridge just outside his office. 'His' office. He liked that. 

Sending logs to his father was also his way of carrying on the family torch as an adventurer-documentarian, even though he hadn't transmitted any of these logs since the Dominion War, and was barely able to send a message out to his family at Starbase 84 informing them he was still alive. That was before he was thrust into the exciting life of a fugitive. He reflected on this midway through his log from his new office on the bridge deck. He was alerted by Matsuda Yukimura that they made contact with something, and headed into the actual bridge, leaving the security office behind. He heard the distress call when he came to stand by the Secondary Console, behind the XO and CO seats.

[This is Capt--- Anya Zieg--- of the Federat--- Starship Cayuga. We request immedi--- assistance, I repeat, immediate ---istance. We have --ken heavy damage and are without main power. Please, --lp us, you are our only hope. I repeat, th-- is Captain Anya Ziegler of the Federation Starship Cayuga. We request...]

Jimmy listened with interest as he heard 'captain' Stark disclose her past with the craft they were to break radio silence from. At once, he procured a PaDD to get the dossier entry for a Nebula-class personnel manifest, which included both the Cayuga and Jamestown's respective figures. He stopped by Ejek, "'Keep a stiff upper lip, M'um. See what notes you can swap." He handed her the padd but remained around to take orders as to what Security could do. He'd ordered double shifts but permitted the use of hotbunking in order to conserve space and increase morale in his department.

Right now, however, it was all a matter of business, pertaining to seniority should there be a superior officer in Security, entity of a friend or potential foe. He hoped the Cayuga's crew didn't have the trust issues he often had with outsiders. ready for anything, Jimmy awaited orders to ready security for any intake in crew rescue.

"This is Jamestown. Bless my liberties it's good to see a friendly face out here!" Jimmy stood up to the channel and announced.  "Looks like you had a rough flight out there, Cayuga. What happened? What's your crew count and status? Might we be of assistance?" Through the crew roster, he found a name close enough to an accent he could passably impersonate.

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Joint-Post by Auctor Lucan & Brutus
[Show/Hide]Standing at the Tactical station on the bridge, Masuda watched and listened in silence, having been slightly worried when the Cardassian First Officer found out that the Commanding Officer of the Jamestown was a human male. Luckily, the one who now ran Security aboard was able to step in and save the situation, impersonating the man that Captain Ziegler on the Cayuga was supposed to think she was talking to. Masuda shifted his stance and took a deep breath, thankful for Ensign Mariner's timely intervention.

So too was Natalie Stark. She'd given a short, wordless response to her XO - a silent nod of the head. Of course this could be a trap, the brunette commander thought to herself. But on the run or no, they were still Starfleet. They had a duty to respond - even if they did so cautiously. They needed to know more, and bless him, Ens. Mariner had given them an outlet to do just that.

The reply from the Cayuga came much faster than theirs had.

[Yes, we were attacked by the Borg, and we are now adrift,] said Ziegler's voice [We are in need of engineering crew and spare parts in order to restore propulsion. Most of our rations were compromised by a hull breach close to our cargo holds. We have taken heavy damage both from enemy fire and from sabotage done by boarding drones. Among our casualties are half of our original Senior Staff, and the Borg managed to assimilate fourty-seven of our crew.]

Feeling his face go numb, Masuda exchanged looks between the present bridge crew officers. They had heard the same thing. It was not in their imagination. Captain Ziegler had just said that the Borg were present in the Azure Nebula, well within Federation borders, and on the other side of the Alpha Quadrant from where they were expected to appear. All tactical reports suggested that a Borg invasion would come from the Delta Quadrant, not on the border to Klingon space.

The silence that filled the bridge in the wake of that news was deafening. As horrifying as the scourge of the parasites was, the Borg were a known horror. The battle of Wolf 359. The battle of Sector 001. The stuff of nightmares. Natalie felt her face pale, as she carefully set down her cup of coffee once again and swallowed. She had to school her features, and fast.

[This is the Cayuga, are you still there?] came Ziegler's voice again over the static of the EM band. Masuda found his mind having gone into alert at the mention of the Borg, and he was thinking very hard when Ziegler spoke again. [Yes, you heard me right. The Borg has been sighted and they have engaged us in battle. Captain Armstrong, are you there?]

It dawned on him then, how they might learn more. Masuda felt compelled to act. "If I may?" he asked politely, looking at Stark for a moment before transferring the comm link to his station. The Vector's captain again went with the silent confirmation, a short, crips nod of her head. "This is Tactical Officer Yukimura of the Jamestown, Captain Armstrong is already rallying the crew to your aid. Pardon the delay. We are already on an intercept course and we are preparing to beam over rations, medical supplies and engineering crews. We welcome any inventory lists of missing components that you need. The Captain wishes to meet you in person here on the Jamestown, along with your surviving Senior Staff. Since this is the Borg we are dealing with, we need know everything about the tactical situation as far as you may know. As soon as we have the information, we'll send shuttles and communication probes that will carry the warning. Time is of the essence, please verify transport readiness and meeting at 1200 hrs?]

There was another pause, in which Masuda turned to Stark. "Captain, I suggest we lift the settings on the shipwide hologrid in our briefing room next door, so that when we transport them aboard, they will be in a Nebula-class ship's conference lounge. Ensign Mariner can play the Captain, and we'll look up the others on the Jamestown. We can remain out of visual range from the Cayuga, which won't be hard in this nebula gas, and hope that our signature can be masked well enough by Ensign Cir'Cie and Master Chief O'Connell. From a tactical standpoint, we need to know more, and I can't see any other way. As for you, Captain, perhaps it is best you observe from the outside, until it is time to tell them who their saviours really are. If we do this, however, we'll miss the first rendezvous opportunity with the other Vectors."

There was no hesitation in Natalie's reply. As soon as she processed the suggestion she nodded. "Make it so, Mr. Yukimura, Ens. Cir'Cie." She so ordered, meeting first Mariner's gaze, and then Ejek's, searching for understanding even as the reply from the Cayuga came through.

[This is the Cayuga, thank you. My staff and I will be ready at 1200 hrs. Ziegler out.]

They could still leave the Cayuga behind... but that would not only risk the survival of that crew. A Borg invasion was a threat to the whole Federation. This was, essentially, a single-choice scenario.

"The Borg trump the need to make our first rendezvous. I know none of us like the idea of putting off our reunion with the rest of the ship," Natalie addressed the whole bridge now, knowing her orders would filter down to the rest of the crew in short order. "But this kind of threat must take priority." Ives and Trent would understand, she told herself. "Lets get to it people, the clock is ticking."

---

[ 1200 hrs. | Holographic Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | USS Jamestown ]

To everyone's dismay, especially a very irritated EMH Mk II that had to make hasty cosmetic prosthetics and glue them on Ensign Mariner all-too-handsome face to look like Captain Armstrong, all the preparations for the meeting were... chaotic.

Yet in the end, after some scrambling of uniforms and quick reading to catch up on the kind of ship they were supposed to be on, there were three officers from the Stallion present in the holographic conference lounge when most of the Cayuga's Senior Staff beamed in. They appeared, eight of them, in shimmering clouds of light, and Masuda Yukimura's eyes fell on them each in turn. He was silent, if winded, while he waited for Ensign Mariner - in an approximate guise of Captain Armstrong - to take the lead of the meeting. Present from their own ship were also O'Connell and a Romulan Petty Officer they hoped could play the part of a Vulcan Science Officer. She had a black wig on her head, her rare blonde hair tied up underneath the bowl-cut. There had been no time to prepare more than the three of them, and as for himself, Masuda hoped his classified commissioning on the Black Opal would cover for him.

From the Cayuga, as they'd been told in advance, came Captain Ziegler, someone named Salem Martin from Tactical - who could be related to the CSO Vivian Martin - and the Cardassian CONN Officer Mektari Dumral, who might aid in explaining where the Borg were sighted first. Also, there was a Vulcan from their sickbay, T'Panu, who could tell them what they needed in terms of medical supplies, an enigmatic Science officer named Vanya, and a dark-skinned Operations officer with a long track record in the fleet. Ekon Okotie-Eboh was his name, Masuda believed, and the Trill Chief Engineer was present too, someone named Kaylon Jeen.

Even though he had a bad feeling about how convincing they might be, Masuda still hoped that this was the best way to address the Borg threat. That they were renegade officers of the Theurgy was secondary in that regard, he thought, and he hoped that somehow, the Captains Ziegler and Stark would be able to sort it out - charade or not.

Tā bù gǎn dòngyáo shǎizi de rén yǒngyuǎn bù huì zhí chū liù gè, he thought, or as the westeners would say, 'he that is afraid to shake the dice will never throw a six.'

---

OOC: We have now moved the hands of time forward to 1200 hrs. on Day 04, where the Senior Staff on the Cayuga will transport over to the Stallion for a debriefing about the Borg encounter. This is a posting notice for everyone to post within 7 days too, since at this point, it's more or less just character introduction. I have prepared suggestions for all involved in the lists below, hoping you like the setup! :) [Show/Hide]

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Vector Three Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Atten: @Brutus, @FollowTomorrow, @StarDuster, @Triton.

There was no way this could work. 

That was the mantra that went through Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert “Billy Bob” O’Connell’s head like a malfunctioning hologram.  Simulating the interior of the USS Jamestown was one thing.  Disguising Ensign Mariner to resemble the Jamestown’s Captain Armstrong was another.  But fooling the Cayuga’s sensors at close range was something else again. 

He and Cir’Cie had gone through the basics:  Change the Stallion’s transponder code to match that of the Jamestown.  Modify Main Engineering’s power readings to match that of a Nebula class starship.  But how were they supposed to change their exterior appearance so the folks aboard the Cayuga would see a Nebula class on the main view screen?   Staying far enough away for the obscuring gas of the Azure Nebula to block a visual scan seemed like a long shot.  He could only hope that the Borg had done a number on the Cayuga’s sensor array.

O’Connell was manning the Engineering console on the battle bridge that was portside of the Conn.  Aside of controlling engineering functions from the bridge, there wasn't much he could do.    

Incredibly, the Cayuga’s commanding officer Captain Anna Ziegler, formerly the Theurgy’s executive officer Commander Ziegler before her promotion and reassignment, agreed to beam over. 

“We're beaming them over now,” Transporter Officer Ensign Vereyn Kiiz reported from the transporter room a deck below the battle bridge.

“They don’t have a weapons lock but they’re trying to scan us.” Lieutenant (junior grade) Yvette Conway reported as she stared at her console as if it would fly away if she took her eyes off it.

“Everybody hang onto yer butts,” Billy Bob grunted nervously.

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Engineering | USS Cayuga | Adrift ]

Chief Petty Officer Ekon Okotie-Eboh was tired. He had been working non-stop for the last… how long had it been? Ekon picked up his PADD and looked at the time. 40 hours. He hadn’t slept, hadn’t stopped, had hardly eaten, for the better part of two days.

If you aren’t killed or assimilated, you will live for hundreds of years, He told himself, You’ll have plenty of time to catch up on sleep later.

He tossed the PADD back on top of the console he was currently working at and raised his hands, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes in an effort to rub the fatigue away. It didn’t work. That attempt having failed, he looked up and scanned the room for Petty Officer Hoffman.

“Hoffman,” Ekon called, beckoning the PO1 over, “Keep an eye on the diagnostic readouts. Assign a team if any problems come up. We need to be sure the EPS grid will be able to handle power distribution to the rest of the ship once impulse is restored.” Once they had the full grid up and running and power restored, they could begin sealing off breached decks with containment fields and get repairs underway, as well as allocating more power to environmental and other essential systems throughout the ship. “And keep an eye on the shuttlecraft power syphons. Shuttlecraft One was showing some fluctuations earlier. We cannot afford to lose the power we are drawing from them.”

“You got it, Chief!” Hoffman nodded as she spoke, giving Ekon a tired smile. “You going to get some sleep? You look like you could use it!”

“There is no time for that. I just need to clear my head and get a hot drink before we beam over to the Jamestown.” Ekon replied as he took up the PADD again and walked out of engineering in search of a replicator that worked. As he moved down the corridor his mind once again began turning over the events of the past few days. The Borg attack had left them adrift, helpless. A large number of the crew had been assimilated or killed. They were in bad shape, but the Cayuga was still in one piece. More or less. Ekon made his way to the Chief Engineer’s office and headed for the replicator. He had foregone using the replicators since the attack in the interest of preserving energy but now, unable to remember the last time he slept and running on fumes, he needed caffeine. He ordered a double raktajino and watched as it materialized. The smell of the drink filled his nostrils as he lifted the mug, the scent of the caffeinated liquid already perking him up. He took a sip and sighed.

“How did I ever go three days without you?” Ekon muttered to the mug cupped between his hands as he  turned and left the office. He took several large mouthfuls as he made his way to the transporter room, praying the caffeine would kick in before the meeting aboard the Jamestown. They were meeting in the transporter room aboard the Cayuga so that they would all be in the same place and therefore easier for the Jamestown to get a transporter lock on. In their current state of repair they had no power to allocate to their own transporters.

As Ekon approached the transporter room he heard the familiar hiss of the doors… or door. Divided down the middle, the doors should have spread apart to open a path for him, though only one door had opened. The other remained in the closed position, blocking half of the entryway into the transporter room. Ekon stood looking at the obviously malfunctioning door for a long moment, signed, and moved through the half-door. Once inside he placed his empty mug on top of the unpowered transporter console and raised his PADD to make a note about the transporter room door, pushing it to the Ops department “pending work order” queue.

One more for the pile… Ekon thought to himself. He imagined he could hear PO Hoffman cursing violently as the new addition to the work order queue pinged on the her PADD. The thought brought a tired smile to Ekon’s face as he joined the group of officers on the transporter pad, feeling slightly out of place being the only NCO in the party. Ekon clasped his hands behind his back and waited to be transported to the Jamestown.

---

[ 1200 hrs. | Conference Lounge | Deck 1 | USS Jamestown ]

Chief Okotie-Eboh and the rest of the delegation from the USS Cayuga materialized in the conference lounge of the USS Jamestown. Before them stood three of the Jamestown’s officers. Two were Humans, the Jamestown’s Captain and a Lieutenant, and the third was a Vulcan science officer. The Nebula Class ship’s conference lounge seemed somewhat crowded with the 10 Starfleet personnel now occupying it. Chief Okotie-Eboh took a step towards the side of the room, opting to stand against the wall rather than sit in a chair for fear of falling asleep if he became too comfortable. The thought of sleep only reminded him of just how tired he really was.

There is not enough raktajino in the galaxy to make me feel awake right now… He thought to himself as he waited for the two Captains to begin introductions and get this debriefing started. He glanced around the conference room which was clean, intact and fully powered. It made a stark contrast to the state the Cayuga was currently in. Hopefully the crew of the Jamestown would be able to help them in that area. He turned his attention back to the three Jamestown officers before them as the meeting got underway, ready to provide any information on the state of the Cayuga’s Operations department or repair requirements that Captain Ziegler might need.

[ Lt. Cmdr. Zelosa Ejek | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | U.S.S. Theurgy]

“The Borg?” She did not speak, she mouthed the words to herself. The Borg. Out here? “That can’t be right,” She spoke with more confidence, “They can’t be out here without someone having noticed. There should have been reports.” Unless, of course, she’d missed the reports in her three missing years. Still, this makes no sense. That’d mean that the Borg would have had to come all the way from the Delta quadrant and not a single Federation or private ship, colony, or beacon noticed. Her mind tried to calculate a way this may have happened and failed to come up with a logical explanation, given that the Borg and Federation still operate the way they did when she left.

She had to leave the topic alone. Masuda was speaking to the Cayuga, and he had a clever idea. Ejek and Natalie were of one mind. This was the best way to eliminate her doubts. Mainly, that by suggesting the Borg attacked out here, task force Archeron forced the Theurgy into responding. Even still, she could see holes in that plot…

---

1200 Hours, still on the bridge...

The Cardassian had re-adjusted her sitting position only once, and spoken very little. She was pensive. There were too many missing ends. Something wasn’t adding up. She wanted to say this was a trap, but if Archeron believed them to be traitors, then why would they even bother trying to lure out the Theurgy by pulling on their Federation ideals? Perhaps they knew that the Theurgy would play the big dumb hero, but why would they choose Borg as their ‘attacker’ when there are so many other sensible enemies that actually lived way out here in the Azure nebula?

As if to seek for clues, she continually pondered over the listing of officers that came aboard. Trill, Vulcan, Human...the standard array of Federation races, with a Cardassian mixed in. Perhaps a ruse specifically engineered to pique Ejek’s interest? But the task force wouldn’t know much about Ejek, except that she was cunning. One human seemed to be related to Vivian Martin, but Martin wasn’t even  here to be piqued, so why would that be included? Was it really pure coincidence, of all ships in the world to run into, it was this one?

Again and again, she kept coming to the same conclusion. There were just too many pieces missing. Her folded hands tensed over one another, but just subtly. All she could do was watch.

If only someone could just...slip up. Tell a lie too obvious. Nervously stutter. Anything at all to help her conclude that they should leave...

[ Mairsa of House Hi'Jak | "Guest Quarters" | USS Cayuga ] attn: anyone on the Cayuga?
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A bead of sweat worked it’s way down Mairsa’s forehead, sliding over her ridges and down her nose. It fell off as she let out a grunt, heaving herself up toward the ceiling once more. She had removed one of the panels of the “guest quarters” ceiling and was using one of the support beams as a pull up bar. As she pulled her face up to the bar she pressed her lips against it and then lowered herself nice and slow. And then she lifted herself again, doing it slowly and purposefully.

In the past several days she had hardly ever left her “guest quarters” for any reason beyond the urge to run. Instead she had taken it upon herself to modify them to suit her needs, even if that did upset the more ridged Starfleet crew. On a Kingon ship such practices were common and their ships were built to take the abuse. The Federation built their ships with thick outer skin and such thin soft insides.

Like many things on the ship it was annoying. She had long since removed the mattress from the bunk and replaced it with nothing more than a wool blanket, the closest thing they had to a true fur pelt. She would have gone into the wilds and hunted her own just to have it, but that was well and truly not an option. And it left her beyond frustrated.

She felt like a beast in a gilded cage on this ship. Surrounded by decadence and comfort, yet in need of heat and more than a lethargic lifestyle. She had to stay active. She would not allow herself to be as sedated as the crew of this dead ship was.

The Romulan android swore as a small tendril lashed out at her from the molten console.   While the engineering team prioritised key systems, Vanya had taken it upon herself to help with repairs to sensors and other scientific equipment, which would be equally important if there really were any Borg out there, not to mention other anomalies and threats to the crew safety   Sadly, the equipment was mostly damaged beyond even her ability to repair.  

So when her communicator chirrped, she got quite a surprise   “Bridge to Lieutenant Vanya.”

She tapped her badge, her flesh still smarting from the electrical charge.  

“Captain wants you to go over to the Jamestown.   We need to fly the flag for the Cayuga.”      

[ 1200 hrs. | Conference Lounge | Deck 1 | USS Jamestown ]

Vanya tried to ignore every negative permeation in her mind.   While it was true that she was starting to acclimatise to the crew, meeting new Starfleet officers always made her mildly nervous.   She imagined a thousand possibilities – being killed on site, being arrested and confined to quarters, being disassembled in the chief engineer’s lab.  

All of these were minor possibilities though.   Her rights in the Federation were law, and while many probably wanted to see her in some catalogue somewhere, she was an officer.   Instead she took a moment to focus on the now.  

The ship had been saved – just – and they had a chance to get home.   Vanya decided to take advantage of that and waited to see what she could contribute

Lt Kaylon Jeen|1150 hrs | Main Engineering| USS Cayuga

Looking down at the PADD in his hand, marking off the various supplies that they needed to replicate, what they could handle, what they couldn't, and which systems he thought a ship like the Jamestown would be able to assist with, he prepared his reports for the meeting that was taking place in just a few minutes.   There were at least two key systems that were at a critical stage in the repair work.  Looking up, he spoke to the assembled temporary team leads in his recently decimated department.

"I'm pretty sure I'll be calling in for an updated status report on the repairs, so have somebody standing by ready to respond.  Where are we on getting main sensors back online?"

"At least two days away, sir" came the reply, "possibly three, depending on how much help we can get from the Jamestown."

"Weapons?" 

"Don't ask." came a grumbled reply.

"Well I am asking." he said, knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"The main phaser coils are fused, the power grid is fried, and the photorp launchers look like a bunch of Ferengi scavengers just got finished with them.  Not surprisingly, the Borg hit us pretty hard there"

Kaylon was right, the answer was one he didn't like. 

"If the Borg come back, we'll definitely have our hands full.  I'm sure the captain will want that made a priority once we have life support stabilized and the main power grid back online..  Get a extra team down there working to try and at least to clean up the mess.  Start pulling out those fused control systems.  If you can get any of the replicators to spit out some extra parts, do it.  Now I need to get to the transporter room.  You have you assignments.  Dismissed."

The group broke and headed for their duty stations.  Kaylon picked up another pad, tucked them both under his arm and headed for the transporter room.   "I'd love to be able to beam back under our own system, instead of relying on the Jamestown, but all things being equal, I'd also love to be on Risa."




Lt. Kaylon Jeen| 1200 hrs. | Conference Lounge | Deck 1 | USS "Jamestown"

After materializing in the Conference Lounge of the USS Jamestown, Kaylon smiled easily and waited for his captain to make the introductions.  Hopefully this wouldn't last too long and he could get back to bringing the Cayuga back from the brink of death.

[ Chief Medical Officer T'Panu | Sickbay | USS Cayuga ] @Arista

T'Panu was sitting, thinking about everything going on when she had remembered what happened earlier.

She was on break when she decided she could use some raktajino. Truthfully, she never used to like the stuff but had grown accustomed to it. Days like today, it was the only thing helping her through the double shifts. She had brought her PADD with her, planning what the next course of action would be during the next attack. She hated thinking that way, but it was inevitable. They wouldn't leave the Borg floating in the middle of the Azure Nebula unbeknownst to the rest of Starfleet without putting up a fight.

Maybe if I re-calibrate the medical tricorders they can work faster and more efficiently, so I can help more people. I can't forget to optimize the battlefield trauma kits and have them at the ready, she thought.

T'Panu grabbed her raktajino, and started heading out of the lounge. Looking down at her padd deep in thought, she hadn't realized Captain Ziegler was right in front of her, when she walked right into her! T''Panu spilled her raktajino all over both of them, almost dropped her padd, and narrowly missed tripping over herself! Startled, Anya turned around, ready to start swearing, when she realized it was T'Panu and thought how much of a mess she looked like.

When T'Panu apologized and explained she hadn't had much sleep as of late, Captain Ziegler agreed and stated that no one had. Truth was, everyone was scared of what was about to happen next.

"Is it true the USS Jamestown is coming to our aid? And why are they this far off course?" T'Panu asked.

"I have no idea why they're out here, but if it's truly them, we will find out shortly," Captain Ziegler replied.

T'Panu had so many questions, but couldn't bring any to mind to inquire about. Instead she simply stated, "I will do my best to keep this crew safe." Captain Ziegler nodded in agreement, turned, and walked back to the bridge.

T'Panu walked back to sickbay, relieved that neither of them were injured. She decided it wasn't worth another accident to obtain a second raktajino, and had to make do without one.

T'Panu was thinking about how nice it would be to have a drink in hand, laying on a beach somewhere warm. Not a care in the world, and certainly no threat from the Borg. She decided to focus all of her efforts on what they were lacking in supplies, rather than optimizing equipment at this point. She began a list of supplies that could be beamed over from the USS Jamestown.

T'Panu's List of Supreme Measures: ... she crossed that out. She didn't wish to be seen as the ships biggest weirdo in the midst of everything. T'Panu's List of ... she crossed that out again. She was trying to make light of the current situation, but instead, was potentially making herself out to be a moron.

Medical Supply List:
20 Medical Tricorders
10 Dermal Regenerators
65 Hyposprays
3 Isotropic Restraints
2 Subdermal Bioprobes
1 Tissue Mitigator
5 Neural Interfaces

T'Panu thought that was about all they needed for now, and resumed thinking about their game plan. She was worried not only about bandaging everyone back up, but also about how to stop the Borg from assimilating everyone on the crew. She had a working theory that she could separate the mechanic parts that threatened to attach to people's brains and bodies by using a Neural Interface paired with disconnecting the synapses from the Borg machinery.  This would be a tricky procedure. On one hand, she could potentially stop the Borg from assimilating her crewmates. On the other hand, if she made even the smallest mistake, she could potentially fry their brains. "Better than being assimilated," she thought. She would need to re-calibrate her neurocortical probe to  decrease the quantum fluctuations. One tiny bump, one tiny explosion on the ship, could decrease her chances of this being successful. And the chances of an explosion on the ship during a Borg invasion were pretty high. Maybe I could temporarily disrupt the assimilated crew's brains so we are able to safely transport them to safety with us? This was just a theory, and she knew she would need to do a lot of testing before it was ready.

If only they had a spare Borg part lying around to test her theory...she knew another Borg strike was inevitable, and hoped they could blow them out of the sky before it came anywhere close to that point.

[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner & CAPT Armstrong Williams] | Battle Bridge | Vector 3 | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]@Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow@Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @Fife @Absinthe @Brutus

"Glad you resisted, Cayuga. Stand by." Jimmy calmed down when the tactical officer Yukimura assumed command of the situation. Once that time purchase had been made, things were on track again. Mariner knew what he signed up for when he took the initiative, so it was only mandatory he make arrangements for security. "Sirs, regarding security," Jimmy dropped his suave american-provincial impersonation, "If I may suggest something? Would Ensign Six take my post for the time being. She might come in handy."

Later, Jimmy was seeing to a holofilter and preparing for his big debut as a Nebula-class captain. Jimmy would apologize for any deception at a later time but right now wearing the slightly-larger sized Command uniform issued to him by Lt Yukimura was a tough memory to forget: His 'first' captaincy, at this point, he hoped it wouldn't be his last.

The photonic generator was doing its bit but the uniform and captain's brass tacks were real enough. "My-fayshe hurt-zh" <My face hurts.>, Jimmy said through gritted teeth at the photonic life form tending to him. Smiles were a time-honored practice and fake ones didn't seem to feel right. Nonetheless, Jimmy's acting abilities had to be put to the test.  "Just be sure to get every detail right in that holofilter." Jimmy spoke as if he actually were a Captain, to get into character. "I'd hate to have even the slightest flaw give us away in there." Jimmy cleared his throat as he focused on his voice, "Make it so."

While Armstrong Williams had a bit of an older face, and may have been a bit different-shaped than his own but it reflected his exxagerated expressions as he tested out his array facial impersonation. Being the son of a documentarian called for just a faint sense of showmanship experience; came in handy on Earth's pubs. Oh be still my heart for days gone by. Parasites, Klingons and Borg, Oh my. Jimmy tuned out his his thoughts as Mariner before maintaining a default expression as...


["CAPT" Armstrong Williams | 1200 hrs. | "Conference Lounge" | Deck 1 | "USS Jamestown" ]
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Fortunately, the Jamestown CO got into the mind of that morning's cold run impersonating holo-novel actor Clint Eastwood to prepare for tough talk with a confident tone and just a degree of warm hospitality; any doubts he had on this hastily-enabled plan evaporated moments before his arrival in the lounge. "I'm Captain Armstrong Williams, This is my Tactical Officer Yukimora and my Science officer T'vin" he spoke with the mannerisms of Benjamin Maxwell, a Nebula captain whom Jimmy's father had interviewed years before. Armstrong came off as a welcoming mayor of an ancient west mayor or sheriff greeting a new family.

"On behalf of the officers and crew of the Jamestown, welcome aboard. The Replicator's working well enough if you need a Raktajino or Coffee." Despite his pleasant initial demeanor, The Jamestown CO didn't shake hands and listened in on their reports when Ziegler and her staff reported, taking a seat at the head of the conference table to begin the debrief. He turned into an all-business senior officer once formalities had been made, focusing on each speaker, particularly Capt Ziegler.

"I was at 0-0-1 when the Borg returned.  I tell ya, it's tough enough to take down one of those vessels down in a fleet. We're not exactly in Kansas anymore, and we lost contact with Starbase 84 days ago. But at least we've got each other. Fortunately, we've also got some of the best science, engineering and conn minds in the service, with some elite security personnel to assist you however possible. So, what's the situation here, Captain Ziegler?"

[ Captain Anya Ziegler (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Anya_Ziegler) | Transporter room | USS Cayuga ] Attn: @Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @alphawiz @Fife @Auctor Lucan @Triton @Brutus @FollowTomorrow  , Anyone else 
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In the cool, bright transporter room, Ziegler watched her new senior staff assemble. So many experienced hands had been lost. The officers she had chosen to promote had all managed to prove themselves in the last few days, if not before, but it still felt so fresh. In truth it was fresh, not much time had passed. Time was what Ziegler needed to heal. Time and the ability to get the ship to Risa.

“Best behaviour everyone.” She announced to break the tension. At least for herself. “Put on your nicest smile and let’s see if we can get a tow home.”

Anya wanted to check herself in the mirror one last time. She didn’t want to be a mess in front of another captain, let alone another crew. It was important to resist the urge however, otherwise they’d never leave. She had her shower this morning, which had refreshed her and put her little world in order. Obviously, she must have had some premonition in the night that today would be an important day. Today would be the day they might leave the Azure Nebula.

Captain Ziegler sighed a long breath out through her nose and squared her shoulders, clasping her hands behind her back. She stood at ease. It was time.

“Captain Ziegler to Jamestown, Eight to beam across. Energise.” She commanded.

---

[ Captain Anya Ziegler (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Anya_Ziegler) | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | USS Jamestown ]
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The lounge of the nebula class vessel was slightly more dated than that of Cayuga. Not that it really mattered, but it was still something to give Anya a little pride. When the tell-tale sound of the transporter finally died down, Ziegler stood, statuesque, taking in and analysing those in front of him. Honestly, for a ship much larger than the Iroquois-class, she had expected Captain Williams to put on more of a show in terms of staffing. It seemed that the conference table was going to be very one sided.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Captain.” She said with a warm smile. “However, I will refrain until I can share fully functional replicators with my whole crew. I’m sure you understand.”

Ziegler couldn’t stand the idea that while she was indulging in tea and biscuits, across a small expanse of nebulae, her crew were still mostly forced to slum it on emergency rations. The very idea made her skin crawl. She wouldn’t however, object to those under her who chose to partake.

“May I introduce my team?” Instead of welling on the polite decline, Anya turned, bringing out a hand to indicate to various crewmembers as she next spoke. “Lieutenants Vanya and Jeen. Respective chiefs of Science and Engineering.”

“Dr T’Panu, our Chief Medical Officer. Lieutenant Martin and Ensign Dumral, acting Chief Tactical and CONN.” It was short and sharp, her introductions. Enough for Captain Williams to understand their purpose here on the Jamestown. She wished she could have bring Anders with her, but the XO needed to take command while she was away. “Finally, my Chief Counselor, Lieutenant Williams and Chief Okotie-Eboh, Operations.”

Looking across the large curved table that stretched through the middle of the room, Ziegler made her way around to the longest side and sat in the middle, this would allow her staff to sit alongside, flanking both her sides if they chose to do so. She didn’t want to tell the story. She never wanted to tell the story. Inside there was a small part of Anya that wanted to curl up into a little ball and never see light again. That part of her, Ziegler knew, was never going to get their way. The story would be told, now, and in at least one de-brief with Starfleet Command. Outwardly, Ziegler tried to maintain her cool, calm demeanour. Inside, she felt her stomach knot as she opened her mouth.

“Our mission was to explore, scan and catalogue various areas of the Azure Nebula in a further part of Starfleet Science’s mission to better understand the region.” Turning to her android officer, Anya pointed towards an idle LCARs display on the wall. “Vanya, our course if you would?”

“We were nearing the end of our second pass when they were upon us. A single Borg cube.” Ziegler paused unintendedly. She could still hear the voice echoing over the ship. “In this soup, sensors, shields, and communications aren’t worth much, so I took the decision to run. We needed to inform Starfleet. Cayuga is one of the fastest ships in the fleet and even we couldn’t outrun them.  In the end our only option was to hide. We turned face, let loose all we could before trying to find cover in a particularly dense section of the nebula.”

It wasn’t a proud tactic. Ziegler had known it at the time. It wasn’t designed for pride, it was there for survival, and that’s what it allowed.

“The damage from their attack was sufficient to allow the Borg to beam drones aboard. They began the assimilation of our crew and major subsystems. We fought back, eventually defeating them, but it came with a major price. We had lost over a third of our crew and the sabotage against our systems was critical. Somehow, we had lost the cube, but the Cayuga was set adrift. I sent out a distress call and the crew set about repairs.”

Anya paused with a quiet, haunted tone. After a few seconds she turned back to Captain Williams. She needed to stay in control. For the Cayuga. For the crew. For herself.

“That brings us to now. Lieutenant Jeen and the others in my staff will be able to give more insight into exactly what we need to get Cayuga underway.”

There was one thing that was weighing on her mind, only a little more than that the list of KIA XO West had been putting together, and as such, Ziegler chose her next words carefully.

“Captain, if I may, we were told before our mission that we were the only Starship assigned to the nebula. Not that we don’t appreciate the assist, but what is Jamestown doing out here?”

[Acting Chief CONN Officer Dumral (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Mektari_Dumral)|Transporter Room | USS Cayuga]
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It was all so surreal. No too long ago she was sitting at her station, calmly staring at the blue haze of the nebula, simply waiting for her shift to end so she could return to the comforts of her quarters. And now....now a devastating number of the crewmen were gone, the Cayuga adrift and most surprising of all, she was in command of the CONN. It had all happened so fast that she hadn’t had time to let it all settle in. They went from fighting the Borg straight into repairs and Mektari didn’t rest until they had a plan in place. With so few engineers, any crew member under her that was capable of even holding a hyperspanner was sent to Lieutenant Jeen to offer any help they could.

 Mektari remained on the bridge as much as she could, fixing her console and awaiting the next move. It seemed like it would never come until, seemingly out of nowhere, there as an actual response to the distress signal. She kept her emotions of pure elation under control, instead simply preparing herself mentally as she was chosen to accompany her captain to the Jamestown.

[Acting Chief CONN Officer Dumral (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Mektari_Dumral)|Conference Lounge | Deck 1 | USS Jamestown]

She wished she was looking better for her first time representing a Starfleet vessel. There had been little sleep, less food and a lot of stress in this trying time. She could feel her uniform was a bit baggy from lost weight and scales on her face and neck had darkened as they often did when she was pushing herself hard. But at least she made herself as presentable as possible and did as the captain said, a bright smile lighting her face despite the circumstances as they beamed into the conference room. Hands folded neatly behind her back as she gave a deep nod of greeting at the quick introduction.

Following suit, she didn’t partake of the replicator and instead settled into a seat to her captain’s left as the proceedings began. Even hearing the brief synopsis of their harrowing experience sent a shiver down her spine, but true to form she kept her usual ‘poker face’ until she saw a moment when Captain Ziegler called upon her crew to relay more of the issues with the ship.

“As far as propulsion goes, things are pretty grim. We have power, but we’re only at ten percent  if we’re lucky. It’s not enough to even try to trudge through the nebula and limp back to a space station, much less keep us safe from another possible Borg attack.”

Then Captain Ziegler asked about the reason the Jamestown was here. She was right, there were no other ships in this section. She personally hadn’t even thought of that, it was a good catch. She turned her attention to Captain Williams, interested to see just what his response would be.

[ Lt JG, Salem Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Salem_Martin) | 1200 hrs. | "Conference Lounge" | Deck 1 | "USS Jamestown" ]
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Salem yawned, he was probably on his third of fourth cup of coffee for the day. He had been prepping himself for the meeting since they had first seen the Nebula class starships he had been reading up on their classification, their strengths and usual weapons. His readings had given him the basics, the construction dates, the usual armaments though he was fully intending to ask about the Jamestown during the meeting. He didn't have too much to go off on the Jamestown it's self, but he could get the basic blue prints of a nebula class ship from the Federation archives. If they were going into battle alongside someone else then he wanted to know everything there was to the allied vessel.

He took a sip of his coffee before arriving at the meeting and looking around for his chair. Choosing the one next to  Ekon he looked at the Cheif Petty Officer for a moment, and smiled. "You should try coffee, black. It has a stronger sting to it."

In truth though he had never really gone for the Klingon coffee substitute. While the Martin's weren't exactly from earth, they were colonists raised, and for those familiar with his smarter, more talented and scientific sister the two were gender bent reflections of one another both sharing the same hair and eye color, as well as their strong jaw. Salem crinkled his brow slightly as he looked at his pad still trying to learn all he could about the Nebula class star ships.

Hearing Captain Williams talk about the attack on sector 0-0-1, he shrugged slightly. Wolf 359 was slightly before his time, and 0-0-1 was during his time as a prisoner of war in the Cardassian union.  "I had never seen a Borg Cube before, that thing was the stuff of nightmares. It's weapons capabilities are omnidirectional, it's favored tactics of using a tractor beam to hold an enemy in place while cutting it apart piece by piece. It's the kind of thing you read about, but until you see it."

He shook his head for a moment, and went back to drinking his coffee. As the captian introduced them and then went over to a different tab on his pad. Looking over the list of the needs of the Cayuga for a moment as he looked over all the fire power they had expended during the encounter with the Borg.

He knew he had to least to Durmal, but oh gods did he want to drown out that woman with anything else.

"Tactically the Cayuga is in a bit of a tight spot. After our attack we used nearly half of our complement of torpedoes, and with the limited amount of power we have it would be unwise to use any of our phaser arrays. I've managed to oversee the refit of two tri-cobolt torpedoes, but we are currently at a quarter of our possible firing power, though we did manage to clear both of our aft torpedo launchers as of this morning."

[Ensign Six | Forensics Lab/Six's Alcove | Deck 17 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Triton etc.
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There it was again. Ensign Six awoke to the whispers in her head. And this time, Ensign Six realized what it was. It was so faint, it was practically a millimeter of a whisper. It probably meant they were far away. But the fact that she could hear them meant one thing:

The Borg was in the Alpha Quadrant. In fact, they may easily enough be in the Azure Nebula. Where, she did not pinpoint, and frankly, she did not want to know.

Six awoke from her regeneration cycle and studied her room from her alcove. It wasn’t so much quarters as it doubled as her forensics lab. She had done it on her first night on the Theurgy. She found an empty space on Deck 17, where all the rest of the labs on the vector are, and converted it into a forensics lab. She also set up her alcove there, and has since used it as her quarters. Ensuring her isolation meant there would be nobody around to be bothered by her being an ex-drone. She had feelings like that before back at Starbase 84, but on the Theurgy, there’s an increased likelihood, given how the crew had assumptions she, and any newcomer, would regard them still as traitors.

Six shook her head. She went to her private computer, also invaluable to her hacking skills should the occasion arise, and tried to pull up something to get her mind of those whispers in her head, and what came up was a schematic of a transmitter. She remembered what it was at once. She had designed the schematics after getting the full details of why the Theurgy was on the run. The real reason. After giving it some thought, she put two and two together; she remembered Starbase 84, and what it used to hold. Why else did the Theurgy go to all this trouble to get to a starbase with a broadcasting system?

The design of the array she made was based upon an interplexing beacon, like what the Borg used. Instead of transmitting to nearby Borg, the array she had in mind was designed to send out signals to Federation broadcast waves like Starbase 84’s whistleblower system did, and to ensure the broadcast would keep going, the warning about the parasites would be contained in a nonlethal virus from the array, designed to keep going until everybody in the Federation got the message, and with enough algorithms to keep even an experienced hacker from stopping the virus.

She called it the Revelation Array.

There were a few problems that kept these schematics from leaving the drawing board, as a human would say. First, the power source. It wouldn’t need a deflector dish to power it, but it would require a huge energy source to do it, like a warp core, and the Theurgy needed that warp core. Secondly, the materials. The Theurgy needed all the materials it could to sustain it. Needless to say, unless they came across a derelict starship with a functioning warp core, there was no way for this to become a reality.

Six had been surprised to think of it, given she was no engineer, but she knew how an interplexing beacon worked. She knew how to make one. She would, given what she used to be; every Borg drone had one. She had been intending to show the schematics to one of the Theurgy’s superiors, even Captain Ives, but the captain is gone, the ship split in three vectors, and besides, there wouldn’t be the time to discuss making this thing. Once they had time to breathe, she’d propose the schematics.

She had just had a moment to think when her combadge chirped.

“Ensign Six, report to the Battle Bridge.”

She deactivated her computer and departed. She’ll know when it’s the right time to make the proposal for the Revelation Array. For now, duty called, and duty came before ideas.

Lt Kaylon Jeen| 1200 hrs | Conference Room | "USS Jamestown"

[ Lt JG, Salem Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Salem_Martin) | 1200 hrs. | "Conference Lounge" | Deck 1 | "USS Jamestown" ]
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(https://orig00.deviantart.net/c88c/f/2018/050/2/2/salemmartin_by_auctor_lucan-dc3ng4p.gif)

"Tactically the Cayuga is in a bit of a tight spot. After our attack we used nearly half of our complement of torpedoes, and with the limited amount of power we have it would be unwise to use any of our phaser arrays. I've managed to oversee the refit of two tri-cobolt torpedoes, but we are currently at a quarter of our possible firing power, though we did manage to clear both of our aft torpedo launchers as of this morning."

Kaylon listened to Salem from his seat on the other side of the captain. "It will be at least a day before any of the photon launchers are operational, and most of the phasers are still down as well." he said, holding up his PADD. "I've got crews working on both systems around the clock.  Our current priority in Engineering is keeping Life Support running and trying to get propulsion back online.  With our decreased manpower, we're looking at another two days before main sensors are back in operation.  Auxiliary power is being kept going by running umbilicals from the shuttles in the hangar bay.  What shields we've got are stabilized by more jury rigging than I care to admit."

Inwardly, Kaylon sighed.  In two centuries he hadn't been in any situation that seemed this hopeless.  His usual joviality, while not gone, was noticeably dampened.  The fate of the Cayuga rested on whatever help they could get from the crew of the Jamestown. 

"If the replicator in my office goes offline, I'm afraid most of the crew in Engineering will die of caffeine withdrawal."

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Conference Lounge | Deck 1 | USS Jamestown ]

Ekon could feel himself sway from fatigue and decided to take a seat as the debriefing got underway. He glanced at Lt. JG Martin and gave him a tired smile as the acting Chief Tactical Officer recommended he switch to black coffee.

At this point it would probably take caffeine pills to make any difference… Ekon thought to himself before turning his attention to the reports that were being given. The tone of each report resonated with the same facts. They were in bad shape. They Cayuga was holding together, but only just. They needed whatever help the Jamestown could offer. Ekon wished his own report could offer a more positive outlook, but there was no way to sugar coat their present condition.

”Most of the surviving Operations staff have been assigned to help Engineering with Life Support, Shields and getting Propulsion back online. We’ve been making do with crewmen from other departments performing less critical maintenance and repairs around the ship.” Ekon reported, knowing that this report would do nothing to improve the outlook of their situation. ”The few Operations staff that aren’t assigned to Engineering have been working on ensuring the EPS grid will be fully functional when we get Propulsion back online, as well as repairing the field emitters so that once power is restored we can start sealing the breached decks to get repairs underway in those areas as well.”

[Lt. Rhys Williams| Transporter Room|USS Cayuga]Attn: @Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @alphawiz @Fife @Auctor Lucan @Triton @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Arista  , Anyone else 

Rhys took his place on the transporter pad among the rest of the senior staff. The idea of being one of the Senior staff was still staggering to him, in some ways he felt like a fraud. It was a ridiculous notion, he had earned his position just like anyone else. However, he always had the feeling at the back of his mind that one day an order would come in from Starfleet command saying that it had all been a mistake a computer error.

He looked around the other members of the senior staff and kicked himself for entertaining such ludicrous thoughts. Many of those around him had been promoted much more suddenly, given a genuine baptism of fire. They had been doing all they could to get the Cayuga somewhere close to operating. Rhys did not need to be well trained Counselor to see that it had taken its toll on the crew. In many ways there was only so much that he could do to help in that regard. Fortunately the Jamestown seemed to have arrived at the perfect time. The flagging and battered crew had had their mood greatly improved by the news, Rhys could only hope it lasted.

The Captain understandably looked tense, but in the time he had spent aboard she had always struck him as the sought of person who thrived under pressure. That was natural for someone who had reached the rank of Captain. She even tried to lighten the mood with a little joke. Rhys offered her a tired but warm smile. “Yes Ma’m.”

[Lt Rhys Williams| Conference Lounge| Deck 01| USS Jamestown]

Rhys found himself in the rather old fashioned Conference room of a Nebula class starship. He had vague memories of assembling a small model of one as a child, with his mother. There it was again, that creeping dread the feeling that he was somehow calling the borg down upon them. He squared his jaw and resisted the urge to straighten several objects he saw on the table in the conference lounge, and to count under his breath. His hands were clasped behind his back the knuckles going white for a moment as he fought the delusion and the compulsion.

He took a deep breath for a moment and watched the staff of the Jamestown as his Captain talked. It was strange there were so few of them. He had expected to see more of the senior staff. It was also interesting that Captain Williams did not offer his hand to anyone, it seemed awkward. However, Rhys had to concede he knew nothing about Captain Williams, perhaps this was simply his way.

When Rhys heard his name mentioned he politely nodded and smiled at Captain Williams, and along with the rest of the senior staff found a seat. Rhys sat as near the end as possible so as not to be in the way. In truth he felt he had little to contribute to the meeting. He had spent a short period of time as an Operations officer aboard the USS Merica, before discovering his true calling as a Counselor. So he understood many of the technical problems, but not to the extent of the other senior staff. Dr. T’Pnau was in charge of medical matters, and it was Captain Ziegler’s job to debrief the other ship’s staff.

So Rhys did what he always did, sat quietly and carefully watched both the other crew and the senior staff. As Captain Ziegler, began recounting what had occurred he had the sense that many of the senior staff were relieving the awful moments. He was to. He had not fired a phaser in years, and suddenly he and indeed everyone else was having to. The Borg had emerged, like monsters from ancient myth from the darkest recess of his nightmares. It had been a struggle not to fall back into his old ways, the feeling that somehow he was responsible for them being there. This was impossible of course, a delusion but just when his mother had died the feeling was there gnawing at the back of his mind. That a single stray thought of his might have bought them down upon his ship… his friends.

His mother had died at the battle of Wolf-359, the young Rhys had blamed himself, even though he had not been there and could not possibly have caused anything. He now realised that children have a self centered view of the world and it was common for them to blame themselves, for divorces and deaths and all manner of things out of their scope. These feelings had been with Rhys all his life from this point, and even though he knew they were delusions they still sometimes threatened to push to the surface. The attack by the Borg had nearly broken him again.

Rhys listened carefully to his Captain, he could hear it in her voice, the stress, the trauma of all those lives. Being a Captain in many ways forced one to be self centered. The ship and the crew’s lives were your responsibility, and it was all to easy to feel that anything bad that happened was your fault. Rhys made a mental note to have a private chat with her when he next had a chance. He really wanted to help her and the rest of the crew, however the Cayuga’s fate was really in the hands of the crew of the Jamestown.

Rhys paused for a few moments before deciding to speak. “The crew of the Cayuga, is also desperately in need of rest at the moment. They are a strong group, but they have been through a lot so any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.” His Welsh accent gave the words lyrical and resonant quality, but there was also a strain to his word that indicated his own tiredness.

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Holographic Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | USS Jamestown ] ]

In order to calm his nerves, Masuda utilised a deep breathing technique taught by his old Master when he'd was first taught Shaolin Kung Fu. There were a lot of officers in the room, all likely thinking that the Theurgy was the worst traitors in Starfleet history. Masuda might not have been aboard when they fled Earth, and the greatest number of starships fell victim to the protection of truth, but he'd been there at Starbase 84, when the Orcus was all but destroyed, and the Chester was crippled. When their erstwhile allies, the Asurians, had wrought havoc in the lines of Task Force Archeron. Moreover, these officers didn't care when he'd come aboard. In their eyes, he would be likely just as guilty as those who'd been aboard since last November.

Quietly, he watched and listened when Captain Ziegler spoke, asking the Chief Science Officer to light up the LCARS panel on the wall to show the Cayuga's plotted course. Despite his breathing technique, Masuda suddenly wasn't so sure what version of LCARS would be there for the - the Android? - and hoped she wouldn't try to access anything beyond any upload of information that she carried...

His eyes remained on the figure by he LCARS display while he listened to Ziegler admit to finding cover instead of trying to leave the Nebula and get the word out. He could empathise with the Captain's call, to save her crew. Survival over the greater good, for her and her remaining officers. The Cayuga had made it, but suffered catastrophic damage. The Cardassian CONN Officer illustrated this lack of power quite well, saying they were at ten percent and barely able to keep the ship powered up. Masuda's counterpart - Salem Martin - detailed the loss of ordinance, but the chance to utilise two tri-cobalt warheads. The Trill, Jeen, and the dark-skinned man from Operations amended that the issues remained with all their weaponry being without power. Two days before main sensors were operational? By then, the Cayuga would see through the deception....

When the counselor suggested that the crew needed rest, it dawned on Masuda that they would request coming aboard the Jamestown in larger numbers. This realisation made him turn his head towards Mariner, disguised as the Jamestown's Captain. He almost wanted to shake his head, but stopped himself, not wishing to give any visual indication about the hazard to make such promises too quickly. As it were, the Borg threat was their top priority, despite how much they might wish to help the crew of the Cayuga.

The largest concern, however, was how Ziegler had just enquired to know what the Jamestown was doing in the Azure Nebula. She had directed herself to 'Captain Armstrong Williams', but since Mariner has been too busy with the prostethics and holo-filters to look the part, it was Masuda who had that answer in mind. So, he cleared his throat and spoke up.

"We have been drafted for Task Force Archeron," he said in his quiet voice, looking towards Ziegler with a small frown, which would be quite apt for the lie chosen. "It has entered the Azure Nebula in pursuit of the Theurgy, which was last seen at Starbase 84 before escaping into the nebula. We have yet to rendevouz with the Archeron, so we have next to no intel what actually happened at the starbase. We broke off from our course when we happened upon your distress call."

In order to deflect further attention upon this deception, Masuda wished to transfer attention to something else, and the presence of Petty Officer Lillee t'Jellaieu - pretending to be T'Vin - offered an opportunity. "Commander T'Vin. In your experience with the Borg, do you have suggestions on how they might be here, in the Azure Nebula? The logs from the Voyager has always suggested that an invading force would come from the Delta Quadrant."

Too late, Masuda realised he had put the CONN officer in a tight spot, but perhaps Vanya - the Cayuga's Science Officer - could chime in or make suggestions based on the plotted course on the LCARS display? He took a deep breath, and turned towards the officers by the name Eboh and Jeen, the other matter being the repairs of the Cayuga herself. "How many engineers and operations personnel would you say you need to borrow in order to get the Cayuga self-sustainable and leave the nebula?"

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OOC: Posting order 1) @alphawiz, @Fife, @Griff & @Veridian (in no particular order) 2) All the rest, with a 7 day response time starting once Veridian has posted. This means @Arista, @Masorin, @Gadget, @lisavw, @Juzzie, @Brutus , @FollowTomorrow , @Doc M., @StarDuster

Lt Kaylon Jeen | Conference Room | "USS Jamestown"|Attn:  @Fife @Griff @Veridian @Juzzie, @Auctor Lucan , others

So the Jamestown was part of Task Force Archeron and they were going after the USS Theurgy.  Kaylon searched his memory.  That was the Multivector dreadnaught that was supposed to be a ship full of traitors.   Something about that whole thing had never really set right with him.  Perhaps it was his own sense of injustice at a whole crew being all but summarily convicted of treason, or maybe it was the diplomatic way his father had always viewed the world, knowing that there were at least two sides to every story, if not more.  Two hundred years of meticulous common sense was telling him that there was definitely more to the story than Starfleet was letting on.

"How many engineers and operations personnel would you say you need to borrow in order to get the Cayuga self-sustainable and leave the nebula?"


The question brought him back to the present, and he took a deep breath, and consulted his PADD again.  This was the question he had been anticipating.

"Ideally, 35 to 40 engineers" he stated, resisting the urge to address the Lieutenant as "sir".  His own recent promotion to full Lieutenant still fairly new.  He wasn't yet used to it.

"That number would put us back to almost a full complement, and repairs could proceed more efficiently.  We would still require several days to get everything completed, and have the Cayuga spaceworthy again and capable of warp velocities.   I realize that number probably isn't realistic, and  the Cayuga will still need to get to a space dock for more extensive repairs, but at least then we would be self sufficient enough to get their on our own.  Basically, what I'm saying is that right now, we need all the help we can get." 
 
Glancing over toward the doctor, he added "Plus that would allow my people to get a little bit of sleep.  We've been running around the clock since the attack on little more than caffeine, and adrenaline."    As he turned to  Counselor Williams, "I don't even want to speculate how busy you're going to be when this is all over." 
Smiling he said,  "I may even have to pay you a visit myself." 

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Conference Room | Deck 1 | USS Jamestown ] @Auctor Lucan @Arista @alphawiz @Veridian @Griff Anyone else.

As Lt. Vanya moved to the LCARS display Chief Eboh noticed that the tactical officer of the Jamestown was watching her intently, and that he had a slightly worried air about him. He also saw the Lieutenant glance briefly at Captain Williams before he explained that the Jamestown had been assigned to Task Force Archeron in pursuit of the Theurgy. The mention of the treasonous dreadnought stirred conflicting emotions in Ekon. He had spent almost half his life in Starfleet, longer than many in the room had been alive. In all that time a situation like that involving the Theurgy had never developed. If they were indeed traitors, however, then the crew of the Theurgy should be brought to justice and answer for their crimes.

Ekon’s thoughts were interrupted when Lt. Jeen began his report. Ekon waited for Lt. Jeen to finish his estimate of the Engineering requirements necessary to complete repairs to the point where the Cayuga could limp to the nearest Starbase. Once Lt. Jeen had finished, Ekon directed his gaze at Lt. Yukimura.

”If you are able to provide engineers to assist Lieutenant Jeen, it would allow some of the operations personnel who have been assigned to engineering to be tasked with repairs elsewhere in the ship.” Ekon reported, glancing down at his PADD before returning his gaze to Lt. Yakimura and continuing. ”Operations did not suffer such heavy losses as the engineering department. If you could provide us with a half-dozen operations crewman on top of the engineers, we should be able to get the Cayuga underway.” Ekon glanced down at his PADD again. ”Another issue is materials, sir.” Ekon said, raising his gaze back to Yakimura, ”With our limited power, and with half of the replicators still offline, it is difficult to make many of the necessary repairs. We simply do not have the materials, and have no way of producing them. If we could have access to the Jamestown’s replicators, it would allow the repairs to be completed much faster.”

Lt Kaylon Jeen | Conference Room | "USS Jamestown"|Attn:  @Fife @Auctor Lucan

Not wanting to interrupt the flow of the conversation with a secondary discussion, but not wanting to forget due to the exhaustion he was feeling, Kaylon pulls up the messaging menu on his PADD and sends a quick message to Ekon.

Once we get back to the Cayuga - unless told otherwise by the Captain or XO, make the replicators your team's top priority, if it isn't already.

"It would especially helpful if we can get access to the Jamestown's Industrial Replicator.  Ours took more than just a beating." he interjected.

Lt Vanya | Conference Room | "USS Jamestown"|Attn:  anyone


"Our mission was to explore, scan and catalogue various areas of the Azure Nebula in a further part of Starfleet Science's mission to better understand the region." Turning to her android officer, Anya pointed towards an idle LCARs display on the wall. "Vanya, our course if you would?"

Vanya got up and accessed a map of the region. 

"The nebula is densely packed" she said  "Understanding these gasses and the way that they disperse and mingle is vital in the work that we are doing.  If we can get a sound understanding, we will be able to improve sensor resolution to scan for ships that have been damaged in nebulae, or even ships that might be hiding.  It may also allow us break the latest version of the Romulan cloak if we need to." 

She hit the panel and a red line appeared along the surface of the nebula  "As you can see, we've been exploring some of the most concentrated areas of distortion.  The patterns were easy to break once we got a handle on them  I think we can come up with a pattern to break the code  I can even understand the nebula visually. 

She looked out of the window and scrutinised the nebula.  Her eyes widened for a second and then closed again.  This was not their nebula.  A thousand possibilities when through her mind.  There was one in particular, but she couldn't risk alerting the crew until they were alone or off the ship. 

"That is to say, from certain angles."  She said, simulating exasperation  From here it's just another swirly thing in space.  Hmmm." 

She took a step back and looked at the room.  Were there saviours aware of the situation?  Were they complicit in it?  She needed more data. 

[Ensign Six | Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Triton @Auctor Lucan @alphawiz @Griff @Veridian etc.
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Ensign Six entered the Battle Bridge of the “Stallion,” the nickname for Theurgy’s Vector 3. It fit, given the equestrian similarities when it came to the nicknames of the rest of the vectors she gathered. Six could picture in her mind a knight. Sir Theurgy. Would make a fitting holo-novel series.

She took in the bridge, small as it was compared to the main Theurgy bridge and stood at attention, her uniform better than she realized. More and more she felt the need to be in uniform. Perhaps it was a demonstration of loyalty to the Theurgy, dedication to their cause. Perhaps it was loyalty to the Federation, the true Federation that remained clean from the parasites. Or it was so that, were there any unscrupulous individuals on ship, they wouldn’t take in her physique from her body suit. She remembered how many eyes trailed her, and most of them weren’t staring because there was an ex-drone to potentially cause trouble. In fact, she had a feeling a lot of them were not staring at her Borg implants.

She cleared her throat, standing in attention. Well, it was time to prove her usefulness to the Theurgy.

“Ensign Six reporting for duty. Who is the current ranking officer?”

Well, she figured it’s the best thing to say; she never entered the “Stallion’s” Battle Bridge before. In fact, most of Theurgy was relatively new to her.

[Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark, Captain | Temporary Quarters | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ]Attn: @Griff @StarDuster @FollowTomorrow @Doc M. @Auctor Lucan @Arista @Triton @Multificionado @Veridian @Fife @alphawiz @Gadget @lisavw @Juzzie @Masorin 
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Standing outside, looking in. That's what it felt like as Natalie Stark stood in the center of the battle bridge - her bridge - with her arms crossed over her chest, just under her bust. Up on the view screen was a display of the Conference Lounge, mere paces away, tucked back to the side of the Vector's battle bridge. A room that had been holographically enhanced to be something other then the super sleek environment it had been, instead transformed into a technologically regressed lounge of a Nebula-class starship. And Ens. Jimmy Mariner was playing the role of a Starship Captain. It was almost like watching an old holo-casting of the Twilight Zone.

Clearly the staff had done a good job, in between the initial hail from the Cayuga and there current rendezvous, just outside of visual sensor range. The soup that they floated in allowed the two ships to be within transporter range, but not be able to clear up the visual interference enough to get a clean picture of what each ship looked like. Just sensor readings - manipulated by Ens. Cir'Cie and MCPO O'Connell. Bless them both she quietly thought, just as the charade began to unfold in front of her. The bridge itself was quiet as tomb, save for the ever-present beeping of various consoles and stations. And yet all the same it seemed to Natalie that a pin could have dropped and been heard by everyone there.

At least until the chimes came over the comms.

There before her on the view screen, the transporter effect faded and Natalie felt herself suck in a sharp gasp of air. It hadn't been all that long, had it? Not really, she told herself. And yet Anya looked aged, as if she bore the weight of the world on her shoulders. And if she's faced off against the Borg - and I have absolutely no reason to believe she has not, other than sheer paranoia - then she does have the weight of the world there on her shoulders. It was a shock to see her there, and a part of Natalie that remembered a stern but understanding First Officer wanted to call the whole charade off right then and there, rush into the room and - and what? Throw your arms around the woman? She'd likely kill you for trying. Breech of decorum indeed!

They hadn't been close. Ziegler was her bosses boss after all. They'd shared the occasional duty shift and skip level review.  And yet....and yet Anya Ziegler was a connection to Natalie's past, from before the revelation back on Earth, and the flight from the system that started with the Jupiter Station assault and led them to here and now, fleeing the advance of the Savi, straight into the mechanical maw of the Borg, it seemed. Someone who knew her before the Theurgy was declared a ship of traitors.

A quick glance around the room confirmed that everyone not in the lounge was hanging on every word told. The Cardassian Flight Controller sent an icy stab of pain through Natalie. She looked so much like Aisha S'iti, the late helm officer of the Theurgy, so recently slain and replaced that Natalie had to blink a few times. A pang of loss and remorse, buried swiftly. The similarities were skin deep at best. Odds were most of it was in her head, and now was not at all the time to dwell on that. One by one, each of Ziegler's staff gave muted, solemn testimony to the encounter with the Borg. There was no doubt in her mind now that they were telling the truth. They were unlikely to be some kind of twisted plan to lure the Theurgy out of hiding.

The question remained however, could they be trusted with the truth? Before Natalie could reach a conclusion, Cpt. Ziegler asked the pertinent question. Just what was the USS Jamestown doing in the Azure Nebula.

"Dammit, Anya," Natalie whispered under her breath, sure that she was drawing a few looks from her crew. She ignored them and stared, hard, at the screen. She wished she were a telepath in that moment, so that she might gain insight into the mind of her  ships former first officer. How will you react? Will you too condemn us? Or simply put up with us until the Borg are gone?] Natalie hated that a small part of her feared rejection, feared to see hate on that familiar face.

A wry grin tugged at her face. Lt. Masuda had latched upon the best test that Natalie could think of. The man deserved a commendation. Hell, everyone in that room did. That caused a frown on her face. Even in the unlikely event that the succeeded in exposing the truth, and did not end up in jail in the process, she doubted command would affirm any award she put them in for, certainly not for deceiving fellow officers. Her train of thought was interrupted by a voice asking for the ranking officer, announcing that "ensign Six" was reporting for duty.

Natalie turned around, her back to the view screen, resisting the urge to shush the younger officer. As well as the urge to shudder. Ensign Six as she was known, recent refugee of Starbase 84, responsible for bringing the truth of treachery in the Starbase's command staff to the ship. Former Borg Drone. And there were Borg in the nebula.

"That would be me, Ensign," Stark addressed the junior officer, keeping her voice calm. She had not, in fact, seen the borg drone - former Borg Drone! - she scolded herself, since she joined up with the crew after the flight from the Starbase. Furthermore, she had not been on the bridge when the Lieutenant Commander had addressed the ships compliment, shortly after they dropped out of warp, having beat an expeditious retreat from the encounter with the Savi.  Perhaps then, the Ensigns ignorance as to who was in charge was forgivable.

[Ensign Six | Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Brutus @Triton @Auctor Lucan @alphawiz @Griff @Veridian etc,
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Ensign Six studied the ranking officer. Lieutenant Commander Natalie Stark. She recognized her instantly; she would, given the Theurgy’s crew manifest was among the first files uploaded to her own systems in her Borg implants. Plenty of information can be stored in Six’s database; she’s practically a walking, talking, emotional organic computer.

“My apologies if I had been tardy,” explained Six. “I wasn’t sure if I was needed for the time being, and my regeneration cycle can take a lengthy amount of time.”

Noting the absence of Ensign Mariner, she realized why she had been summoned to the bridge. “I assume I’m here to relieve Ensign Mariner for the time being?”

Even as she said it, she realized she asked the question and answered it at the same time. She may be a forensics officer, but she was still in the security department, and for the time being, forensics will have to be put on hold. She had other skills to be of worth.

“In addition, may I inquire what recent events are currently upon us?”

She did have a distinctive feeling she was missing out on the action. She was, after all, busy setting up her forensics lab, conjuring her ideas in her head, and when she was not working, she was sleeping. Well, regenerating in her alcove. But she had a point; she wasn’t sure if she was currently needed, as a forensics officer.

She could hear the whispers in her head again as she was brought up to speed, a still small voice consisting of millions of whispers droning together…but so far away as they were, she pushed them out of her head. Now was not the right time for it.

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Vector Three Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Atten: @Brutus, @FollowTomorrow, @StarDuster, @Triton.

By this point, nearly everyone on the bridge was listening to every word being said in the “Jamestown’s” conference room. 

Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert “Billy Bob” O’Connell groaned inwardly.  Mariner was making Captain Armstrong sound like a Ferengi used shuttle salesman.  He was pouring it on too thickly with the all of the resources and features the Jamestown could offer them.  They were Starfleet.  They knew what resources should be available. 
 
Thankfully the folks from the Cayuga didn’t seem to notice.  They were too upset about their recent clash with the Borg to pay attention to his little slipups.  Seriously, the Borg?  What were the odds?  One predatory species trying to assimilate them wasn’t enough?  Just butter his butt and call him a biscuit. 

And was that really Ekon Okotie-Eboh, his old shipmate from the Hiroshima who was making the repair and supply requests?  He hadn’t seen the coffee colored El-Aurian in person since he passed the chief’s exam three years ago and got himself transferred to the Cayuga, despite keeping in contact periodically before the Theurgy amscrayed out of Federation space five months back.  It was clear that he was high up on Captain Ziegler’s pecking order since he had been serving with Starfleet since Christ was a mess cook.  Speaking of Captain Ziegler, did they really think that the former first officer of the Theurgy wouldn’t recognize her old ship?  If anything happened to the holoemitters, they were in big trouble.

Despite everything that was happening, Master Chief O’Connell found his mind wandering like a Suliban with an itchy foot.  They couldn’t keep the deception going forever.  What was going to happen when the folks from the Cayuga discovered that the “Jamestown” was in reality one third of the legendary outlaw starship Theurgy?  And that thanks to the beating the Savi and Asurians had given them they were in no better shape than the Cayuga?  Would they power up their weapons to make an arrest or try to destroy them?  Would they call Starfleet to come and get them at the risk of giving away their location to the Borg?  What were they going to do when they found out that the captain of the “Jamestown” was so full of feces that his eyes were brown?

[ Chief Medical Officer T'Panu | Conference Lounge | Deck 1 | USS Jamestown ]

It was T'Panu's turn to speak, and she did so whilst trying to convey confidence. She knew the Jamestown was there to help, but was still a little wary of what they were doing this far out. She hoped they all could trust them.

"I have brought with a list of medical supplies that would be very beneficial if you have some to spare. If we are attacked by the Borg again, our supplies will be too low to truly help out our crew. We would be grateful to receive anything you are able to give us."

She handed over the PADD and waited patiently. On first glance, they seemed like quite normal requests. That was, until, they read the Neural Interface. T'Panu had worried they wouldn't understand her request, as she thought she could disengage any Borg tech with it. It would take a lot of precision, but if it didn't work, her crew was doomed once they were assimilated anyways.

T'Panu had a strange feeling about this Jamestown coming to their rescue. She thought they were the only ones out this far, no other ships had even registered nearby, she heard.

She sat quietly and observed, allowing everyone else to converse back and forth as she analyzed the situation.

[PO1 Lillee t’Jellaieu] (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Holographic Conference Room | “USS Jamestown” | Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @@Arista, @@DocM, @Follow Tomorrow, @StarDuster

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The tension in the conference room between the two crews was thick enough to swim in. To Lillee’s eye, the Cayuga crew were still firmly at red alert, the tension, fear and adrenaline of battle having not yet drained from them, sitting as if they expected to be attacked at any moment...which might well happen. Even if the Borg weren’t hunting them out in the nebula (oh stars, there’s a cheery thought), the Cayuga crew had no idea that they were facing traitors and criminals in a heavily armed starship. Lillee had seen the Stallion’s armaments and engines. Even without the rest of the Theurgy, and even damaged, the Stallion was perfectly capable of smashing the Cayuga into dust if Commander Stark chose to.

And if the story about the parasites was just an elaborate deception, then she might do exactly that, Lillee mused ruefully as everyone talked. Or, if the Cayuga crew discovered the deception, they might attempt a futile assault. Or Task Force Archeron could turn up and destroy the Stallion in seconds. Or the Savi and Asurians could turn up and finish the job. Or the Borg could arrive and simply assimilate the lot of them.

Oh for simpler times...

In order to deflect further attention upon this deception, Masuda wished to transfer attention to something else, and the presence of Petty Officer Lillee t'Jellaieu - pretending to be T'Vin - offered an opportunity. "Commander T'Vin. In your experience with the Borg, do you have suggestions on how they might be here, in the Azure Nebula? The logs from the Voyager has always suggested that an invading force would come from the Delta Quadrant."

“Yes, that is the prevailing theory,” ‘T’Vin’ said haughtily, barely stopping herself from instinctively adding the ‘sir’. Oh, how she wanted to smack Yukimura, which made it all the harder to maintain her false Vulcan serenity! How in the four Elements would a Romulan noncom know strategic details about the Borg? Or about Voyager? She didn’t even know the name of Voyager’s captain, never mind what that spirits-be-damned ship had learned about the Borg!

“However,” ‘Commander T’Vin’ added cautiously, “the Borg have been known to adopt unexpected tactics before. Their targeted assimilation of Captain Picard prior to the first invasion in 2367 is a prime example.” And aren’t I glad that I paid attention to the news on ch’Rihan in ‘67. “It is possible that they have another objective in this sector rather than a full scale invasion. Indeed, they may be targeting the Theurgy, as the ship is isolated, has no support, and according to our latest reports, badly damaged. Capturing a state-of-the-art Theurgy-class dreadnaught would give the Borg a wealth of information on the current state of Federation technology, as well as our defensive capabilities. As for how they got here, bypassing so much of the Beta Quadrant...” (Lillee paused a moment to scratch her brown-haired wig, the damned thing itched madly), “they are the Borg. There is still much that we do not understand about their abilities.”

[ Lt. Zelosa Ejek, Temporary XO |  Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ]

Through miracles of technology, they were hidden. Like some voyeur or predator animal, stalking their prey. Though, in Ejek’s mind, she felt more like the prey, remaining in safety until the coast was clear. If she had any control over the situation, the ship would’ve just turned around and left. Whether this was task force Archeron’s ruse or a genuine Borg attack, she didn’t want to be here to find out. Both outcomes were dangerous.

Nevertheless, being here was her job now, and she would perform it well, as she did in all things. She kept her analytic gaze on the screen in front of her, analyzing all on the screen. Jimmy was a little hammy for her tastes. She preferred a much more subtle performance. In fact...everyone here was a dreadful actor. The more she watched, the more on-edge she became, worrying that their big fat lie would explode in their faces. Peculiarly, no one else picked up. The Cayuga’s crew was wary, but they had every right to be, if they were genuine.

When she glanced over at the Captain though, she noticed a few cues. When she looked around the room and their eyes met, Ejek started to wonder if there was an emotional component to this meeting she was missing out on. It didn’t feel right to pass judgment until she knew her temporary Captain’s thoughts.

Ensign Six reported. Her voice rudely interrupted the Cardassian’s train of thought. She knew the Ensign was not a borg drone, but the irony of the moment had seized her for a second. She briefly imagined being boarded by the Borg when she had heard the voice.
“We have answered a Federation distress call from the U.S.S. Cayuga.” She began to explain, “In order to speak with them, we’re pretending to be the U.S.S. Jamestown. We’re meeting with some of their senior staff in a lounge, holoprojected to be a Nebula-class conference room. Our staff is pretending to be staff of the Jamestown. We’re hiding just out of sight from the ship, so they don’t recognize us. They claim to have been attacked by a Borg cube here in the Azure Nebula.” She explained, to catch the ensign up to speed. She had a hard time tearing her eyes from the screen to meet Six’s, but she did anyway.

[Ensign Six | Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Triton @Auctor Lucan etc.
[Show/Hide]

Ensign Six turned to attention to the Cardassian…she almost thought of them as Species some-number or whatever (she realized it was a good thing she can’t remember an exact species number; it meant she was embracing her individuality better) …and she remembered she was Lieutenant Ejek, a counselor and the second ranking officer of the “Stallion.” She shrugged at the mention of the deception; it’s an understandable necessity for the outlaws. But she started slightly at mention of the Borg.

“They claim to have been attacked by the Borg? In the Azure Nebula?” She took in the counselor’s words. And she thought of the whispers in her head…

“I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the Borg are somewhere in the Azure Nebula, Lieutenant,” she said quietly. “Their claim could be entirely true; I think…I can hear them…”

She said the last words so quietly, she shivered slightly in fear. She heard the call of the Borg, albeit so far distant it may as well be on the edge of a whisper. But she heard it nonetheless. And the news of the Borg attacking the Cayuga may very well have confirmed to her that the Borg could very well be in the Azure Nebula.

“What I mean to say is,” she added hastily, in case she incited some alarm in the Cardassian and everybody else on the bridge within earshot, “I’ve been hearing the Collective calling to me. It’s on the edge of a whisper, it is so faint. But I can hear it…nonetheless.”

[Lt. Rhys Williams| Conference Room | "USS Jamestown"]Attn:  @Fife @Griff @Veridian @Alphawiz, @Auctor Lucan , others

Rhys, noted that his request to allow some of the crew to board the Jamestown for rest largely seemed to fall on deaf ears. He sighed internally, largely no surprise technical issues and physical medical issues always seemed to be uppermost in the minds of Starfleet officers. Solidly at the bottom was any concerns about mental health. It was understandable with all that as happening, he hoped to raise it again once all the technical issues had been discussed, so he waited patiently as the Captain of the Jamestown explained their mission.

The USS Theurgy. Rhys had heard of the incident, it had been shocking and upsetting. It was rare in the History of Starfleet to hear about actual mutinies. It was unnerving to ever hear about anyone betraying the Federation let alone such a respected crew. However, Rhys was nothing if not soft hearted, and the idea of even traitors being attacked… assimilated by the Borg. Their voices, that strange way they moved… his mother. He felt it again and tried to resist counting under his breath or organising things on the table. He spoke mournfully, “I don’t even want to think of what might have happened to the Theurgy’s crew.” He swallowed and looked around the table not really sure if the others would share his sentiments. “Traitors or not, no one deserves the fate the Borg have in store for them...” His voice trailed off into a horse whisper “...no one.”

Rhys looked around the table for a moment, concerned he was making a fool of himself. “Sorry.” He swallowed and turned to Lt. Jeen who had been mentioning how busy Rhys was going to be. That was true, in truth he had not stopped being busy since the Borg had left them. He forced a weak smile on to his face. “Indeed. Lt. Jeen, my door is always open to you. Actually my wall to, seeing as my office no longer has one.” He said attempting to inject a tiny bit of black humour into the proceedings. Anything to lift the mood.

Lt Kaylon Jeen| Conference Room | "USS Jamestown" Attn : @Juzzie @Fife @Griff @Veridian @Auctor Lucan , others

"Indeed. Lt. Jeen, my door is always open to you. Actually my wall to, seeing as my office no longer has one."

Recognizing the remark for what it was, and always willing to try and accommodate a lightening of the mood, smiled and replied, "Wait, what?  Counselor, are you telling me that you didn't ask for that office expansion?"  He turned to CPO Ekon, "Chief, did you know anything about this?  Who fouled up the paperwork this time?" he asked in a rapid mock serious tone.

A ripple of chuckles went around the table as some of the tension dissipated.  Grateful for the opportunity, but just as quickly getting back to business, his tone sobered and he said, "Let us know if the missing wall becomes an issue.  I've still got teams assessing damage in the less critical areas, and I don't want any more problems to crop up with structural integrity" then added "...or crew morale."

Kaylon's combadge chittered.  "Pardon me, " he said, tapping it.  "Jeen here."

"Sorry to disturb you Lieutenant, but I thought I should let you know, we just had two more power conduits blow out.  One of them was the primary feed from one of the shuttle  umbilicals, so we've lost a half dozen replicators, and the shields are starting to destabilize."

Damn!  Just what they didn't need right now.  But a lot of the crew he had left were less experienced, and so leadership was what was needed right now.  His mind racing, Kaylon ran thru a mental checklist, looking down at his PADD after pulling up the relevant schematics.  Oh well, there was nothing for it.  People were just going to have to watch where they stepped.

"You did the right thing.  Alright.  Bypass the ruptured conduit by laying another cable down the corridor, and feed it into the grid at the next juncture, but shore it up before you connect it or else we'll blow that one out too.  Then get somebody on repairing the one that just blew out.  Until we can main power back online, those shuttles are our lifeline."

"Yes, sir."

"Jeen out."

Turning back to the table, he said said first to the captain,  "You heard?"  After an acknowledgement, he turned to the table and said, "My apologies for the interruption, but as you can see, we're fighting something of an uphill battle here."

[ ["CAPT" Armstrong Williams | 1200 hrs. | "Conference Lounge" | Deck 1 | "USS Jamestown" ]
[Show/Hide]@Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow@Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @Fife @Absinthe @Brutus

It was not easy to have to lie to other Starfleet officers, but the CO had to warn them of what threats these people had yet to face. And Starfleet had pretty much lied about Theurgy from the get-go, so this was only fair. Resolve didn't have the luxury when her survivors were rescued without the need for so much deception. Still, he felt honor bound to warn the Cayuga crew, and by the grace of God, it could've been the Resolve out here in the blind, unwittingly stumbling into alien abductors or their threatening warships.

Jimmy--err, Amstrong, held his composure well, and applied his inherited ability to tell a good story once a flowchart was in place. He acted as if putting the pieces together and his brow furrowed in apprehension before he motioned to elaborate further on what the Jamestown had been doing before it supposedly went after the Task Force and why it was off-course before rescuing the Cayuga. "Lou-tenant. I think it's time we warn our guests as to what... else we encountered out here."

"What I'm about to tell you is Top-Secret, originally it would've been for Admiral Sankolov, but it may have something to do with the Borg presence." he began with an expression that bore the face of genuinte personal loss and a failed responsibility to protect those he cared for; even a Betazoid would sense his loss.

"The James was on its way to rendezvous with the task force," he used acceptable jargon for a tenured Nebula-class vessel (He wasn't wasting any time dropping out of his role with total formality) and continued without pause, "When we detected an unusual energy reading from a long-range sensor sweep in the Azure Nebula caused by what was believed to be an unidentified ship or construct. On my orders we went in to investigate. Active scans revealed it wasn't a moon or a space station," Armstrong's gaze hardened; he sighed and, emphasized certain key words, he took a deep breath and continued what information he could play. It was either this or casting doubt on Starfleet Command. He only hoped this would be taken into consideration by his guests later on. Otherwise, he had an exit strategy, even if he hoped to avoid using that.

"After a few hours' search yesterday, we got our answer: We encountered an alien vessel of unknown origin. We hailed them but, the craft opened fire and abducted some of our officers when our shields were hit by graviton beams. Specifically, they beamed out all of our hybrid personnel or anyone of mixed species or otherwise unusual heritage. And that's not the half of it." Armstrong went on with an indignant but neutral tone, loading up specific data-files to demonstrate on the lounge's display screen. For emphasis, he displayed the Jamestown on a size comparison chart alongside the most up-to-date scans and estimated figures of the Versant.

(https://uss-theurgy.com/w/images/2/28/The-Versant-Size-Comparison.png)
*((Swap Theurgy in the scale for the Jamestown))


"Our noncoms have been calling it ,'the Axe', the name stuck until First Contact is formally made." He paused to allow the revelation sink in, as if allowing any prior hospitality as the first real delight one could have after the week of triple-fatigue and limited rest could last. The alien vessel's magnitude and dimensions spoke for themselves when the display revealed profile images of the craft, no euphemism or light humor could soften the blow. "As you can see, we're facing an Executioner, and if the Borg are out here too, they've probably got something to fear... if the collective is capable of that. The Axe is not, I repeat, not of Borg origin. The Collective may have sent a cube because they perceive 'codename Axe' a threat, or a species of interest, their technology to say the least. "

Armstrong spoke with the authority of someone who had fought the Borg firsthand and had been briefed, when in fact, this particular officer had only fought them in simulation and holodeck training, but he bluffed with what knowledge he did know. Thoughtfully, he held his chin and with his other hand, he zoomed out the 'Axe's' size to that of the USS Jamestown. Read-outs indicated notable weapon hardpoints in red indicators and blue brackets for suspected weapons arrays. Graviton beam lances and tricobalt torpedoes came up in the ensuing tactical analyses which still indicated that there were potentially even more weapons.

"A ship of this size is meant for one thing: Invasion. I know my crew is prepared to do what we have to do, and we will conduct in accordance with Starfleet rules of engagement." Armstrong sighed then rose in his seat, now scowling at the Axe's readouts as he narrowed his eyes. "That ship took my people," he glowered, "Before Starfleet can blast that Axe back to Hades, I'm going to get them back... if I can". He swore, Especially Heather. The utterance of the term Hades almost cost him his accent.

"If any Borg or Starfleet renegades get between us and that vessel's destruction, I assure you, we will conduct ourselves within those rules of engagement as well. I feel that if there's any way we can even the odds for Starfleet by tracking or sabotaging the hostile ship, we can get the attention of the Borg and pit them against each other. At the very least we can learn more about this craft, or paint it for Archeron and the task force." The plan was broad and ambitious but admittedly had to yield trust from Ziegler and her crew. Of course, in the end it was her call, given the on-queue state of play. And the implication for Ziegler to agree with Counselor Williams, someone who hadn't seemingly fully-hated Theurgy. He resisted the urge to mention Theurgy, but implied that ship if spotted would make a fine ship to destroy in the chaos of the battle, though he questioned if Ziegler would inquire about that vessel's fate. He'd let Ziegler's reaction weigh out his suggestions. This was all a test after all, though in reality, Jimmy would hope that Nat Stark would weigh in on his earpiece as he focused on Anya Ziegler directly, assuming a neutral hawkish posture.

[ Lt JG, Salem Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Salem_Martin) | 1200 hrs. | "Conference Lounge" | Deck 1 | "USS Jamestown" ]
[Show/Hide]
Martin listened to all of the follow up reports, in short neither ship seemed to be in the greatest shape, and with their combined class efforts really neither would survive against a Borg Cube, and then somehow the situation got worse. Salem leaned back in his chair uncomfortable for a long moment as he looked at the size comparison between the Nebula Jamestown and the massive thing that they encountered. How the heck did they escape that thing alive?

The news that Starfleet personel had been captured didn't sit well with the former POW, and the fact that it had gravitational weaponry something that was based in theroretics, but not yet seen or developed, the cube would have been a long shot, but if they had played unfairly and used the standard borg tactics on them it would have been possible to defeat, this thing was likely in a class all of its own. He sat looking at it for a moment.

Then the captain mentioned something that caused him pause. "Task force Archeon should have it's hands full hunting the rouge Theurgy near Theta Erridian IV." Unless something had changed while they had been in the nebula that should have been the last known location of the task force.

He paused when the captain mentioned that they were trying to meet up with Task Force Archeon. "Tactically speaking we aren't in any condition to be using our ship as bait, we have no guns, we should fall back to Starbase 84 for repairs, and then regroup with the task force if that's an option. take care of ourselves first keep power low, and get back to some semblance of safety first. The sooner we warn about an invasion the better, and we don't have the communications equipment to reach anyone else in the nebula."

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Vector Three Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Atten: @Brutus, @FollowTomorrow, @StarDuster, @Triton.

"What I mean to say is I've been hearing the Collective calling to me. It's on the edge of a whisper, it is so faint. But I can hear it...nonetheless."

Billy Bob O’Connell was listening to the exchange in the conference room when he was distracted by the young woman in the black and silver body suit.  She was a newcomer to the Theurgy, and had probably been shanghaied during the ruckus at Starbase 84.  Did she come from the Resolve, the Orcus, the starbase, or had she been one of the newcomers from the Harbinger that the master chief hadn’t encountered yet?  Who did she say she was?  Ensign Sicks?  A name that sounded like a number didn’t mean anything; it didn’t look like the girl came from Earth anyhow and folks from other planets were namin’ there offspring all sorts of funny things.  Billy Bob didn’t know her from Adam’s sister but when she claimed to have telepathic contact with the Borg that made him sit up and take notice. 

Lieutenant (junior grade) Yvette Conway took notice as well.  Like Billy Bob, she looked up from her console to actually gape at Ensign Six.  Only Billy Bob was startled enough to actually say anything though. 

“Beggin’ yer pardon, Ma’am did Ah hear yuh right?” the master chief stammered.  “Did you actually say thet somehow you’ve got telepathic contact with the Borg?”

[ Lieutenant JG Yvette Conway (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Operations_NPCs#Lieutenant_Junior_Grade_Yvette_Conway) | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]Sitting at Ops in the Battle Bridge, Yvette had great difficulty to relax - rapt as she was by the scene playing out in the adjacent room. As one of the original Harbinger crew in Ops, she had faced a lot of ordeals, ranging from having her former Captain Vasser be revealed for what he was, along with what T'Rena had done to them all, to the plights she'd suffered on Nova Arctis before she was picked up by the Allegiant and the battle at Starbase 84. Yet despite it all, the suspense of what was going on had her at the edge of her seat.

When a Ex-Borg Brunali walked into the bridge, and told them she was in contact with the Borg, it send a chill up Yvette's spine - eyes wide as she looked at the short-haired woman with the Borg tech around her eye. "Wha-" she said, unable to quite formulate her question well enough, so she clamped her trap shut - the answer best suited for Stark or Ejek. Yet O'Connell was not late in trying to get some clarification. Not only did Ensign Six confirm what the Cayuga crew was telling them in the other room, she openly suggested that the Borg were close enough to reach her in the soup of the Azure Nebula. Did that mean they were clo-

BEEB-BEEB.

Yvette's wide eyes slowly turned to her console.

BEEB-BEEB.

With a hand she couldn't quite stop from shaking, she reached out and pressed the glowing button on her display. Thea's soulless voice was heard in the Battle Bridge, her voice recordings dispassionate as she made the announcement. [Tactical alert. Four vessels approaching. Bearing Five-Two-Niner Mark Four. ETA, thirty seconds.]

Yvette couldn't quite bite down on the whimper that rose in her throat. Please, I don't want to die. Still, she was a Starfleet officer. She schooled herself, blinking hard. The Borg was there, and they were in no condition to fight. They will assimilate us all. Cut off our limbs, replace them with mechanic ones. Graft plating unto our flesh. Resistance is always futile. They will... No, stop it! With her heart beating rapidly, she turned to Stark. "O-Orders, Captain?"

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Holographic Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | "USS Jamestown" ] ]
[Show/Hide]Meanwhile, in the holographic conference room of the "Jamestown", Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura had noted down all the requests of the Cayuga, ranging from the manpower that Engineering and Ops needed to get the Cayuga spaceworthy again, to the medical supplies that T'Panu needed. That she needed tech to counter Borg assimilation was no greater surprise, given the circumstances, but just like with the industrial replicator they wished to use, Yukimura had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realised that the ruse he had suggested - that they were to pose as another ship - had led them to the dilemma of actually helping them or not. Because doing so, Captain Ziegler and her crew would learn that they were right then standing upon the deck of the Theurgy.

Then, Mariner had decided on an initiative of his own, and Masuda played along as best as he could, not having any idea what the Ensign was up to. Since the man was a junior officer underneath that Captain's uniform, Masuda's first instinct was to try and make him stop talking, since there was no telling what he might say. Anything could raise the suspicions of these experienced Starfleet officers they were dealing with. But in the end, he had to play along, for there was no other alternative. Mariner showed them the Versant, and had cooked up a story that connected the Savi with the presence of the Borg, which was all guess-work, but still served to brief the present officers about the new threat in the Federation. Or, well, the second new threat, now that the Borg had crossed the Federation's border from the wrong side of the quadrant. When the Ensign had finished talking, and the Cayuga's Tactical Officer had offered his cautioning words, Masuda played along and added the unspoken.

"While we have come to call it 'the Axe', the unverified name of the ship is the Versant, supposedly of 'Precept-class', and the aliens that boarded us and abducted our crew called themselves 'the Vigilant of Sa', or the 'Savi', for short. Witness accounts vary on that point. After the brief battle , they left no bodies behind," he said, almost saying 'on this Vector', knowing that the Sword ought to have remains of the Savi to study. Perhaps even the Helmet. "So we know next to nothing about their anatomy, strength or weaknesses. All we know is that they are advanced enough to transport - abduct - crew through our shields, perhaps because they were modified to protect against the Nebula's radiation at the time. We just don't know."

He turned his head towards Lillee - to T'Vin - and almost asked her to fill in before he stopped himself, not about to put her on the spot again. But as he looked at her, he came to hold his breath. She must have touched her wig... because Masuda could see two thin tresses of blonde hair peeking out at the edge of the fake hair. He clenched his jaw, about to launch into something else to discuss in order to distract the Cayuga officers, when there was a chirp from Captain Ziegler's combadge.

[This is Commander West!] called the voice from the combadge, and Masuda knew him to be the Cayuga's First Officer. [We are under attack by an unknown hostile force! Our damaged sensors can't make a clear reading, but we're under enemy fire!]

That was when the first impact hit the Stallion as well, jarring the whole conference room. The walls and the deckhead flickered from the commotion, momentarily revealing the real conference lounge hidden for their eyes. Masuda was on his feet, having to hold on to the table for another moment, before he ran over to the viewports in the wall. Looking out into the nebula, he couldn't see anything. It was a false image of the nebula, and they were blind to whatever it was that assailed them.

Masuda turned towards the Cayuga officers when the Red Alert klaxon began, and he saw in their eyes that the ruse had ended. Still, he didn't have the time to apologise. He and Lillee t'Jellaieu had to return to the bridge. They were the CONN and Tactical Officers on duty. "Hurry!" he called to her, and ran for the door - leaving Mariner alone with the guests.

Another hit, and the hologrid faltered, not just showing the real room, but also making Mariner's holographic appearance fail.

[ Meanwhile | Azure Nebula ]
[Show/Hide]Twice, she had been in battle with one of these ships. First, as an ally, the next, as their enemy. She had barely managed to escape at Starbase 84, all other vessels of her people having vanished in the onslaught they faced. She had lost both Hara Sar-Dia and Viel Erion, along with many other dine warrior during the second battle, when the Sheromi had betrayed their word. Now, the third battle was about to commence... and she would avenge the fallen.

"This is Sitaio!" she called to the other three Marshals out there, two of them engaging the allied Starfleet ship not far away, while she focused on the Theurgy Vector before her. She bared her teeth and tightened the straps of her sindt. The first streaks of graviton beams had dug new gouges into the hull, but it was but a foretaste of what was to come. "In the name of vengeance for those we've lost, we have but two options! We win or we die!"

The answer came. It was a loud battle cry shared by all four saucers. "For Asuria!"

They were the last of the Asurians that had gone after the Theurgy, and they engaged the two Starfleet ships in full. One was adrift, without shields, so it would be boarded. It was an unknown, but clearly in alliance with their enemy. One vessel would ram into its hull, straight through the aft observation deck, while the second saucer would start cutting the ship apart from the fore. As for the Theurgy, it seemed in better shape, so they would be more cautious. Nonetheless, they knew there was another Overseer-saucer in that lower shuttle bay, and they would claim it back somehow.

"Have at it!" cried Sitaio, raising fist and blade towards the enemy on the view screen. "Kill the cravens!"

---

OOC: All right! For those with characters on the Stallion's bridge, @Brutus should post first. However, since @Arista is busy IRL, 7 days to post in reaction to the development begins now for all who have characters in the faltering holo-lounge! Posting order is completely free, but be mindful and let your co-writers react too. Masuda Yukimura has left the door open on his way out, him running into the Battle Bridge (Lillee likely close behind him). Needless to say, @Absinthe , your Klingon now have Asurian boarders to battle - the saucer having rammed into the Warp-Trail Lounge. There would be seven Asurians with rifles and arm-blades cutting their way through the Cayuga. Have fun people! :)

[Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark, Captain | Temporary Quarters | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ]Attn: @Griff @StarDuster @FollowTomorrow @Doc M. @Auctor Lucan @Arista @Triton 
[Show/Hide]
The joys of having a First Officer, Natalie had been discovering, was that you could let them handle any minor annoyances that pop up from your own hang ups without looking like you're snubbing someone. Its part of their job to run interference for you. She felt more guilt about her initial reaction to Ensign Six - whom certainly did not ask to be assimilated - than she did in allowing Ejek to take the brunt of the encounter.  The Ensigns abrupt demeanor was equally not her fault. Natalie could only imagine how difficult it might be to readjust to individuality. She'd read reports on other liberated former drones, and so far, her very limited interactions with the Brunali drone matched up with expectations.

Which were to say, less than pleasant. And then, the Ensign opened her mouth and managed to pull Natalie's attention completely away from the scene unfolding on the viewscreen. It was a small miracle that she didn't get whiplash as she spun about on her heels to look at Ensign Six from where she herself stood down in the command well. As a result, she completely missed Ens. Mariner's revelation of the Savi to the crew of the Cayuga. She would have to trust her people in the other room for the moment.

"The Borg are whispering to you, Ensign?" She knew she had gone pale in the face, but she kept her back straight and, trying to channel Carrigan Trent, her voice stayed even and calm. She owed the man quite a lot, for his personal tutoring was probably the only thing that was helping her keep her cool at the moment. "An....echo of the connection of the Collective?" Was that a thing that former drones had? She wracked her mind, trying to remember...

BEEB-BEEB

[Tactical alert. Four vessels approaching. Bearing Five-Two-Niner Mark Four. ETA, thirty seconds.] The alarm cut through the conversation and snagged the attention of every member of the bridge. Natalie's eyes went wide,  and then shut as she sucked in a breath to tamp down the sudden frustration. Even as she heard Yvette calling out to her, Natalie was turning towards the main screen again, addressing the intercom system. "Red Alert. All hands to battle stati - " her words were cut off at the sudden impact of weapons fire. The ship rocked about Natalie, and she managed to keep her feet by sheer force of will.

Straightening back up, she swept loose stands of hair from her hair - and saw Lt. Matsuda barreling his way onto the bridge. Oh hell, the conference room. Anya Ziegler would be in there with her crew, alone with Ens. Mariner. She knew that her orders would have been heard there as well.

"Yvette, make sure those shields are up," she barked as she dropped back into her chair. They were going to be playing it close, with only 50% shields, thanks to the needed radiation protection protocols. Her crew would need to finish this, and fast, before either the enemy, or the nebula finished them. Rock and a hard place indeed!

"Matsuda, get me a bead on whoever is out there and open up. We don't have time to play nice." She started pulling up bits of information on the small display for her. "Give me an analysis on the weapon damage. Since we're still here, there's no way that was Borg attack." She watched as her people took their stations and brought the ship about, hard. From Ops, Yvette shook, but looked at the readings. Not Borg, but still..l

"Captain," she called towards Stark, "It's Asurians, Ma'am."

"Oh, great," Natalie snapped off. "Matsuda, get me a bead and blow that out of the sky." She pointed two fingers towards the helm. "t'Jellaieu, evasive action. Take us closer into towards the Cayuga. They're barely holding on as is. We cannot let the Asurians take them down. Get us between them and the ship." The next part would be the hardest.

"Bridge to Conference Lounge. We've got a lot of talking to do later," she didn't wait for a reply, just barreled on through. "We're under attack by a race of warlike aliens called Asurians. They've taken a bit of umbrage with the Federation in general." And us in-particular, she didn't say aloud.  The vector shook with the impact of another blast before she could finish, and sent the whole battle bridge listing to port for one brief moment as the internal dampeners played catch up. "We're moving to place ourselves between them and Cayuga. Captain Ziegler, I'd appreciate it if you'd order your ship to take up a defensive posture and kindly not shoot at us." A glance about and then, to the bridge. "Make sure they can open a channel."

---

OOC: I can update this as needed, lemme know if i pushed the narrative a bit too far

[ Chief Medical Officer T'Panu | Conference Lounge | Deck 1 | USS Jamestown ]

T'Panu had been quietly listening to the conversations as she felt the blast. She couldn't believe they had been found again! Just as they were hit, she noticed the projection flickering and realized they had been in a false meeting the entire time. As everyone began running out to their battle stations, she wondered if they could even trust them as the whole meeting felt like a sham. She didn't know if they could, but she knew they had no choice.

T'Panu rushed to her feet, her mind racing, trying to figure out what she could do. She heard the "Jamestown" would be covering their ship as it was badly damaged. The Cayuga was only a few hits away from being blown to oblivion and she was thankful for the cover. Hoping, determined, they would make it out of this alive, she grabbed her PADD and ran to see if there were any emergency med kits and dermal regenerators she could bring back to their ship if it was still there. She left the conference lounge and ran until she found the medical supplies, grabbed a few things she needed and threw them into her bag. She realized she hadn't payed any attention to how she found the medical supplies and began to panic she wouldn't find her crew. She didn't know if she could trust these people and didn't want to stay aboard to find out if they couldn't.

She hauled ass back to the conference lounge where she found the rest of the crew. She knew they were sitting ducks until they were either beamed back aboard the Cayuga to help the wounded, or left on this "Jamestown" to try and defeat this threat. She feared the worst, that they would be unable to help the Cayuga and it would have lost all the rest of their crewmates. She tried to think positively, that they would simply win this fight and repair their ship, but she knew that was being far too optimistic. With this new threat, and the Borg not far away, she had no idea what was coming next.

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Conference Lounge | Deck 1 | USS “Jamestown” ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @Arista @alphawiz @Veridian @Gadget @lisavw @Doc M. @Masorin Anyone else.

As the ship rocked with the impact of incoming fire and the conference lounge of the USS Jamestown flickered, revealing a different room altogether, Ekon glanced at his crewmates and then looked at the officers of the “Jamestown”. The room that had been seen in the brief flicker of the holographic projection was much more modern than that of a Nebula-class starship. When the second impact caused the holographic conference lounge to falter yet again, Ekon noticed that the appearance of “Captain Williams” also changed.

Our saviors are not who they claim to be… Ekon thought, surprised at his own level of calm given the situation.

[Red alert. All hands to battle stati…] Came a female voice over the ship’s comm system.

Ekon rose from his seat as Lieutenant Yukimura, if that was indeed his real name, raced from the conference room. Through the doors to the conference lounge he could see the bridge of the “Jamestown”, which was certainly no Nebula-class ship. Ekon moved to the doorway and looked at the bridge, gripping the edge of the doorway for support against further rocking from incoming fire. He saw a short brunette woman seating herself in the command chair and barking orders, and recognized her voice form the red alert announcement. He heard the operations officer address the woman as “Captain”, and glanced back into the conference lounge. He saw Lieutenant T’Panu race wordlessly from the room as he looked from “Captain Williams” to his own Captain, still hearing the mystery ship’s real Captain giving orders, directing her people to move to protect the Cayuga.

At least these people seem to be on our side, whoever they are. Ekon thought, turning back to look at the bridge once more.

As the ship’s Captain spoke again over the comm, Ekon heard her voice both from the bridge and the comm system. ["Bridge to Conference Lounge. We've got a lot of talking to do later. We're under attack by a race of warlike aliens called Asurians. They've taken a bit of umbrage with the Federation in general."] Ekon barely kept himself upright but for his grip on the doorframe as the ship rocked once again, the whole ship listing to one side before the inertial dampeners righted it. ["We're moving to place ourselves between them and Cayuga. Captain Ziegler, I'd appreciate it if you'd order your ship to take up a defensive posture and kindly not shoot at us."]

”There is little risk of that, ma’am.” Ekon spoke to the Captain as he stepped onto the bridge, gripping the railing above the command well to keep his footing. He hesitated for a brief moment as he recognized the man at the Engineering station, his old shipmate from the Hiroshima, William Robert O'Connell. He pushed his shock aside and turned his attention back to the Captain. ”The Cayuga is defenceless! Her weapons are still down, and her shields are minimal at best.” Ekon realised he was out of line, and also giving away tactical information to their deceitful “saviors”, but given the situation and the plight of the crew still aboard the Cayuga, he didn’t care about propriety or trying to keep information from the crew of the “Jamestown”. He’d seen enough ships lost during his time in Starfleet, and held no desire to see the destruction of yet another.

[Ensign Six | Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Auctor Lucan @Triton @Fife @Doc M. etc.
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"The Borg are whispering to you, Ensign? An....echo of the connection of the Collective?"

Ensign Six turned to Commander Stark, and as collected as she was as the current commanding officer would be, she can see Stark had paled. Well, that’s to be expected if one heard that somebody was hearing voices in their head, but worse so if those voices came from the Borg. And she wasn’t the only one; she noted a couple of people, like Chief Engineer O’Connell, reacting to the words that instilled fear. She even noticed Lieutenant Conway on the edge of panic. But her focus was on the ranking officers; Seven of Nine always confided in her superior officer, and that’s what exactly she will do.

She had barely made an affirmative nod at Stark, realizing her own words were scaring everybody else, when the tactical alert went off. Then the red alert, and then the impact that she staggered at. Her first impulse was that the Borg had caught the “Stallion” and the Cayuga by surprise, but she immediately shoved the thought aside. From how faint the whispers were, they were too far away. Conway’s words then confirmed it wasn’t the Borg.

With aid from her ocular implant, she studied up everything known in the Theurgy database about the Asurians. And…Holy…! When she pulled up what an Asurian looked like, she almost crapped herself. Those horns! She imagined an Asurian with horns that huge would be a match for even a Klingon.

Brushing the appearance aside, it occurred to her to analyze the ships. The impacts kept rocking the ship, but she remained amazing steadfast, almost like Earth’s “Stonewall” Jackson. And…

What’s this? There was an Asurian ship already in the Theurgy? Further analyzing the database, she saw that there was an Asurian ship on board in the Shuttle Bay. Suddenly, a tactical maneuver formulated in her mind. The Theurgy had an Asurian ship aboard, and if that’s the case…

“Commander Stark, Lieutenant Ejek,” she called out, as calm as composed as she could, “I understand you have an Asurian ship down in the Lower Shuttle Bay?” She added quickly, forestalling the question, “I have learned about the Asurians from the Theurgy database. With your permission, I wish to go down to your…impounded ship...not to fly it," again forestalling the question, "but to mess up the communications of the attacking Asurians from there.”

What she had in mind required the Asurian ship, but she had no intention of flying it. She was no pilot, and in any case, she didn't know if there were pilots available who knew how to fly that ship anyway. All she knew was, it was again time to make use of her skills as a hacker. And she said communications for a reason.

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Vector Three Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Atten: @Brutus, @FollowTomorrow, @StarDuster, @Triton.

“Structural integrity field is compromised by twenty two percent!” Billy Bob declared from the engineering console.

After that Commander Stark started doling out the orders.  Ensign Six thought she could jam the Asurian’s communications and made a request to go to the shuttlebay to access their attackers’ assault boat that had been left behind after the boarding action yesterday.  

“Deflector screens are up Ma’am, should I extend the shields to protect the Cayuga as well?” Lieutenant (junior grade) Yvette Conway reported from the Ops station.

“She’s raight!” Billy Bob O’Connell proclaimed.  “We’ve got to beam the command crew of the Cayuga back to their ship!  The Cayuga’s a sittin’ duck without ‘em!”

O’Connell could picture it now.  With the senior officers stuck aboard the Stallion, the junior officers left in charge wouldn’t know what to do and would hesitate just long enough to let bad guys turn them into an enormous fireball.  The problem was that they didn’t dare lower the shields long enough to beam Ziegler and her people over unless they extended them to protect the Cayuga the same way they did to protect the other stardrive vectors when the Savi had disabled all three sections of the Theurgy yesterday.  Such a protective gesture had the additional bonus of letting the folks on the Cayuga know who the good guys were, at least until the shooting stopped.  Of course, that strategy depended on the Cayuga staying still, and on the battlefield speed is life.  It was more than likely that the Cayuga would move out of range and make beaming the command crew back impossible.

[PO1 Lillee t’Jellaieu] (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @@Arista, @@DocM, @Follow Tomorrow, @StarDuster, @Brutus et al.

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It was just the way of the universe. When a person is achieving success, prevailing against all odds, the universe invariably finds a way to kick that person firmly in the rear end. Such was the case with the crew of the Theurgy: just as they seemed to be convincing the Cayuga crew, just as they thought that the deception might actually work, the ship rocked, the red alert sirens blared, the holographic camoflage failed and everything turned to chaos.

Of course, Lillee and Yukimura didn’t bother waiting to give Captain Zeigler an explanation. The Romulan pilot was already halfway out of her chair even as Yukimura called for her to hurry, flinging her wig aside and following right on the lieutenant’s heels as the ship rocked again under weapons fire. Within moments they were on the Bridge, and Lillee didn’t hesitate as she got to the helm, not even waiting for the relief CONN officer to move before she started entering course corrections over his shoulder.

"Matsuda, get me a bead on whoever is out there and open up. We don't have time to play nice." Natalie started pulling up bits of information on the small display for her. "Give me an analysis on the weapon damage. Since we're still here, there's no way that was Borg attack." She watched as her people took their stations and brought the ship about, hard. From Ops, Yvette shook, but looked at the readings. Not Borg, but still..l

"Captain," she called towards Stark, "It's Asurians, Ma'am."

"Oh, great," Natalie snapped off. "Matsuda, get me a bead and blow that out of the sky." She pointed two fingers towards the helm. "t'Jellaieu, evasive action. Take us closer into towards the Cayuga. They're barely holding on as is. We cannot let the Asurians take them down. Get us between them and the ship." The next part would be the hardest.

“Yes ma’am,” Lillee answered, now firmly in her seat, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. ‘Evasive action’ and ‘be the Cayuga’s physical shield’ were inherently contradictorary, but she reminded herself grimly of the old truism that a day of work without an officer giving contradictorary orders was a day without officers. Thus the Stallion duly began moving its immense bulk under Lillee’s care towards the stricken Cayuga, the much smaller Asurian saucers harrassing both Starfleet ships like mosquitoes. Before long, they finally entered visual range of the Cayuga amidst the bright soup of the nebula, and the true extent of the starship’s wounds became apparent.

Zeigler and her crew hadn’t been lying: the Nebula-class ship really had been horribly damaged by the Borg. Thin black scars had been sliced into the great silver-grey saucer, clear evidence of Borg cutting beams, while only a small handful of windows were lit, hinting at some serious power generation problems. The shields were flickering from intense Asurian weapons fire, the small saucers spinning as they moved and fired from each beam emplacement sequentially, a heavy barrage that was severely straining the Cayuga’s defences. Then, as Lillee obeyed Stark’s orders and brought the Stallion in for a risky attack run that would end with them physically covering the Cayuga, it happened.

As the Cayuga lumbered about, its port nacelle flickering before falling dark as phaser fire kept lancing out, one of the Asurian saucers lined up close behind it with a menacing intent. Even as the Stallion roared in, phasers blasting desperately to stop the saucer before it did whatever it was planning, the Asurian ship put on a burst of extraordinary acceleration...right into the Cayuga’s aft port quarter.

Whatever small amount of shield energy the beleaguered starship had generated failed instantly, allowing the saucer to slam right into the hull. However, there was no great explosion, none of the awful destruction caused by two warp cores exploding. Instead, the saucer appeared jammed inside the Cayuga, although on the viewscreen, the size difference made it look like a fly upon a horse’s flank. Even before her mind could consciously process what had happened, Lillee instinctively aborted the maneuver to get close to the Cayuga, instead altering course a little to allow the Stallion’s weapons a better chance of inflicting damage on the other Asurian saucers inbetween the two Federation ships. They couldn't have an enemy inside their own shield, so the idea to extend it around the Cayuga was moot. Even as the Stallion changed course, the Asurian saucer lit up inside the Cayuga, using its green-hued graviton weapons to inflict horrific damage on the larger starship from the inside out. Whole hull sections burst from within - venting personnel into the nebula.

“Captain,” Lillee called out, keeping her attention firmly on the viewscreen as her fingers danced across her console, “recommend that we abort the maneuver to cover the Cayuga. There’s already a saucer inside their hull, and the others would savage us if we tried to run the gauntlet. I can execute a close-in attack run on the other saucers instead, give Lieutenant Yukimura a chance to hurt them.”

Lt Kaylon Jeen|Failing/Failed HoloConference Room "USS Jamestown"  Attn : @Arista

In two centuries, Jeen had seen a lot of things, and wasn't surprised all that often, but when the conference room flickered and finally failed, the look on Kaylon's face was one of pure shock.  What the hell?! he thought.   Where are we?  He saw Ekon make his way onto this "new" ship's bridge and speak to the person who was apparently the real captain of the vessel once the officers that they had been discussing the Cayuga's issues with rushed out of the room, leaving only a single crewmember of this ship in there with them.

Standing and moving around the room as quickly as the shaking ship would allow him.  He approached the LCARS display and tapped at the panel.  He figured he wouldn't have access to any of the systems, but it didn't matter.  All he needed was for the display panel to light up.  It did and he saw what he needed to see.  Right there in bright Yellow in the corner..."USS Theurgy   NX-79854"  His eyes widened as he quickly moved up behind Captain Ziegler and spoke quietly in her ear.  "Captain, this ship...It's the Theurgy!"

It was entirely possible that the captain had already surmised this, but in case she hadn't, it was definitely something she needed to know.  

"The Cayuga can't really do much of anything right now.  She's worse than a sitting duck, and right now, her only hope is this ship and crew.  What do we do?" he asked.


As he stood there, waiting for orders, a hundred myriad thoughts raced thru his mind.  The Theurgy.  Supposedly worst traitors since the Maquis.  He wasn't sure if he believed it or not, but they were officially labeled traitors that any ship in Starfleet was to open fire upon on sight.  But here they were going to very elaborate lengths to try and assist the Cayuga.  Would traitors do something like that?  There was certainly more going on here than meets the eye.

[ "CAPT" Armstro--ERROR-- | 1200 hrs. | "Conference Loun-- ERROR-- | Deck 1 | --USS--ERROR-- James-- "--mmy" Mariner, Starfleet Security (ren.) ]
[Show/Hide]@Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow@Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @Fife @Absinthe @Brutus

Things unraveled out of control rather quickly from the moment he heard damage reports piping into his earpiece. The façade ended and as if on queue, the holofilter began to show signs of malfunction and Jimmy's disguise faltered. While Yukimora and t'Jellaieu scrammed out of the room, Jimmy stayed behind momentarily. He still had a responsibility in the name of the gold uniform that presented itself through the flicker; it was his moment of truth.

Jimmy blurted out in his native accent, "I'm not from Theurgy, I'm from the Starship Resolve." Mariner came clean and put his hands out assuredly as if to calm down an angered beast. "These people rescued my crew from a Founder-class alien threat commanding Starbase 84 destroyed my vessel. There's more of those impostors out there." There was no time to say the term 'parasite' so Jimmy had to use a keyword in what precious moments he had before he had to get the bloody hell out of this mess. As if on queue, Natalie chimed in over the intercom. One final card played on the table, no more poker face.

"Bridge to Conference Lounge. We've got a lot of talking to do later,  We're under attack by a race of warlike aliens called Asurians. They've taken a bit of umbrage with the Federation in general. We're moving to place ourselves between them and Cayuga. Captain Ziegler, I'd appreciate it if you'd order your ship to take up a defensive posture and kindly not shoot at us."

"We mean you no harm, but those goat-headed hulks out there do, so how about we listen to Commander Stark?" feeling more now like a heretic in a superstitious village, based off the intensity of the stares he was collecting, he knew, it was time to make a dramatic exit. Mariner got out of his chair and bolted out of the conference room like someone whose hand phaser shorted out due to radiation, "Sorry about the theatrics!" The outnumbered but battle-ready veteran hoped he'd dropped the right keywords before he had to prepare to put down even more of those walking horny bastards. He'd rather face them than have to send anyone here to sickbay, namely potentially the large CPO who'd almost gotten between Jimmy and the bridge.

Under a minute later, Mariner was outside of the checkpoint and got rid of three pips befitting rank propriety; good thing he had his gold collar under the filter. He frowned at not uttering the words 'captains' log' in his next personal opportunity-- but he got himself a personal holophoto Meony often called a 'selfie' to pose for her during his rehearsal before he wore the face of a more wizened officer. The moment didn't last more than a second before he was at his station, awaiting orders to stand by to protect the Stallion or render any aid to the Cayuga. Under different circumstances, he would have gloated to his peers, though it remained to be seen if his performance would've had any lasting effect.

[Lt. Rhys Williams|Failing/Failed HoloConference Room "USS Jamestown"] Attn: @Arista, @alphawiz

Everything seemed to Rhys as if it were happening in slow motion. First was the feeling of the ship rocking, then, the image of the Jamestown’s conference room flickered violently. The flashes of images distorting, and replacing one another made his eyes water. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out, his voice had completely failed him. He watched in complete astonishment as the ‘Jamestown’s’ senior staff swept out of the room.

He turned his head to the rest of the Cayuga’s crew seeing his own shock reflected in the faces of many of his compatriots. Perhaps some had seen this coming, but not Rhys. He had put the oddities and inconsistencies down to the stress of their situation. He watched Lt. Jeen, cross over to a control panel and return quickly to their group. He over heard the word “Theurgy” and suddenly a lot of what had happened during this meeting made much more sense to him. He felt a cold chill, as though someone were pouring ice water down his spine. The senior staff were all under the power of a group of ruthless traitors. It was true that he had wanted to save the Theurgy if it ran up against the Borg, but actually being on their ship was a different matter entirely.

When Jeen pointed out that the Cayuga was a wreck and dependent on the kindness of a group of people who had every reason to be nervous of their presence, Rhys sighed. It seemed to him there was not a lot they could do.

Until he spoke up again, Rhys had not really noticed ‘Captain Williams’ was still there. He had been far too preoccupied with his own thoughts. The change of accent was a surprise as were the stream of words that came out of the imposter’s mouth. Rhys struggled to take all, or indeed any of it in and the message from the Bridge did not make things much clearer. Before he knew the imposter was apologising for the theatrics and leaving the room at break neck speed.

Rhys slowly turned to the other senior staff, his bright blue eyes wide. The one thing he had understood in all of this was that, both ships were under attack from something that did not give a damn who was a loyal Federation vessel and who were traitors. Swallowing and finding his voice again, “Captain, I suggest we give the Theurgy whatever help we can.” He imagined this would not go down well, “They could have hurt us at any time, and right now we are all in danger traitor or not.” He ran his fingers through his hair, a gesture giving away his nervousness. He was not really ready to trust the crew of the Theurgy, but he saw no choice  other than to go along with them. Rhys had initially been afraid when he learned where they were, but now he relaxed a little. Had the Theurgy’s crew intended to hurt them they would have done so by now, had they intended to capture them, he doubted they would have gone through with such an elaborate charade. Ultimately though the decision lied with his Captain, and he looked to her to make it.

[ Lieutenant Zelosa Ejek | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]

Ejek did not mind ensign Six. She was former borg, yes, but she had done just enough reading to soothe some of the fears she may have had. That she still had a lingering connection to the collective did not come as a surprise to her. Yet, she did not stand up for her, even though she could have. That was Six's job, not hers. If she could hear them though, that was only confirmation that they were here, for sure. In the wrong part of the galaxy.

Before her very eyes, the situation blossomed from bad to worse. Asurian saucers, out of nowhere. They were quite skilled at being annoying, she thought. The ship rocked, but she held onto her seat and managed to not fall out and tumble around.

There were two main situations at hand here. The first was with the Asurian attack. The Cayuga would not be able to hold on very long. It was battered, beaten, in worse state than the Resolve was. Even if she did have shields and structural integrity, she would still not last very long considering how scarce experienced officers were there. On top of that, not a single officer or crewman aboard that ship had yet seen an Asurian until just now.

The second was that the lie they had so carefully crafted was now exposed quite rudely. The Theurgy’s crew would seem even more insidious than they would have if they had just flown right up with no disguise. To earn the favor of the Cayuga’s crew once more would be difficult…

There were some solutions, but none of them were satisfactory. The Theurgy had firepower, but not quite the speed. A good match would be yet another saucer, which they had, but no Asurian pilot. Six was just as likely to kill as she was to get killed. She did not like the idea of setting Six out on the world in a saucer they knew nothing about, up against enemies they didn't know much about. She put that idea on the back burner, for now...

“Captain,” She began, sitting back up correctly in her seat. She wasn’t satisfied with the idea she came up with. Quite honestly, this should be someone else’s job. That she was apparently the most capable person to be the XO was alarming. “We need to rescue the Cayuga. She’s not going to hold on. We might be able to earn some favor if we can rescue the crew.”

"Six. " She addressed, but with a cold sternness. It was a sudden change from her earlier suggestion tone. This was a demand. "You will take the saucer with caution. If there is even so much as a question that it is not safe to operate, or that you are unable to understand the controls, you will return back here at once. There will be no martyrs. Is this understood?"

She did not want to authorize this. Everything in her being said no. In all honesty, she had no idea why she even entertained the idea of allowing it, let alone allowed it. But her words had been said, and she would not go back on them. Hopefully she made it exceedingly clear that no stupid deaths will happen here.

Lt Kaylon Jeen|Conference Room|USS Theurgy - Vector 03| @Arista @Fife @Auctor Lucan @Juzzie @FollowTomorrow, et al

Speaking a bit more normally so the rest of the Cayuga's senior staff could hear, he said "Captain, I don't know whether what we've been told about the Theurgy is true or not.  Personally, I have some doubts, but regardless of that fact, right now, they are our ONLY hope of getting out of this anywhere near alive and in one piece.   I'll follow whatever order you give...I just hope it's a good one, Captain.   We can't offer much of a defense, but we can try laying some of the Cayuga's torpedoes as mines." he offered as a suggestion.  "Maybe the bastards will take some damage that way"

He stood looking at Captain Ziegler, expectantly.

[Ensign Six | Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Auctor Lucan @Triage @Triton @Fife @Doc M.
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"You will take the saucer with caution. If there is even so much as a question that it is not safe to operate, or that you are unable to understand the controls, you will return back here at once. There will be no martyrs. Is this understood?"

“Understood, Lieutenant,” responded Six to Ejek, and immediately departed the bridge. She had a feeling the impounded saucer will be safe to operate, and as a former drone, who learns from other species in the same way drones learn from assimilated species, she had a feeling she will understand the controls. In fact, she may not need to.

She felt a rush of determination, and for a good reason. She was instrumental in saving the lives of the Resolve. With her hacking skills, she kept the warp core stable long enough for the Resolve crew to evacuate, but she failed to save the ship. Now there came a chance to save two ships. Well, a ship and a third, but saving the Cayuga will mean making a positive impression.

Besides, she knew the odds were against the two ships. Especially with one damaged and the other operating without as much power, per traveling in the Azure Nebula.

[Ensign Six | Lower Shuttle Bay/Impounded Asurian Ship | Deck 21 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

The saucer lay before her when Six entered. Now that she saw an Asurian ship up close, she was disappointed in the design. She had expected something more…intimidating, given how the Asurian species were in a whole, in her opinion. Then she recalled the words of James T. Kirk when he had to use a Klingon ship to infiltrate a system-wide facility:

“While its design is crude by our standards, its simplicity will be of assistance in this mission’s objective.”

Six felt those words were appropriate in her own objectives.

Inside, it didn’t take long for her to find its communications systems. She was ready to upload. Granted, she had a computer for hacking skills, but linking her implants to any system grants her abilities. She was a walking, talking, organic and emotional computer, after all. Her instructors at Starfleet Academy raved about her hacking abilities. One of them pretty much drove the point home.

“Link her up to a padd, she’s good. Link her up to a console, she’s great. Link her up to any sort of computer, she’s great. But link her up to a computer core, she’s invincible,” he was raving with pride.

Six smiled as she recalled those words, but there was no official position for “hacker.” Which was why she was a forensics officer. In Starfleet, it’s the closest one could come as an investigator, and she had a reputation at the Academy as an investigator. Well, a positive reputation anyway, given she scared often scared people just by displaying her implants.

Putting recollections aside, especially as the ship rocked from another impact, jolting her back to reality, she set to work at once. She extended an arm and sent her tubules, a prominent feature in a drone, whether or not he or she belonged to the Collective, into the system. Her ocular implant uploaded frequencies. Hacking into their frequencies. Six let herself smile. She knew she can do plenty of damage to the Asurians by hacking into their frequencies, their overall communication systems.

Let’s start small, shall we? thought Six, letting in a smile and an emotion she rarely ever felt: smugness. She continued to access, continued to upload frequencies, and prepared for her own cyberattack. As the average human would say, the Asurians are about to be screwed.

---

OOC: As a side note, the quote by Kirk, it comes from the game Star Trek Legacy, on a mission involving infiltration using a Klingon ship.

[ Lt JG, Salem Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Salem_Martin) | 1200 hrs. | Conference Room|USS Theurgy - Vector 03 ]
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Well that explained how they knew where the task force was. Martin hated the deceit but paused when the fake captain revealed that they were from the Resolve, he blinked for a moment and practically jumped over the table to face Jimmy. "Wait your from the Resolve? My sister, Vivian Martin, she was chief science officer on the resolve, is she on this ship?"

He let his emotions get the better of him for a moment, but it seemed somehow more purdinant information than the fact that the Theurgy was under attack by goat headed people. He looked to the Cayuga's captain for a moment waiting for some kind of order. Were they gonna try and wrest the control of this ship? The Theurgy had been trying to warn them about several threats, and had offered repairs. He had so many questions and so few answers.

The Cayuga was on her last legs, and he didn't really want to loose it, but it had no weapons, as the guy who normally shoots things he felt pretty useless at the moment unsure of what he could contribute to this fight. On the other hand as a guy who could punch really hard, he was confident that he could take his frustrations out on some of the Theurgy's crew. Depending on the answer to his question.

"Captain what are doing?"

[ Captain Anya Ziegler (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Anya_Ziegler) | Conference Lounge > Bridge | Vector 03: The Stallion | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]Anya Ziegler just hadn't been able to shake the idea that there was something amiss, and the feeling had not abated any even when Captain Armstrong had begun to speak of a new alien threat in the Quadrant, and shown them the Versant - what they had come to call the Axe. She'd noticed several signs that her senior staff were not at ease, but afterwards, Anya would have have been hard pressed to actually single out a specific detail. In the end, it hadn't even mattered, since the message from her First Officer had come, and shattered the illusion about what had really been going on.

[This is Commander West! We are under attack by an unknown hostile force! Our damaged sensors can't make a clear reading, but we're under enemy fire!]

As if throwing a rock through a window, the the whole situation fell apart. Some were shouting, most were talking on top of each other, trying to override the others. Ziegler had bolted to her feet, and since she was on the wrong ship, she had to make the crew of the Cayuga her priority. Therefore, she'd answered West first, even as others asked her for orders in the false room they'd ended up in. "This is Ziegler. Red Alert," she said after tapping her combadge, her order likely superflour since West must have rallied the stricken crew already, "reroute whatever power we have left to shields and phasers! Power up the aerowing too and prepare it for immediate launch! We've saved it for a rainy day, and this might be it... I'll return to the bridge with the staff as soon as we're able."

As the deck beneath her feet shook, she cast her eyes about, meeting those of the staff that spoke to her. She also heard a female voice on the intercom, saying that there was a lot to talk about later. That voice sounded eerily familiar... but through the barrage of information and words that washed over her, she could but keep a single priority, and that was the Cayuga. If this was her old ship - the Theurgy - then so be it. The ramifications of it all had to wait. She had to save her crew. The way her heart felt like it would beat itself out of her chest, it was all for them - her fears for the Cayuga paramount.

"Follow me," she ordered her senior staff, not about to remain in the briefing room they had found themselves in, almost expecting them to be locked in there. She couldn't see the tactical situation from there, so she set a brisk pace out of the room, following the man that had posed as Armstrong and not taking 'no' for an answer. Ekon was already on the bridge - which proved to be one of the two Battle Bridges - but her eyes were not for him. Her gaze was already on the viewscreen and the tactical situation they faced. She wrapped a hand around a piece of railing and swore under her breath - eyes darting about to take it all in.

When the Cayuga came into view, she gathered that one of the enemy crafts had rammed itself inside the Warp Trail lounge and was blasting its way through the spine of her ship - green beams exiting the hull from within. Despite the turbulence and movements of the Theurgy - which had to be just one of the Vectors - and the glow of the Azure Nebula, she could see bodies tumbling away from the Cayuga. She had to get back there.

Casting her eyes towards whomever sat in the command chair on the bridge - was it Stark? Natalie Stark? - she made herself perfectly clear. "Get me back on my bridge," she said, barely keeping her tone civil. The Cayuga might be done for, but she loved the people in her senior staff, and didn't want them to die. A Captain should go down with her ship, and not drag her crew with her if she could avoid it. "Immediately."

The woman at the Ops station was unknown to her, sure she hadn't seen her on the Theurgy back in the day, whoever she was, Ziegler's voice of authority made no compromise. "Did you not hear me? Prepare a transport, beam me to the bridge when you drop your shields, and then I want you to transport the rest of my officers to the Cayuga's aeroshuttle, now." Then, Anya Ziegler looked towards Natalie Stark. "Save my ship, then we'll talk, but don't expect us to just stand here and watch."

Then, she looked towards the present officers from the Cayuga. The fact that it might be the last time she spoke to them was not lost on her, but she wasted no time on that notion. "Work together. The aeroshuttle still has teeth," she said, and while she both loved and trusted them equally, she had to pick someone among the Lieutenants to command the damn thing. They needed a chain of command. She could have picked anyone, but her eyes fell on Kaylon Jeen, the Trill having fought in the Dominion War. "Lieutenant Jeen, you'll be in command. Good luck..."

Then, her bitter eye fell on Stark again, not about to take 'no' for an answer.

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Holographic Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | "USS Jamestown" ] ]
[Show/Hide]At the tactical station, Masuda Yukimura was doing his best to repel and target the Asurians that accosted the Stallion, but given the number of Cayuga officers that entered the back of the bridge, it was impossible to not notice the development. He could sympathise with them, but dropping the shields at that moment was...

...unless? "Captain Stark, I can give us enough time for a transport!" she called, the deck shaking as the Stallion's shields were diminished yet again by continued Asurian fire. Once he finally got the affirmation from Stark, he turned towards Conway at Ops. "Ready the transports and energise on my mark! Petty Officer t'Jellaieu, initiate evasive manoeuvre Beta-One-Four-Zero in three... two... one... Now!  "

Then, once the series of rapid turns began, Yukimura staved off their pursuers with a continuous stream of phaser bolts from four different phaser emitters on the Stallion - effectively discouraging the two saucers for a while. "Dropping shields! Energize!"

And then, while she looked at her senior staff, Ziegler was beamed to her bridge, while the rest of the Cayuga officers on the Stallion ended up on the bridge of their aeroshuttle.

Yukimura could but hope that aeroshuttle was launched quickly enough to aid in the fight....

---

OOC: Since @Arista has not been able to post yet, I have decided to progress the story and not keep everyone waiting here. I hope this development works for everyone. :) 7 days response time begins now for all! Multi, however, you let a lot of IC time pass in your post so let us catch up with you before posting again. Writers with Cayuga characters, your characters will end up on the bridge of the Cayuga's aeroshuttle. See the Cayuga page for more info, but it's the auxiliary craft underneath the saucer. Here is the bridge, where I suggest Rhys take the Communications role on the port side, and T'Panu prepares to take on injured crew in the aft compartments of the craft. I have ideas for that too. Hope this image help! [Show/Hide]

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Bridge | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ]
Attn: @Auctor Lucan @alphawiz @Veridian @Gadget @Masorin @Juzzie @lisavw

Ekon turned his head to face Captain Ziegler as she spoke, addressing the bridge crew of the Theurgy. She spoke with a tone that would broker no arguments or compromises. The Captain had remained silent for much of their meeting with the crew of the “Jamestown”, but now she had resumed her usual heir of confidence and command. She turned her attention to the Officers from the Cayuga next, addressing them without the anger in her tone than she had directed at the Theurgy’s crew.

”Work together. The aeroshuttle still has teeth.” She instructed them, scanning the group until her eyes fell on the Chief Engineer. ”Lieutenant Jeen, you’ll be in command. Good Luck…”

Ekon stared at the Captain for a long moment, etching her face into his memory. He had been in similar situations and heard similar speeches several times throughout his Starfleet career, and in his experience there was usually a good chance of never seeing people again when such words were spoken. He nodded to the Captain, knowing there was nothing to say in such times, especially as an NCO. She only needed them to do their duty.

Ekon turned from the Captain to face the viewscreen once more and stared at the Cayuga, eyes lingering on the saucer that had embedded itself in the rear of the ship. He took in the catastrophic damage the Iroquois-class ship had sustained as Yukimura spoke.

”Dropping shields! Energize!”

The viewscreen and the horrific image it displayed disappeared from Ekon’s view, being replaced by the cramped bridge of the aerowing shuttle as he and the officers from the Cayuga were beamed aboard, minus the Captain.

---

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Bridge | Aerowing Shuttle | USS Cayuga ]

No sooner had they materialized on the aerowing’s bridge than the ship rocked violently, the saucer lodged in the Warp-Trail Lounge having fired another burst through the heart of the Cayuga. Ekon stumbled on the quaking deck, and barely managed to keep his feet as he moved towards the Ops console at the forward station of the small bridge. Ekon glanced around the bridge as he moved, his gaze moving over each of the officers in turn as he grabbed the back of his seat to steady himself against another tremor. Lieutenants Jeen, Williams, T’Panu, and Vanya. Lieutenant J.G. Martin and Ensign Dumral. And himself. The bridge of the aerowing was rather crowded, though from what he could see, the bridge was intact and undamaged.

Thank goodness for small miracles. Ekon thought, glad to find the condition of the aerowing’s bridge to be significantly better than the state the rest of the ship appeared to be in. His gaze lingered on one particular officer for a moment before he turned and took his seat.

Once seated at the Ops console, Ekon began running a systems check and readying the aeroshuttle for launch as he waited for Lt. Jeen to begin giving out orders.

[Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark, Captain | Temporary Quarters | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ]Attn: @Arista @Auctor Lucan @Multificionado  @FollowTomorrow @alphawiz @Gadget @Masorin @Juzzie @Fife @Griff @lisavw @Veridian @Triton @Doc M. 
[Show/Hide]
Oh, shit was all that Natalie could think as she stood back up in front of her chair, barking orders, acknowledging and confirming the suggestions from the helm - orders interrupted by the presence of Captain Anya Ziegler. It was as if the past few months had not happened, and Natalie was that shy, Assistant Chief, working for Hedricks, and was suddenly caught in the cross fire with the first officer. Except now, both women were in command of their respective ships. Natalie was doing her best to protect her former XO's vessel from more damage, but with an Asurian Saucer already deeply embedded in the wounded vessel - and therefore disrupting their ability to extend the shields - there was only so much she could do.

Part of her wanted to argue with Anya. Dropping her own shields right now was pretty damn stupid. Sending Anya back to that ship might very well be a death sentence. What a poor favor that would be to her former XO, assisting in her suicide by Asurian. On the other hand, if she were in the same seat as the Cayuga's Captain, she might be arguing for just that. There was another part of her that wanted to shout down the woman for threatening to undermine her very tenuous command as is. Ordering about her people on her bridge could be damned problematic. But a quick glance around showed that all of her people were doing their jobs, or looking to her for confirmation.

"We'll deal with this later," Natalie said in agreement. "Get them beamed over safe," she ordered, keeping her calm. She would not allow Anya to get under her skin. Not with so many moving parts in play. Even as the two stared each other down, Masuda was executing a brilliant assault run, paired with Lillee's impressive piloting skills. Ensign Six was down in the Stallions shuttle bay, doing her best to unleash an electronic blitzkrieg on the attacking Asurian fleet, if only she could successfully hack the captured saucer they currently had impounded. In short, Natalie had too much to worry about to give a damn right now.

It was not the reunion she would have preferred.

Just before the transporter beam took Anya off her bridge, Natalie locked her gaze with the Cayuga's Captain. There was a hardness to Natalie Stark that would not have been there when Cpt. Ziegler had last seen the then Lieutenant Stark.  A coldness that spoke of horrors few could understand, and a cold steel will that not even Natalie herself knew she possessed, tempered by the tutelage of Jien Ives and Carrigan Trent. "Good luck, Captain Ziegler."

And then they were gone and Natalie was left turning to look at her crew. "Get those shields back up," she snapped her fingers, feeling the ship shake slightly as a beam smashed into their hull, even as the shields snapped right back into place. She kept a frown off her face - getting the Cayuga's crew off her ship had been a must for various reasons. Right now, they had to simply survive the encounter before she'd deal with the repercussions. I couldn't know, I couldn't trust. This was too important. God knows I wanted to she thought, before setting those thoughts aside in that steel locked box in the back of her mind.

"Helm, bring us back around and lets see if we can provide some cover for our friends over there to launch their aerowing," For whatever good that will do, she bitterly thought. "Tactical. Which ever one of those saucers you pegged earlier looks the worse off? Take it out. Now. We need to get those numbers down." She was back in her seat, arms braced on the chair, looking straight ahead, trying to project confidence to her crew.

Lt Kaylon Jeen|Bridge - Vector 03 - Stallion -  USS Theurgy

Kaylon listened as the captain ordered the officers of the Theurgy to beam her back to the Cayuga, and the rest of them to the aerowing.  Then she turned to them and said  "Work together. The aeroshuttle still has teeth . Lieutenant Jeen, you'll be in command. Good luck..."

Surprised at that last, it took him a full two seconds to process it, but still he nodded and said "Aye, Captain...and we'll see you soon" Either on the Cayuga, or in the hereafter, as the thought finished inside his head.  As he felt the transporter effect take hold, the last conscious thought before becoming nothing but energy and a transporter pattern was  Oh hell!


Lt Kaylon Jeen|Bridge - Cayuga's Aerowing Shuttle  ((OOC : Shouldn't this thing have a name?))

He materialized and a second later, the ship rocked as the Cayuga took a grazing hit.  Chief Eboh was already at the Ops station running a systems check and the others were quickly getting to their stations.   Captain Ziegler had put him in command, so that's where he'd be.  He hoped her faith in him was justified.  He thought he'd done a pretty good job as the new Chief Engineer since the Borg attack, but he hadn't really had a lot of choice in the matter.  Just like now, he mused, but there wasn't time to get all introspective.  They had a job to do.

"Chief, get me a systems readout.  Martin, I need a weapons inventory and status of the phaser power.  Before we undock, transport a  half dozen full sized torpedoes into our cargo hold.  We can't fire them, but I have a couple of ideas.  The Cayuga can't really use them anyway.  Communications - contact the Theurgy and request any and all tactical data they have on those ships, and transfer it to tactical.   Maybe we can find a way to be more than just a fly to be swatted!" 

Looking down at his PADD, he linked it to the aerowing's systems and pulled up an engineering readout.  All the systems were fairly intact.  They hadn't tapped any of the power systems here yet.  If they made it back in one piece, that may change.  The Cayuga was still in bad shape and getting worse by the minute now that the Asurians were pounding away at it.

It was now or never.  "Alright.   Release docking clamps and launch as soon as all systems are ready.  We have a job to do."

He took a deep breath wondering just how much longer he'd be breathing.  Well, he'd survived the Dominion War, a Borg attack, and three lifetimes.  Mathematically speaking, the odds were still in his favor, he thought smiling.  Unless, of course, his number was finally up.

 [ Chief Medical Officer T'Panu | Bridge | Aerowing Shuttle | USS Cayuga ]

T'Panu stood in horror, thinking about those poor souls still stuck on the Cayuga, and still wondering about the crew from the Theurgy. Wasn't there more they could have done to protect the Cayuga? Certainly at least until they could transport more crewmembers off the ship. If only they could have acted quicker, told them who they really were quicker, so they could have gotten to work on a battle plan. But who could have seen this attack coming? Certainly none of them, and definitely no one from the other crew.

As she began to find her way around the bridge, she walked quickly back to the aft compartment to see what sort of supplies were there. It was a small med bay, but she was grateful to at least have a room she could run. There were 3 beds in close quarters, a decent amount of cabinets and some counter space so she could setup her emergency stations. She grabbed her dermal regenerators, fluids, medical tricorder, hypospray and placed them all out on the counters. Anyone who would be coming back here she would need to mend them up as quickly as possible to free up the beds, and even with everything laid out, she still wondered if it would save enough time to treat more people. T'Panu put the medical tricorder on the left side of the counter, as it would be the first thing she needed. Next she put the dermal regenerators and the hypospray. She hung the battlefield trauma kits on a few hooks near the door, so if shit hit the fan someone could grab them and tend to the people on the bridge while she was doing what she could in the med bay. She carried another one to the bridge, and placed it where it could be easily grabbed.

T'Panu knew if they were hit in this thing it would take some devastating blows, but was hoping there was still enough crew left to transport to the Aerowing Shuttle to save. They could pack this thing full like sardines, if they had to. With her med bay ready to take patients, she grabbed her bag with the few supplies she had taken from the other ship. She hadn't realized how much they'd come in handy, especially since she couldn't go back to the Cayuga to replenish her supplies.

T'Panu setup one final station, which she deemed the "last resort" station. On the other side of the room she placed isotropic restraints for anyone who may have been assimilated, or well on their way. She also thought these would be a good idea for anyone in severe pain or confused so she wouldn't get attacked. Next she placed the subdermal bioprobes, tissue mitigator and neural interface. Her working theory was if someone were to have Borg parts (she severely hoped not) she could use the tissue mitigator to stop more cells from attaching to the technology and use the neural interface to sever the connection from the Borg technology and the brain, hopefully sparing the patient.

She also wondered about the unknown aliens, but she could only prepare for so much. Her OCD kicked in as she was setting up all the medical supplies, but she still wondered if it would be good enough. "I will not lose as many people as I did during 359, I can't allow myself to let that many die," she thought. She knew she did everything she could, but had always wondered if there was more she could have done. Why she couldn't save them all she'd never know, but she swore to herself this would not be the same outcome. She will run herself as long as she can on lack of sleep to ensure they are all saved.

As she had everything she needed, she realized there was nothing left to do but sit and wait. She walked back up to the bridge to see what was going on until she had news of their crew and what their next plan was.

[CONN Officer Dumral (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Mektari_Dumral)|Bridge | Vector 3 | Stallion | USS Theurgy]
[Show/Hide]
Mektari was, much to her chagrin, caught completely unawares to the deception. All seemed perfectly normal to her, in a conference room discussing, unfortunately, new prospective enemies and formulating plans to repair their ship; she had no reason to be suspicious. She felt a deep pang of remorse, for when the holographic bridge flickered she could practically see the look of disappointment on her father’s face. What proper Cardassian didn’t plan to be double crossed at any moment?

She bolted from her chair, hand immediately aiming for her hip. Had she been on an away mission a weapon would have been there, but this wasn’t an away mission into hostile conditions, so her hip was left bare. At least they thought it wasn’t hostile conditions until now. Instead she stood tense, apparently awaiting an attack at any moment as she quietly listened to the entire conversation  between the other officers. It was a sound tactic to stay silent and just follow orders, not letting the utter surprise of the impossible situation creep to her face, instead keeping the whirl of emotions locked tight as they made for the bridge of what turned out to be the Theurgy of all ships! There was no time to react to that fact though, they were under attack and it was time to act.

Bu her whole body stiffened as her Captain Ziegler gave the order for them to report to Aerowing Shuttle. All attempts at staying professional disappeared momentarily as she burst out, “But you can’t go back by yourself! Besides, I would be far more useful to you on the bridge!” Only a few seconds were able to pass by before she caught herself, gathering herself with a steadying breath before amending her actions, “..Sorry Captain, I’ll do as ordered. And good luck to you as well.”

[CONN Officer Dumral (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Mektari_Dumral)|Bridge | Cayuga’s Aerowing Shuttle

The familiar sound of the transporter beam whirled around her, the bride disappearing for a far more familiar and substantially smaller one. She made sure to keep herself regularly updated with flight simulations for situations such as this. She might have not actually flown the shuttle before, but she had started her flying career in such small ships and she felt confidence bleeding back into her. This was something she could get behind. No deeper thoughts of what to do or how to react to the volley of information and subsequent attacks was needed. All she had to do was pilot and follow the orders of her superior officer.

She was quick to settle into her seat, back straight, fingers running across the controls with quiet concentration. Her head tilted slightly to listen to listen to Lieutenant Jeen’s commands. She a gave a curt nod as she checked all systems, “Conn is at peak efficiency sir, we’re ready to go.” As long as everyone else reported in the same she would unlock the shuttle, following Jeen’s orders and making her way through the docking bay doors into the familiar haze of the nebula.

[ Acting XO Lt. Zelosa Ejek | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | U.S.S. Theurgy ] @Gadget @Brutus

Though she had no empathetic powers, it did not take an empath to detect unease within the Captain, and Ejek did not blame her. To craft such an elaborate ruse was a risk, to see it fall apart a horror. The crew was headed their way. She expected confrontation, she stood up to meet it head on and her gut knotted...

What she did not expect was this.

Though this Captain Ziegler did not act as if she knew Natalie, Ejek could read Natalie a little better. They knew one another, and apparently, at least the Theurgy’s acting captain still seemed to care enough, if that hesitation meant anything. Regardless, she did not heed Zeigler’s commands. Instead she waited patiently for Natalie to give her commands. Meanwhile...she had her eyes locked on one peculiar appearance on the bridge. One Cardassian woman, much like her and yet so different. She restrained her desire to run up and talk to her like some little girl. Far more serious was going on. Still...

Zeigler had her wish, courtesy of the Captain Stark standing near Ejek. The Cardassian took her seat once more, in the midst of panic appropriate for the situation. She almost seemed calm. In reality, she felt the seriousness of the situation weigh in. If Stark and Zeigler were familiar, it might be yet one more card in the Theurgy’s favor.

The transition from poignant moment to being a Captain again was seamless, mostly. As she felt herself rocked in her seat, she decided she’d save the back-patting for later. She remained stoic in her chair, letting Natalie lead, because she is the worst possible candidate for leadership in combat situations and she’s still rather ticked off that she was chosen.

[Lt. Vanya|Bridge | Cayuga's Aerowing Shuttle

Vanya took her place at the science station.   She knew that she wouldn’t be scanning for anomalies or looking charting nebula.   Her main role was to get the aereoshuttle’s not inconsiderable scanning capabilities on the battle.   As she made sure that the sensor resolution was optimised for ships and damage, she couldn’t ignore the fear anymore  

A renegade Starfleet crew  

Seeing such a thing firsthand was bizarre to her.   She had learned about the Maquis of course, but these were Starfleet Federations officers who had fought for their principles, in the true Federation Spirit, instead of the law in a treaty that had caused much dissatisfaction, even amongst those who had remained loyal  

As recently as the USS Enterprise E in 2375, crews had been known to rebel against orders, although this was usually defined as “Cowboy dipolamacy.”  

This was different.    A crew was working against Starfleet and the very fabric of the Federation.   The implications terrified Vanya.   She had to protect the ideals of the Federation, and the best way to do that was do do her duty, in this case, whatever she can to save her home, the Cayuga.  

“Science standing by.” She said once she was happy with the configuration.   “Sensors are at maximum and stand ready.”  

She would protect Starfleet, however she could.    Ironically, for now that meant working with their deceivers.  

[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Battle Bridge | Vector 3 | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy
[Show/Hide]
In the moment he realized the jig was up and the Cayuga's officers were on his heels, Mariner managed to report, "Vivian's on another vector, but she's okay." was all he could get out before standing in formation along with two other security personnel from the checkpoint who he'd whistled at, appearing with phasers in holster, plus one more for the vector's acting chief, he passed when it was offered but declined the sidearm as a show of good faith, but if any of them tried to wrest control from Stark, that would be a point of disagreement.

It was clear he didn't intend to let them pass, not without Stark's expressed command. Personally, he would have loved to hop into his exo-suit, grab the equipment he'd worn or collected from Sud Lang and have a tactical advantage against any of the Asurians below for him to seek and destroy, or if he gave his orders right, 'track and capture'. The last thing he wanted was a melee that would include the Borg in some 3-way battle. They were the one race he wouldn't dare take lightly or collect trophies from, not when they posed an virus-like threat. Not even when in his latest full fighting form, which he could hop into at a moment's notice or even sooner if beamed into it, equipment pre-loaded.

[ Lt JG, Salem Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Salem_Martin) |Bridge | Cayuga's Aerowing Shuttle ]
[Show/Hide]
Vivian was alive, so said the random man claiming to be from the Resolve. Martin could already work backwards from that. There wouldn't have been any reason to plant that information, no way the other crew could have known the connection between him and the Resolves lead science officer, why claim to be from a ship no one had ever heard of if they were on the Theurgy?

The only thing that made any sense was that the man had been from the resolve, and because of that Salem was left with the knowledge that his sister was alive, but in another vector of the Theurgy, helping the crew defy the orders of Starfleet. He trusted his sisters judgement she was the smart one in the family, but why would she join forces with traitors?

Sure Vivi could be a little on the mad science side if she had a bad day, but there was a difference between that and full blown treachery. Walking slowly to his tactical console he didn't even really have time to register the fact that they had been transported, or that their captain hadn't been sent to them, the Cayuga was mostly in tatters and the only thing he could focus on was the mix of Joy and frustration that his sister was alive somewhere in space. When the Resolve had been lost he hadn't been sure what would happen.

He tapped at his consol for now he had an enemy to fight against the other set of aliens which seemed to lump them in with the Theurgy. "Tactical online, standing by, we have very few weapons on this shuttle, I will try to make them count."

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Bridge | Aerowing Shuttle ]

At Lieutenant Jeen’s order, Ekon’s hands danced across the console as he called out an ”Aye sir!”. He worked quickly, checking the status of the aerowing’s various systems and calling them out to the Acting Captain as he went.

”The aerowing has not yet sustained any major damage from the attacks on the Cayuga.” Ekon reported. ”Power, life support and inertial dampeners are online. We have full power to shields, and to the transporters.” Ekon’s right hand tapped out a few commands on the console, then he placed both hands on the console and slid them towards his torso.

”The torpedoes have been beamed aboard, sir.” Ekon reported as he turned his chair and looked at Lt. Jeen. ”All systems are operating normally. I’m not quite sure how, with the state the Cayuga is in.”

Ekon finished his report and turned back to his console, taking a deep breath as he waited for the aerowing to launch. They would be leaving a dying ship, only to be putting themselves directly into the line of fire.

Looks like our Chief Engineer will be earning his spots today… Ekon thought with a chuckle as they waited for the command that would get them underway.

[Lt. Rhys Williams|Bridge | Vector 3 | Stallion | USS Theurgy]

Williams had trailed after his Captain, as there was little else he could do. His mouth dropped open when he saw who was commanding this Vector of the Theurgy. Natalie Stark, they had graduated the Academy together. They had taken some of the same classes, especially when Rhys had been learning starship operations rather than Counselling. It seemed from the tone of his Captain that she knew who the woman sat in the chair was too. He remembered Stark, as being quiet and shy but with a mind as sharp as a razor.

However, his reminiscences were interrupted by his Captain taking complete charge of the situation. He was always impressed by how quickly she could take command, how she could take quick decisive action. He always felt slightly trapped in her wake and this situation was no different. She demanded to return to the bridge of the Cayuga and for her senior staff to be sent to the Aerowing shuttle. He was glad when his Captain was listened to after a moments awkwardness, no one wanted to talk about the elephant in the room. The Theurgy’s deception and their position of enemies of the Federation. This made him worried about what would happen if and when they survived this, but they had a job to do. The Captain placed Lt. Jeen in charge, Rhys was more than happy with this.

He stood among his crew mates as the transporter beam took them, and hoped like hell this would not be the last time he saw the Captain.

[Lt. Rhys Williams| Aerowing Shuttle]

As soon as they materialised, it seemed like Lt. Jeen sprang into action barking out orders left and right. Rhys took his seat at communications, just like the crew had drilled hundreds of times before. He was tasked with sending communications back to the Theurgy requesting tactical information on the aggressors.  “Aye Sir.” He said, allowing his brain to shut down as his fingers started operating on their own. This was a blessed relief, as dark thoughts swirled on the edge of his consciousness, longing to take root in his mind. Fear, panic, the nightmares of his past, and thoughts of his mother all attempted to batter their way into his head.

In short order the Theurgy responded providing the tactical information that would hopefully keep the little shuttle alive. “I have the tactical information from the Theurgy, transferring it now to the tactical station.”

As Lt. Jeen gave the order to lave, Rhys swallowed hard his face paling and held on to the console tightly in front of him. He was going into battle again ready or not.

Lt Kaylon Jeen | Bridge | Cayuga Aerowing Shuttle | Attn @Auctor Lucan  @Veridian  @Gadget  @Masorin  @Juzzie  @lisavw @Fife



"The torpedoes have been beamed aboard, sir.  All systems are operating normally. I'm not quite sure how, with the state the Cayuga is in." reported Ekon.

"Small favors, eh?" he said,
"Right now, we're about the only hope that the Cayuga has, so let's get to it, shall we?  Do we have any response from the Theurgy on tactical information yet?  Helm, release docking clamps and let's launch.  We're a sitting duck where we are."

Kaylon watched the viewscreen as the aerowing launched.   Now all he had to do was find a way to keep from getting blasted into oblivion, at least long enough to try and do some damage.   "At this point, I'm open to any and all suggestions as far as how we try to solve this little problem.  In the meantime, Helm bring us about on an intercept course to the Asurian ship that's wedged into the Cayuga.  Use their hull to get us cover from the other vessels, and let's see if we can give them a few hull breaches to worry about."

A

[ Chief Medical Officer T'Panu | Med Bay | Aerowing Shuttle | USS Cayuga ]

T'Panu stood in the Med Bay, impatiently waiting for something to happen. After everything they have gone through thus far, she couldn't help but expect the worst. They were lucky to have made it this far, but they weren't in the clear yet. She still had no idea how the Aerowing Shuttle was in perfect condition, despite how battered the USS Cayuga was. She wondered what happened to the rest of the crew, praying they died quickly and painlessly.

She stood, deep in thought, staring at the subdermal bioprobes, tissue mitigator and neural interface. She grabbed her PADD and began some calculations, just in case they were able to bring some more crew back; or worse, the Borg attacked again. She also drew out an artificial neural network (ANN) to test out her theory and start making calculations. She drew out all of the artificial neurons that would be potentially connecting the Borg technology with the human brain synapses. If this system will "learn" these processes, maybe I could teach it to differentiate between human and Borg mechanics.

T'Panu thought about a subdermal scalpel to help with the procedure. If she could sharpen its focal point to just a single cell at a time, she could control exactly how much of the attached technology was cut. She could focus on one single synapse at a time and reroute the pathways around the Borg technology so the entire system wasn't shut down at once. Judging by her calculations of the ANN, if she were to cutoff too much of the Borg technology at once, she would essentially leave her patient brain dead. On the contrary, if she were to operate on a single synapse at a time, she could, hopefully, get the patient back with all of their mental faculties intact. T'Panu speculated that if she attached a tissue mitigator at the beginning of the operation, not only would the Borg technology cease connecting to new cells and synapses, it would also stop new cell regrowth so she could control how much technology she had to remove. After that, she would use the subdermal scalpel to, in a timely fashion, cut off the Borg technology. Once all of the Borg parts are disengaged, she could take the tissue mitigator off and use a stimulant to allow new cells to regrow. Hopefully in the process T'Panu would be able to surgically remove all of the Borg parts; if they were only rendered useless, hopefully that would be good enough.

T'Panu was snapped back to reality as she felt the Aerowing Shuttle taking off. She put her calculations away and prepared for more casualties, hoping there wouldn't be any. She wasn't naive, but she was also hopeful that this next attack would end up better than the previous one. She prepared for the worst as she walked to the Bridge to see what they were getting themselves into.

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Battle Bridge | The Stallion | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]With two saucers chasing them, and the other two engaged with the Cayuga, Masuda was painfully aware that they were risking their own necks for the Cayuga crew, stranded as they were on their already disabled ship. Stark's orders were clear, however: They were still to give the Cayuga cover fire, at the cost of their own Vector. "Acknowledged, Captain," said Masuda through his teeth, judging how soon they would be at the Iroquois-class wreck, and tapping his fingers against his touchscreen. "Ops, I need power rerouted to the aft shields!"

"We have little to spare," said Conway and looked towards Chief O'Connell, "Chief, if you can power down any more auxiliary systems, now would be the time! We need all you can spare for defences and phasers."

Meanwhile Masuda glanced towards the Helm station, who had executed all the turns and twists of their previous evasive manoeuvre. Sometimes, a more precise measuring angle system, beyond the 360-degree system, was required.  "Petty Officer t'Jellaieu, recommended heading; Three-One-Eight Mark Nine. I mean to drive a wedge between the Cayuga's and its external assailant. Use whatever evasive manoeuvres you need, just get us there as fast as you can!"

And while heading there, Masuda had his answer ready for Stark. "Sensors say they are of equal condition, so I will single out the one firing upon the Cayuga. It migh-" The bridge shook, one of the two Asurian saucers managing to cut into their hide with their graviton beams. "Aft shields at 40 %!"

Conway spoke again. "Captain, the hole in our starboard side is collapsing around the edges! We have depressurised areas on Decks 19, 20, 21 and 22!"

"Dealing suppression fire now!" called Masuda, firing with the Stallion's aft pulse phasers, trying to deter their pursuers and give them some time. The years on the Black Opal hadn't been kind to his manual aim, but he was about to lock on to the selected saucer ahead of them with computer assistance. The Cayuga hung in the balance. "Target acquired. Four photon torpedoes away in three, two, one!" He hit the button, and the four torpedo launchers on the stallion sent glaring lights through the gases of the Azure Nebula. The saucer, which kind they knew were agile from previous engagements, managed to evade the first one. Even the second one missed by a small margin, but the third hit... and fourth managed to penetrate what was left of their shields. It looked in a bad condition, but not completely disabled.

"Captain!" called Conway, and placed a marker on the viewscreen, showing how the saucer inside the Cayuga was still tearing its way through the Iroquois-class ship. "At this rate, the saucer will be able to reach the duterium cryo tanks above the warp core within the minute!"

Masuda clenched his teeth, having seen the same thing. "I can fire at it from the outside, Captain, through the Cayuga's hull, but we'll likely kill a lot of the crew, perhaps even hit those tanks before the Asurians. At the same time, we could save the rest of the crew if we act now," he called, and the ship shook again, taking more fire from the Asurian saucers still chasing them. "We could beam people down there too, to stop that saucer on-site, but we might already be too late!"

If only they had come up with that sooner. Now, the Cayuga might be lost. At least he had sent all the data they had on the Asurians to the Cayuga and its aeroshuttle both.

[ Captain Anya Ziegler (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Anya_Ziegler) | Bridge | Deck 01 | USS Cayuga ]
[Show/Hide]On the Cayuga's bridge, where they barely had enough power to keep all the displays lit, Captain Ziegler sat down in the Commanding Officer's chair.

"Status report!" she called, the reverberations of the saucer's progress inside the Cayuga's hull keenly felt.

"Sickbay has been compromised! Last we heard from T'Panu's appointed officer, they were evacuating. Internal sensors suggest the whole deck is depressurised!"

"We need to counter those energy beams! Forcefields, sheilds, anything! Ziegler to Bannin, have all security forces converge on the craft inside the hull. Hit it with whatever we have! Isomegnetic disintegrators, phasers, everything!"

Which, unfortunately, wasn't a lot. They didn't have an adequate number handheld armament, being a science ship.

"This i-" began Ziegler, but the bridge shook from another hit directly against the bridge module. While hardened in hull, one of those aquamarine beams entered the bridge, depressurising it by tearing up the deckhead above them. Ziegler was yanked out of her seat, tumbling against the hole...

...until a structural integrity field snapped into place. Ziegler had lost all manner of orientation when she came crashing down again, her head hitting the edge of the Ops station.

The last thing she saw before slipping into oblivion, was the Asurian saucer outside their hull being hit by photon torpedoes. At the same time, a muffled voice, calling the aeroshuttle. It was her XO. "West to the aerowing! The Captain needs medical attention, and there are no facilities available! Stand by to momentarily drop shields for transport! All non-essential personnel, prepare to abandon ship!"

Then, everything went black for Anya - all her worries and regrets bleeding out of her.

[ Chief Marshal Akri Sitaio | Overseer-saucer K'thill | Azure Nebula ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]Giving chase to the Theurgy's tertiary hull, Sitaio bared her teeth at the prey ahead of them. It was firing into its wake, almost hitting them with rapid pulse phaser energy bursts, but so far the Chief Marshall had managed to stay on its tail.

"Chief Sitaio! They almost disabled one of ours! The Cayuga is launching a second ship from its saucer too!"

"Stay on the Theurgy! She is coming part soon enough!" snarled Sitaio, baring her teeth as she watched their beams decimate the shields of their prey. Hers and the other saucer next to her own were about to cut the Theurgy apart from behind, leaving the Cayuga to it's fate. While the cravens had been lucky enough to hit one of their saucer, there was still another tearing the Theurgy's allied ship apart from within. The Cayuga would soon be nothing more than a husk.

"As soon as the shields of the Theurgy are down, you two will beam over to our overseer saucer inside their shuttle bay. Then, you will power it up, and take the same voyage through the Theurgy inner structure as our brothers have done on the Cayuga!"

---

OOC: Response time set for seven days for all, in which the development above has happened. The saucer that was hit by torpedoes is still spaceworthy, almost adrift, but it's going to open fire on the Cayuga's aerowing nonetheless. There are two saucers chasing the Stallion, and the fourth one is about to kill the Cayuga permanently from within, lest something definitive is done about it...

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Vector Three Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Atten: @Brutus, @FollowTomorrow, @StarDuster, @Triton.

Combat is chaotic.  Combat is confusing.  Situations change, new crises arise, and you have to have your head on a swivel just to maintain situational awareness, let alone react to conditions appropriately.  That’s why training is so important.  When the feces hits the series of vanes radiating from a hub rotated on its axle by a motor your mind goes blank and if your drill instructors did their job your training kicks in.  After his extremely brief stint on the bridge of the Resolve during the Dominion War, William Robert “Billy Bob” O’Connell took a course on bridge operations during his time as a student/instructor at Starfleet Academy, ostensibly to train officers, but he took it nonetheless.  

That was no substitute for the thorough and intense bridge training that officers received though.   On the bridge in officer country, O’Connell felt out of his depth.  Worse yet, they were actually expecting him to come up with creative solutions to solve the problems while being distracted by the enemy that was trying to kill them.

"Chief, if you can power down any more auxiliary systems, now would be the time!” Yvette Conway called out.  “We need all you can spare for defenses and phasers.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Master Chief O’Connell called back.  “Don’t you worry none; a lot a systems ain’t workin’ enough tuh waste power on ‘em nohow!”  Unfortunately, that meant that many auxiliary systems were already inoperative and that there wasn’t as much extra power to juggle around as Conway and Masuda would like, but Billy Bob would do as he could.  It didn’t seem like enough when the enemy nearly took out shield five.

"Aft shields at 40 %!" Masuda declared.

“Structural integrity fields are compromised in our midsection!” Billy Bob shouted as his fingers raced across his console.  “Attemptin’ tuh reconfigure!”

Conway spoke again.  "Captain, the hole in our starboard side is collapsing around the edges! We have depressurized areas on Decks 19, 20, 21 and 22!"

"Dealing suppression fire now! " Masuda announced.   "Target acquired. Four photon torpedoes away in three, two, one!"

"Captain!  At this rate, the saucer will be able to reach the deuterium cryo tanks above the warp core within the minute!" Conway proclaimed.

"I can fire at it from the outside, Captain, through the Cayuga's hull, but we'll likely kill a lot of the crew, perhaps even hit those tanks before the Asurians.  At the same time, we could save the rest of the crew if we act now," Masuda offered.  

That got Billy Bob to look up from his console.  “Of all the hair-brained…” he muttered under his breath.

[Ensign Six | Lower Shuttle Bay/Impounded Asurian Ship | Deck 21 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]
 Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @Masorin @FollowTomorrow @Doc M. @Triage @Triton @Fife
[Show/Hide]

It took Six longer than anticipated to hack into the Asurian communications system. She wanted to be sure she was connected to the frequencies between all four ships, not to mention writing up hailing frequencies of her own to disable ship systems. Judging from how much the ship was rocking and the occasional sparking, she had the impression things weren’t going well.

She found out how bad when she pulled up a viewscreen of her own on her ocular implant, as a separate window, and let out an involuntary gasp. It probably didn’t sound dignified of her, but she couldn’t help it. Things were worse than she anticipated. Notwithstanding one of the saucers was taken out momentarily, two were chasing the “Stallion” and the fourth was tearing a path of destruction through the Cayuga.

She needed to make a decision, and fast, of which of the attacking saucers to hit first.

[ Marshal Belek | Warmonger-saucer Belegar | Azure Nebula ]

Marshal Belek laughed, practically cackled, as his beloved saucer tore through the puny ship known as the Cayuga. It was too easy. It will be moments before the fools were crippled permanently, and in the meantime, boarding parties swarmed in to butcher the crew from within. Belek has never had this much fun in a long time.

“More! Destroy more! Kill them all!” he bellowed with an ecstatic cackle. He added in a loud aside, “This is too easy!”

But he barely spoke those words, and so close to crippling the Cayuga, when it all went wrong. The communications began doing something queer. A jumble of languages screeched around. The viewscreen turned to static. Everybody was instantly incapacitated by the noise; they practically threw themselves to the ground, clutching their ears, and some blood flowed from the ears of some.

“What in the inferno is happening?!?” screamed Belek at the communications officer. “I’ll have your head for this!”

“I don’t know what’s happening! Something’s happening to the communications system!” the officer screamed shrilly. He’s not just screaming over the noise. That officer was the fifth communications officer to hold the post, the previous four, along with other operators who had messed up in various ways, had been subsequently executed by Belek in a succession of months, and the man feared he’s next on the execution list. It was easy why Sitaio added him to this fleet; he wasn’t called among the Asurians “Bloodthirsty Belek” for nothing.

Suddenly, messages in Asurian blared from the saucer. It kept repeating itself:

“All boarding parties! Return to the Belegar at once! That husk of a ship is a trap! Its self-destruct sequence is activated! It will take your ship out along with it! Disengage and return to fight the Theurgy!”

It was, undoubtedly, blaring to all the boarding parties on the Cayuga. Quite a number stayed aboard to make the most of the bloodbath, as any true Asurian, in Belek’s view, would, but the rest scrambled back aboard. Belek was seething. Looks like another long execution list. At least he will make sure the warriors would be remembered.

But the noise being made barely kept him from thinking.

“Idiots! Cowards! Why don’t you make the most of the fight? Somebody find out if the Chief Marshal sent that…!”

[Ensign Six | Lower Shuttle Bay/Impounded Asurian Ship | Deck 21 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

Six let out a smile at her handiwork. She had enough time to send a hailing frequency when she quickly executed her viral matrix, designed to incapacitate communications. In addition, that “retreat” order (Six wasn’t sure if there was a word for “retreat” in the Asurian vocabulary, given the nanoseconds it took to learn the Asurian language), carried a viral matrix that allowed her to hack into the systems, but only a few at a time. And that system was the engines and helm control. It was all she needed. The Cayuga was in trouble, and that saucer was barely at the duterium cryo tanks near the warp core. She was glad that there were plenty of Asurians stupid enough to believe that message; she may have just saved not just the ship, but its crew in the process.

---

GM Note: For those who already read this post, is has now been edited since it took things too far too soon. The saucer is not pulling out of the Cayuga, not going in full reverse, and not in any way or form attacking the other saucers. It is still lodged inside the Cayuga.

[PO1 Lillee t’Jellaieu] (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @@Arista, @@DocM, @Follow Tomorrow, @StarDuster, @Brutus et al.

[Show/Hide]

In the chaotic, maddening rush of battle, Lillee’s hands danced over her helm console in a blur as she tried to simultaneously fly the Stallion and keep the vector’s overpowered impulse engines balanced, all while trying to avoid putting the Stallion into a compromising position. Everything was happening too fast to plan, for specific maneuvering orders to be given by the command staff and to be received by her, and so Lillee found herself improvising evasive and offensive maneuvers at break speed. The Stallion’s brutal speed and acceleration was disrupting the Asurians’ own maneuvers in concert with continuous weapons fire, but by the same token, the Stallion was a hyper-sensitive dart-fly with its overpowered engines and absurd thrust-to-mass ratio. Keeping the vector under control at such accelerations and in such tight quarters was testing Lillee’s skills to the limit.

Thus, Lillee barely even noticed when Commander Stark ordered them back around on an attack run to protect the Cayuga. Feathering the port impulse engine to compensate for the power surge in a damaged EPS conduit, Lillee duly began to bring the Stallion about, her mind swiftly becoming trance-like as she multi-tasked as much on raw instinct as thought.

Meanwhile Masuda glanced towards the Helm station, who had executed all the turns and twists of their previous evasive manoeuvre. Sometimes, a more precise measuring angle system, beyond the 360-degree system, was required.  "Petty Officer t'Jellaieu, recommended heading; Three-One-Eight Mark Nine. I mean to drive a wedge between the Cayuga's and its external assailant. Use whatever evasive manoeuvres you need, just get us there as fast as you can!"

Too deeply focused to acknowledge verbally, Lillee instead demonstrated her acknowledgement by angling the Stallion in with a lightning-sharp flip-and-thrust that stressed the Vector’s compromised spaceframe with the sheer violence of the maneuver, but nevertheless put the Stallion on a direct line to the Cayuga while putting the surprised Asurian saucers directly to aft. The ship’s state-of-the-art inertial dampeners kept the crew safe, and while the Asurians inflicted some damage, managing to worsen the big hull breach in the Stallion’s starboard side, it did put both saucers in a perfect firing position for the aft torpedo launcher.

Even so, Lillee barely noticed Yukimura’s torpedo volley or its effect. Her long blonde hair was a mess, her eyes wide and moving constantly, her pointed ears alert for Commander Stark’s next order as the Stallion roared in at full impulse on what would likely the attack run that determined the USS Cayuga’s fate.

[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Main Engineering | USS Cayuga ]
[Show/Hide]@Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow@Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @Fife @Absinthe @Brutus

Mariner was glad his hunch about Leftenant Martin was on point, and that he had hopefully gained an ally in the Cayuga's Chief Tactical Officer; the guy could wind up working with Leon. In the current helmswoman's hands, Jimmy felt like he was on the bridge of one of the old but confident Aries-class starships in its prime and he had a sense of hope that their crew would come riding to the rescue now that he had someone with the ear of the Captain. As usual, the ground fell under his feet as the battle flared around them.

The thought of two Martins being better than one was abruptly halted as Jimmy saw the Cayuga's bridge take a direct hit. Jimmy winced at the vessel's readouts, given his own recent encounter with that situation. Only those people weren't armored. Something had to be done. One bystander vessel destroyed because of this nonsense was enough. At the very least he could prevent an explosion that could consume the vector but his goal was to save their crew, especially now.

All aroud her, Natalie Stark's crew seemed to rise to the occasion. One after another, warnings were called out, observations made, suggestions acted upon. Hanging there in the distance, in full display on the viewscreen was the impedning destrcution of the Cayuga. She'd been given options, but none of them were particularly palitable. She raised a hand to gesture to Masuda when another voice alled out first, snagging her attention.

Sixty Seconds...

"Mariner to Quartermaster, Ready to beam Exo Suit 'JM-01' with last known loadout." It was his move, and he had to roll the dice. A redshirt's gotta do what a Redshirt's gotta do. "Configure phaser configs to combat Asurians." combat, as in 'kill'. It was us-or-them situation, where the rules of war applied. And those of revenge. These savages took Heather and tried to Kill Meony.

On that note, one weapon came to mind. Something she snuck into an Evel Knievel holodeck simulation. "Prepare an Isomagnetic Disintegrator." The authorization hung in the balance to execute his plan. In Kenievel's spirit, this was comparable. "Captain, I can beam right to the Cayuga in force and stop that thing." a sense of urgency made him forget his place.

Fifty-Two Seconds....

Natalie looked at him, stern faced. The Dominion War veteran security officer was offering her away out. She hoped no one noticed how tightly she was squeezing down on the arm rests of her chair. Now was hardly appropriate for showing just how affected she was by the dual blight of her Vector and her former XO, the Cayuga's current captain. Natalie couldn't show hesitation or weakness. Not now.

"Time is short Ensign. Go. Now. If you can't deal with the threat soon we'll have to do as Tactical suggests and take it out ourselves." And damn anyone on that ship that happenes to be in the way. But Natalie knew she didn't need to say it aloud. "Clocks ticking, Mr. Mariner. God speed."

Jimmy recalled that this vector had heavy personnel weapons aboard, namely one he was personally familiar with. He continued, minding the minute he had. Time had become even more valuable.

"I need to be twenty meters ahead in the trajectory of the vessel inside the Cayuga's hull, but keep transporter lock on my signal and standby beam-out. Energize when ready."

[ Acknowledged. Suit JM-01 Ready for Transport. Transporter Lock Made. Energizing. ]

For heaven's sake, don't drop that bloody ball, Computer.

Thirty-Three Seconds.

Natalie and the bridge crew were left to fend off the Asurian's blazing at them. "Helm, keep us out of their firing arcs. Tactical, be prepared. If Ensigns Mariner and Six cannot deter the assault inside the Cayuga we'll have to take that saucer out the hard way."

James assumed a Klingon-style boarding stance, ready to beam into his suit and summarily felt as if he slid into his evening wear when he apparated into his Security-Exo suit (he privately called it his 'sexy' suit for short). The likes of which had the familiar weight of a phaser pistol with his favorite four fire rates at his two-handed grip; full auto, heavy hitter or pulsewave. Beam of course was excessive. An understatement compared to the heavy weapon that beamed to his location aboard the Starship Cayuga, to a scene of disparate phaser fire, smoke and flames everywhere, making Jimmy at once miss the relative security of the Stallion's battle bridge.

In the Dominion War, Jimmy and other ground-pounders, mainly other humans called the Isomagnetic Disintegrator for what it was, 'A Bazooka', or 'zooka for short. The weapon was a response to Dominion gravity stealth mines and Jem'Hadar mortars. A humble infantryman could stop a vessel many times more armored and dangerous in its tracks. This could not have been a more apropos test of that weapon platform as the Asurian saucer forced its way to the Cayuga's deuterium tanks. If those went off without warning, there would be no beam out, not in this world, anyway.
 
Ten Seconds...

 Like a knight slaying a great horned dragon, Jimmy picked up this zooka in a corresponding shoulder-mounted firing stance and took aim at the nearest of the two graviton beam emitters, charged the weapon and summarily brought the Asurian saucer to a shuddering halt, forestalling disaster; the First blast hit its mark and heartbeats later, Jimmy fired another HUD-guided direct hit on the second eye-shaped graviton beam emitter, which had an apparent chain reaction on the Saucer-shaped craft that brought its systems offline. Any trace of the vessel's death throes was slow to a dead still. For the moment, the deuterium tanks were safe... but then the dragon's maw opened slowly, with the familiar, foul-smelling and pending wrath of the occupants within... and from the gravestone-colored ash and chemical fires in the saucer's hideous wake "Time to serve the birria."

All the same, Mariner didn't get cocky, he just reloaded this weapon and aimed it at the team of debarked Asurians when around and behind him, the welcome and unmistakable sound of additional phaser fire was heard in concert with an ensuing display of Starfleet Security volley fire from a team of Cayuga, who also fired on the saucer when it flickered, and crackled from purple Isomagnetic disintegrator fire. Jimmy joined in with another blast directed at the Asurians, landing a direct hit on one warrior, but getting the attention of another, hoping Jimmy could single out the man in charge and either kill or capture him. Jimmy made a Vulcan salute in the form of an infantry hand signal to his allies behind him, indicating that he was from Starfleet, marking him as a friendly to new arrivals on the scene.

Cayuga Security's weapons volley still used beams, which staggered or angered several Asurians now arriving from the gaps in the bulkheads behind them, shouting to eachother like beasts or hellspawn reveling in the slaughter and rearing to attack anyone in this room. Through concerted shots from the crew, several of these warriors fell. One singled out the armored human and drew those dreaded wrist-blades. Jimmy doubted the brute wanted a hug, but he made a friendly-enough offer to "Catch!" the 'zooka that Jimmy seemingly 'here-you-go' passed. The Asurian covered its head as the hefty weapon was thrown at its face, distracting it long enough to fumble with the weapon, only to stagger from several high-setting kill bursts that riddled its torso and ended with a shot-of-grace to the back of its developed horned head. The Disintegrator hit the floor before the Asurian did.

Pistol Drawn, Jimmy made sure the Asurian was dead before reclaiming the Disintegrator and reloaded it as soon as he could. While he still had a knife and could request his last mission's 'souvineer' without its sheath to fight honorably, there was no way Jimmy was going to realistically hold his own for very long in the time he had, so he had to scour the battle for the great-horned-jackass running this little party. The creature he just killed wasn't ike the one he'd killed back on Vector 2, which implied there was still a threat from the Asurian craft, as if the wake in the Cayuga's hull and perforated bulkheads made clear. Jimmy rounded a corner, Disintegrator in hand as he hailed the Stallion,

"Mariner to Stark: Enemy Contact. At least a dozen and counting; we can make a good stand for now; Warp Core is safe for the moment, but I can't guarantee it'll stay that way. Many casualties, systems... minimal. Orders?" Jimmy knew full well the Stallion's sensors were detecting the saucer's neutralization, but he didn't know what he was up against; staying here was as dangerous as it was hellish.

[Show/Hide]

Lt Kaylon Jeen | Bridge|Cayuga Aerowing Shuttle | Attn @Doc M.  @Fife @Auctor Lucan  et al.


The comm crackled.
"West to the aerowing! The Captain needs medical attention, and there are no facilities available! Stand by to momentarily drop shields for transport! All non-essential personnel, prepare to abandon ship!"

Kaylon turned his attention to Tactical and saw that for the moment at least, they were still quasi-protected by the Cayuga's hull.
"Communications - Open Channel.   This is the Aerowing, coordinate with Ops on shields.  We'll have to make it fast or we'll all need medical attention or an undertaker.  Aerowing out!"  Turning to Chief Eboh at Ops, "Chief, get the window as tight as you can to get the Captain aboard, then get those shields up ASAP."

Hitting the intercom switch, he spoke quickly, "Doctor, prepare to receive casualties.  Captain Ziegler's been injured.  No report of her condition."

Things were happening way too quickly for his liking.  Although if the Captain recovered quickly enough, maybe she'd take command and all he'd have to worry about would be the shuttle's engines.  Not likely. he thought to himself. 

Turning his attention to the helm he said "Keep as much of our hull turned away from the Asurian ship until we get the Captain aboard.  The smaller target we present to them, the less chance we'll be hit, and keep running evasive."  Kaylon felt like a fool giving obvious orders, but without anything else to focus on, what more could he do?  Until Ziegler was beamed aboard and they were clear to start engaging the Asurian ships, there wasn't a lot.

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Bridge | Cayuga Aerowing Shuttle ] @Auctor Lucan @alphawiz @lisavw @Veridian @Gadget @Juzzie @Masorin

”Aye, sir!”

Having anticipated Lieutenant Jeen’s command after hearing Commander West’s report, Ekon’s hands were already dancing over the Ops console as the Acting Captain doles out his orders. He was already working on getting a transporter lock on Captian Ziegler, preparing to beam her to the Aerowing’s medical bay. Once the transporter was ready, Ekon readied himself to drop the Aerowing’s shields momentarily and initiate the transport.

”I have a transporter lock on the Captain. Dropping shields and initiating transport.” Ekon called to Lt. Jeen as he punched in the command to bring the Aerowing’s shields down. He was aware the speed was key in their current circumstances. As he lowered the aerowing’s shields in the middle of the engagement with the Asurians he said a silent prayer, something he hadn’t done since he had gone to church with his step-father when he was a small boy. ”Shields down. Energizing.” Ekon watched his readouts with unblinking eyes as the transport initiated and was completed, and immediately began punching in the commands to bring the shields back up around the all too vulnerable aerowing shuttle.

”Transport is complete. The Captain is aboard and in the medical bay. Raising shields.” Ekon reported, working quickly to finish bringing the shields back online. ”Shields are at full, sir.”

[ Chief Medical Officer T'Panu | Med Bay | Cayuga Aerowing Shuttle ]

T'Panu was checking over her equipment one last time as she heard the intercom.

"Doctor, prepare to receive casualties.  Captain Ziegler's been injured.  No report of her condition."

Shit, T'Panu said aloud. She sprung up, heart racing, readying her equipment. What could have happened to her??

Before she could really finish her thought, Captain Ziegler was beamed onto her medical table. She pulled out her medical tricorder and began scanning her to see exactly what happened.

"Captain. Captain. Can you hear me?" T'Panu noted no response.

As she scanned, she noted a 4" laceration with moderate bleeding above her left eye, along with a few smaller lacs around her left eye and face. Some deep bruising around her orbital lobes, redness and inflammation around her cervical spine from C-1 through C-4. The tricorder did not show any further damage besides the inflammation, which she was thankful for. There was also a rather large goose egg to the right side of her forehead, where T'Panu judged was when Captain Ziegler hit her head and lost consciousness. Her left shoulder was dislocated, which T'Panu concluded she had tried to stop herself from flying when she was pulled by the depressurization. There were also first degree burns to approximately 11% of her body and she was slightly hypotensive and bradycardic.

T'Panu scanned Captain Ziegler from head to toe, and merely found contusions and abrasions.

T'Panu grabbed her dermal regenerator first to stop the bleeding and repair her lacerations. She started with the 4" lac above her left eye, as it was bleeding moderately quickly. As the bleeding slowed and the tissue was repaired, T'Panu grabbed her hypospray to replenish the fluids lost from the bleeding and the burns. The Captain's blood pressure began to normalize, as well as her pulse and colour.

Captain Ziegler looked less in shock, and T'Panu was hoping that would help her to regain consciousness. With her current state, however, it was better for her to not feel the pain. T'Panu grabbed her med kit and administered 10cc's of Triptacederine for the pain. She also administered Anesthizine 60 parts per million, according to weight via nebulized mask and noted the time. T'Panu had to reset her arm, and there was no way in hell she was allowing the Captain to wake up during that.

T'Panu grabbed her right arm, bent it at a 45 degree angle, and draped her hand behind her head. She then carefully grabbed her left arm and secured it momentarily to her left side. T'Panu dragged the sheet the Captain was laying on, pulled it towards herself, and the Captain slowly rolled onto her right side. She then pulled her arm back a careful 15 degrees with her left hand, placed her right hand on the captain's scapula, and with one quick motion, snapped her shoulder back into place. T'Panu made sure the Captain was still unconscious, and thankfully noted she was. She grabbed her medical tricorder to ensure her nerves were unharmed and her shoulder was back in place. Everything looked good, so T'Panu fashioned a sling out of a triangular bandage to support it.

T'Panu slowly rolled the Captain back onto her back so that she was comfortable on the bed. She ensured the sling was still supporting her arm and grabbed a blanket to put under her arm alongside the bed for added support of her shoulder. She reassessed her contusions and abrasions, and used her Dermal Regenerator to repair the rest of them, including the ones to her neck and face.

T'Panu treated the first degree burns with Dermaline Gel and applied a thick coating to her arms and hands where the burns were. Between the Dermaline Gel and the fluids, T'Panu knew her dermal layer would be treated in no time. She then administered a maintenance dose of 5cc's of Triptacederine for the pain.

There was nothing left for T'Panu to do but wait for the Captain to wake up, so she cleaned up the med bay and began her report. She added that she would be rechecking her vital signs and neural response every 15 minutes for the next hour, and for every half hour every subsequent hour after that. She would also continue to administer 5cc's of Triptacederine every hour for the pain.

T'Panu began her report and included the Captain's initial presentation, treatments and improvements as she awaited patiently for the captain to become alert again.

[ Acting XO Lieutenant Zelosa Ejek | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]

The speed at which things were happening would’ve been dizzying to a mind less prepared for chaos. Lieutenant Masuda was doing what he could. The Asurians tore through the ship and rattled her in her chair. The Asurian menace was about to destroy the Cayuga completely, and the choice Masuda offered was to let them execute the ship. or execute the Cayuga themselves. She wasn’t fond of either option.

At the same time, she knew six had left and was likely doing something to the saucer. She didn’t expect her to actually succeed, considering the sheer alien-ness of the saucer itself. It was likely she’d open up her systems to alien corruption, and then what? She kept an eye on the structural integrity of the Theurgy, worrying that something Six would do would cause the decks around it to collapse further. That part of the ship was still deeply wounded. If the fool thought she could wrangle the saucer out of the ship proper, then she’d likely cause a lot of damage just to do so, and she still wouldn’t be out in time to change the situation with the Cayuga.

While this was going on, Jimmy was...Jimmy. She couldn’t exactly say she was surprised, but she was irritated that both him and Six were both playing Big Damn Hero roles at the same time. Big Damn Heroes only got to live at the end of their stories because the genre required it—they were not living in a comic book. And the worst part is that the Captain sanctioned this. She felt her get twist into a black hole. She tried not to focus on Jimmy. She didn’t want to look. She’d know if he did his job or if he failed.

Beset on all sides by fools, she kept her gaze on the Cayuga. She wasn’t looking good, not at all. She tapped the console on her armrest, pulling up communications with multiple heads of departments. Medical, Engineering “Lieutenant Ejek. Be ready to receive escape pods. If the Cayuga doesn’t make it, we must make sure her crew does.”

Lt Kaylon Jeen | Bridge | Cayuga Aerowing Shuttle | Attn @Fife @lisavw @FollowTomorrow @Auctor Lucan @Arista @Masorin @Gadget  et al.

"Transport is complete. The Captain is aboard and in the medical bay. Raising shields.  Shields are at full, sir."

"Good job, Chief.  Now let's let's kick some ass-urian!  If we can." he said.  Turning to Lt Martin, Kaylon asked, "Has the Theurgy sent us any useful tactical info yet?  I'd really like to know what we're shooting at."

Until he had something else to go on, it was going to be like throwing rocks at a mountain lion.  All it would do is probably piss the lion off.  "Chief, get any kind of scans you can think of of these things and shunt the info over to tactical.  If you have any ideas, I'm open to them.  I know you have a good deal of combat experience. "

"In the meantime... Mektari, let's fly along the underside of the closest ship and drop a couple of torpedoes in their path, then bug out...and let them see us flying away.  Maybe they'll chase us and run into the torpedo mines.  Let me know when we're in position.  Use your best judgement.   Chief, get ready to drop those torpedoes on my mark."

Kaylon took a deep breath.  He hoped that his plan was going to work, or at the very least, not get them blown straight to Perdition's Flame.  Now that Ziegler was aboard, he felt even more pressure to succeed.  It was doubtful that she was going to recover in time to join the battle, but with her unconscious in the medical bay, that meant the Cayuga didn't have much of a command structure left.  The XO was still aboard, but still everybody else in the chain of command was here, and the Cayuga was in bad enough shape as it was.

Oh well, there was nothing for it.

"Martin, as soon as you get those scans from Ops, see if you can find any kind of a weak point.  If you do, fire at will!"

---

OOC : It'd be great if someone on board the Theurgy would take a few seconds and transmit at least some kind of tactical info on these saucer things.

GM Note: I already wrote Masuda sending the tactical info in the end of his section in my latest post, so no worries there! :)

[Lt. Rhys Williams| Cayuga Aerowing Shuttle| Attn @alphawiz @Fife @Auctor Lucan etc

It was amazing how many different ways danger could effect a person. Some people ended up in a state of shock, others panic, as he looked around the crew of the shuttle Rhys noted the grim determination of his colleagues. He himself was best described as numb. He was operating on automatic pilot, responded to requests from Lt. Jeen but otherwise blank faced and stunned.

He had received the message from the Cayuga about the injury to the Captain. That had changed things. She was a woman he very much respected and admired, as did all her crew. She had helped him a great deal over the short time he had known her. He felt genuine and warm feeling towards her, and now she was in trouble and there was nothing he could do. The numbness was replaced with shivers down his spine and a nervous energy he could do very little about.

Working communications in a battle, left you taking a back seat. You relayed what you were told to and passed on messages received. He dutifully searched for communications from their attackers, but he was not even sure how their communications system worked, or even if he could understand anything if he intercepted it. Still there was little else for him to do. Not that as a Counselor he would be doing an awful lot in battle scenarios anyway. Helplessness and uselessness were not good feelings to have, with adrenaline pumping through your body.

Lt. Jeen was showing himself to be a capable manager of other people. That much was obvious. The little attempt he had made to lighten the mood, 'ass-urians'. He found himself chuckling and shaking his head even though it was clearly the worst joke he had heard in his life. However, Rhys knew danger bred gallows humour.  He did not say it out loud but in his head the phrase "We who are about to die make shitty jokes to distract the conscious mind from the nightmare we are facing." rattled around.

He sucked in a deep breath and did the job that was in front of him for it was all he could really do.

[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Main Engineering | USS Cayuga | Stardate: Showtime ]
[Show/Hide]@Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow@Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @Fife @Absinthe @Brutus

Jimmy stood by as he opened as many schematics and piped a secure line to Vector 3's mainframe and downloaded any readouts to his helmet. Upon letting the blue-fonted interface download to his padd, he was able to wave over one of the Cayuga's surviving engineers and waved them over.

"Input this into your main computer core!" he barked amid the sounds of bulkheads rattling and conduits popping as terminals cracked and their circuits spewed out electricity every which way. "Get it to override and execute! My crew will take it from there, now move it!" Mariner conveyed.

A sickening metallic shudder interrupted the command, like the sound of an airlock being ripped out by an external kinetic force, then another, and as the lights sputtered and flickered out. "That's an Order! Get this to the ranking officer! It'll save your ship! BLOODY -MOVE!-" Jimmy shoved the crewman while handing out his suit's partnered datapad to the courier. He could replicate another padd later as this one got to where it was supposed to. The Armored Ensign continued his mission as he used his suit to pipe into Cayuga's comms.

"This is Ensign James Mariner of Starfleet Security to anyone aboard Cayuga:" While auxiliary power was the only thing holding many systems aloft, this was on a priority channel. "Enemy Away Team converging on main engineering". He transmitted to the immediate comm network "Requesting Security reinforcements are to converge upon my location. Set phasers to kill, but enable sidearm safety protocols. If you hit the reactor, we're all toast. " Mariner reported, using his credentials to convey general orders across the local comms network, warning of an imminent enemy attack.
 
Even in spite of the darkness and bloodshed, James knew the animals responsible, and of their ability to regenerate from their injuries. "JM-1 to V-3: Send in Unit Foxtrot-Utah-1-2-3 to my vicinity. The Disintegrator has outlived its usefulness for the moment." Jimmy placed the Disintegrator aside, assigning it to an already-armed-and-qualified officer sporting a rifle. James identified her by rank and sec and assumed a posture intended to catch an item to be beamed into his hands. He was glad at his tendency to categorize his reliance on equipment, particularly when he had availability of resources on-hand. Thus far, Mariner was the only thing resembling an expert these poor blokes had to the Asurians, apart from those who had thus entered their ranks as defeated conquests.

The object he requested materialized in the span of a wink but fell directly into Mariner's hands as he tested the weight of last mission's reward item with a handful of test-swings. Grateful that the Computer had taken his orders to prepare his suit in accordance with his last mission's  configurations, he had the initiative as the lights went almost completely out in Main Engineering.

More than anyone, Jimmy was prepared to do what he had to to protect the ship. Thus far, he was the only thing resembling an expert these poor blokes had to the Asurians, apart from those who had thus entered their ranks as defeated conquests. The humanoids vanquished by these goat-headed savages. Unless of course, Jimmy could call upon one more way to buy time at a bargain from the Asurian Threat.

The bulkheads shuddered yet again, and the only illumination came from the fires being put out by engineers, midshipmen and noncom officers. Jimmy would have radioed in for more time and options if he only could, but being the only soul from the Stallion Vector aboard, the most he could do yet was to get ahold of that Saucer and interface that ex-Borg Ensign Six to connect and rip the turn of battle out of their hands.

[Ensign Six | Lower Shuttle Bay/Impounded Asurian Ship | Deck 21 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Triton @Doc M. @Triage @Masorin
[Show/Hide]
Six smiled at the status of the saucer in the Cayuga. Whoever shut down the engines of that saucer, she could kiss in gratitude. It saved the trouble of working up a viral matrix to hack into the engines through a hailing frequency. She let the “retreat” order continue to be sent, in case the systems of the saucer would come online again.

The next order of business were the saucers chasing the Theurgy. Perhaps she can hurt two birds with one stone. That fourth saucer was dead in the water, but it still had teeth. She can help things along, make the odds better, and besides, the Cayuga was safe for now.

[ Marshal Kangar  | Warmonger-Saucer Berserker | Azure Nebula]

Kangar, Marshal of the Berserker, leered as his crew kept up the pursuit of the Theurgy alongside Chief Marshal’s Sitaio’s saucer, the K’thill. It wouldn’t be long before the shields would be crippled. Neither the Theurgy nor their fellow Starfleet vessel would have a chance in the Inferno. It was too good to be true.

They came so suddenly. Something happened to the systems. Noise stunned the crew, and the consoles and the viewscreen fizzled into static.

“What’s going on?” Kangar shouted. “Status report? I’ll have the head of whoever broke my beloved Berserker!”

But then it stopped. The noise lessened but the viewscreen was disabled. Still static.

“Helmsman, keep up the pursuit!” he shouted.

“Sir?” came the answer. “Marshal, the helm’s received a new set of coordinates. We’re no longer following the K’thill.”

“WHAT?” Kangar was furious, and he rarely got furious. “What’s our new bearing? Well, never mind, I want that viewscreen!”

His engineer was at work on it, and he soon got the screen back up…and what came up was the hull of another Asurian saucer. And not a nanosecond later, the impact send everybody sprawling and sparks exploding everywhere.

[Dr. Francis Franklin | Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

Dr. Franklin had been watching on the bridge, standing by for medical assistance. The battle was going poorly, he could see. Now he saw the saucer slicing through the Cayuga had stopped and now, one of the saucers chasing the Theurgy had broken off pursuit and rammed into the fourth saucer, still adrift. He winced at how much damage was done.

He could see the enemy wouldn’t intentionally do something like this. He remembered Ensign Six was up to something in the impounded saucer in the “Stallion’s” bay. And he remembered her skills that helped the crew in evacuating the Resolve.

“Ensign Six has done it again,” he said with admiration. He turned to the ranking officers.

“Commander Stark, Lieutenant Ejek, I think you’ve just unleashed a monster,” he said with an ever-widening smile. “But thank God she’s our monster.”

[Ensign Six | Lower Shuttle Bay/Impounded Asurian Ship | Deck 21 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

Six let out a laugh. She couldn’t help it, and she was more emotional than any ex-drone, even Seven of Nine. It was better than she fought. That frequency she sent to one of the pursuing saucers produced a doozy: a set of coordinates diverting their course, practically setting up a collision course. Right to the disabled saucer. There was no time to admire her handiwork. She still had work to do.

The odds, of course, are getting better. She hoped things will be easier for the crews of both the damaged ships.

---

OOC: Part of this is a set-up to a joint post between me and Triton for a confrontation between Jimmy Mariner and Belek. Apologies if it's too soon. Feel free to imagine the damage the disabled saucer sustained. And, in case anybody's wondering, I'm not writing Six stealing the show. She's just making the odds better, making it easier for the crews.

GM Note: Belek section removed and Triton's post sent off for a JP creation of the scene instead! :)

[Lt. Vanya|Bridge | Cayuga's Aerowing Shuttle

This graviton technology was like nothing Vanya had ever seen before…   and yet as the battle progressed, the android science officer was beginning to see a pattern.  It was one of the things she took great comfort in her entire life since she woke up in Federation space.   Despite the oddness of emotions, the minefield of relationships and the downright vipers nest of contact, one of the things that gave Vanya comfort was science   If the math was good, everything made sense.   With each shred of data that danced across her monitor, it started to become clear that there was a solution.   A way out.  

“Oh yes!” she exclaimed.   “I think we can slow them down a little.” 

She performed one last scan.  

“Their saucers use some kind of Graviton beam emitters.   I think we can reconfigure our shields.   We use about 630 MCH.   If we divert power from the landing systems we can reconfigure the graviton emitter of the shields to give out 870.   We could be without landing capabilities for a while, but I don’t think we’re going to be landing planet side anytime soon.”  

She watched as the power systems were ready to go   Several fail safe warning popped up against the screen, she disabled them all.   Rightly or wrongly what she would to next could save the day.  

“There, the algorithm is ready to go   Just give the word, Sir.”

[ Lt JG, Salem Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Salem_Martin)  | Cayuga's Aerowing Shuttle  ]
[Show/Hide]
Arming his consol was a little clunky, the Aerowing thankfully hadn't been used in their engagement with the borg so it's weapons were all still good to go, but it was still only an Aerowing. Smaller more agile, but it didn't exactly punch above it's weight class. Plus someone else had used this station before him and it took a few precious seconds to wipe the food crumbs off the station, and get his settings punched in. The last thing he wanted was to not have the buttons configured correctly. He didn't want to firing a missile when he was trying to shoot a phaser.

As for the tactical data from the Theurgy he was going over it trying to find the important information. Figure out exactly what they were up against.

"They are called the Asurian, these guys are decked out. They are using RF resonant cavity thrusters they got omnidirectional movement, their weapons are graviton based. They have stuff I can't actually pronounce that uses folds in space as weapons."

Martin had always considered himself a bit of a tech, especially when it came to weapons. But the stuff he was seeing from these scans were well above his pay grade. It was mostly considered theoretical work that by Federation standards shouldn't exist. He was pretty sure he would kill to get his hands on one of these things.

At the same time though as he was reading over everything he was trying to get a better read on the shielding. The omnidirectional engines gave off no singular form of radiation he could detect, but there had to be something to it. Hephaestus would always put some critical flaw in even his greatest works. There was always some thing that someone overlooked something that could be used against them.

And then he found it. He was taking a look at the compounds that they used to make the hull. Chemical compounding that made it friction less in atmospheric conditions. "Martin to Theurgy I think i found something, sending my findings back to you, taking aim."

He was hoping he was right about this the more he broke it down the more he figured he was right. The best way to make something near friction-less, is a magnetic coating, if he was reading these compounds correctly that meant it was ionizing the hull, if he shifted the polarity of his weapons to the opposite their biggest advantage wouldn't matter, they could curve the phaser towards the smaller objects. It wasn't much, but it might get them a few hits before the Asurian's figure out what was happening.

And with that advantage it was time to go a little ham, Martin's fingers danced across his panel, and he started shooting them with abandon.

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Battle Bridge | The Stallion | USS Theurgy ] @Gadget @Griff
[Show/Hide]Upon getting the word from the aerowing, Masuda Yukimura had just witnessed how one of the pursuing saucers had rammed the disabled one they'd left in their wake. It was as if their computer had turned the map for them, and their present course had been aligned with their unfortunate companion's coordinates. A medical officer in the background of the bridge suggested the obvious, that it had been Ensign Six that had successfully entered the navigational system of that saucer. Masuda was far too busy to say anything about it, instead working with the firing solution that the Tactical Officer on the aerowing had suggested.

"Calibrating polarity now," he said through clenched teeth, seeing that the blinded saucer had compromised the graviton systems in the impact. The portion of the viewscreen that showed their pursuers laid the mayhem bare, and if Yukimura hadn't seen saucers fall during the battle at Starbase 84, he wouldn't know what he was looking at. Where the collision had taken place, a gravity well had flared open, with light and space warping and getting distorted. The great density of the conflagration siphoned the deuterium waste and twisted it, coughing out eddies. The reaction was instantaneous, where the deuterium waste detonated in a chain reaction. The shockwave of the gravity well detonation rocked the last remaining saucer - setting it off course.

It lent respite to their battered shields, which Conway was quick to announce. "Aft shields at 5 %, regenerating!"

"Polarisation complete!" said Yukimura, eyes snapping towards Lillee t'Jellaieu at the helm. "Petty Officer, turn us around! I need attack manoeuvres, now!"

The aerowing was already sweeping in, lithe and true, and firing repeatedly with its phaser emitters towards the last remaining saucer. Since Salem Martin had the polarisation made, the beams bent and hit the saucer, compensating for the craft's great speed and manoeuvrability. No longer could it stay ahead of their automated targeting system, and manual aim had become redundant. Thus, Masuda Yukimura armed all pulse phasers on the Stallion, and gave the auto-fire command with a single target high-lighted. All phasers that had the saucer within its firing arcs would spew phaser energy towards the last Asurian ship.

Victory was just within reach. They just needed to converge on the last hostile ship.

[ Chief Marshal Akri Sitaio | Overseer-saucer K'thill | Azure Nebula ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]Snarling through her teeth, Akri Sitaio climbed back to her feet, her pale skin freckled with translucent blood. One of her officers had been cast sideways from the close proximity gravity well, and he'd cut himself on her sindt. He lay dead on the deck before her, but she spared him no glance, needing to stay on top of the situation and bear witness to the damage caused.

It was obvious to her, what had happened.

"Sever subspace links!" she snarled, stepping up to one station and doing it herself across the shoulder of a disoriented officer. "They were using the stolen saucer to enter our systems!" Sitaio was furious, but at least she'd made sure there was no uplink any more when she stepped back to the front of the small bridge. What she saw there, on the viewscreen, gave her pause.

"They are coming for us..." she said, seeing how both the small aerowing and the Theurgy Vector were doubling back towards them, no longer being the hunted. They were about to go head to head with the K'thill - the Monarch - which made Akri bare her teeth at the viewsceen. "Perhaps they are not so craven after all... Arm all emitters, get between them and fire on them both! Tear shields and hull alike asunder, and show them the spirit of Asuria!"

The bridge crew answered her. "For Asuria!"

And then, the saucer spun and rolled, and the great gravition beam emitters along the edge of their hull drilled into the two Starfleet ships that converged on them.

With widening eyes, Akri saw their crude phasers match their great speed, and the bridge of the K'thill began to shake from the bombardment. She knew not what had happened, holding on to the back of a seat, and began to shout new orders.

---

OOC: Next posters are A) @Griff and @Gadget , where the two helm officers can converge on the last saucer for optimal phaser exposure on the enemy. B) @Veridian had a solution to boost the aerowing's shields, so I suggest this was immediately approved and implemented lest this last confrontation will hurt. @Fife , your guy at Ops can redirect power towards the augmented shields? C) @Doc M. can something more be done for the Theurgy's shields? Can the phasers get any more juice? If nothing else, keeping track of damage and spaced officers from the depressurised sections? A, B and C has no real order to it, so just post at your earliest convenience!

I know there is a JP underway for the scene aboard the Cayuga, so that can be posted whenever its finished too.

[ Marshal Belek | Engineering Corridor | USS Cayuga ]
&
[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Main Engineering | USS Cayuga | Stardate: Showtime! ]
[Show/Hide] A joint-post by Multificionado and Triton
@Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow@Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @Fife @Absinthe @Brutus

The deck flickered to almost medieval torch lighting as Mariner's HUD filters rendered the battlespace visible to him. He holstered his pistol but kept it ready for a surprise attack. Despite being rather shaken, the battered and determined Cayuga crew obeyed, raising their fists and lowering their rifles, maintaining aim at the Asurians as they rallied to the scene of the crashed saucer. "This is Mariner, cease fire. Let 'em assemble. I got some stinkers for these stinkers." Jimmy used the security codename for some nonlethal items he'd beamed aboard. The Asurian Marshal was a tempting target indeed.

"Get back out there, you idiots! That retreat order is bogus! You will follow me and not let these peons get the best of you!"

Marshal Belek was seething with fury. He wasn't going to let anything stop his bloodlust. Not a communications malfunction, and certainly not the puny fools cutting down his troops. Sick of the noise on the bridge and of the stupid insubordination of his boarding parties, he departed to rally the fools to fight.

"To me! TO ME! Let us eviscerate these puny fools! EVISCERATE! KILL! KILL!! K...!"
 
"Batter up." Jimmy flung one armed flashbang around one flank of this leader. One Asurian picked up the curious item to inspect it, putting the ensuing explosive at eye level with anyone in radius. Owch. "Steeeeri-yiiiiike WUUUN!!" The nonlethal 'stinker' arced through the air, narrowly avoiding hitting Jimmy's main target on purpose, but Jimmy had to toy with the off-chance the stun grenade would strike the lead Asurian in the face, given how big a target profile those horns were. The Flashbang went off, instantly popping a numbing blast as it spoutied a shockwave of noxious gaseous chemicals into the area as the Asurians collapsed or staggered in dumbfounded shock. Mariner didn't give the order to kill these defenseless creatures, to stand apart from these savages.

The Asurian was howling his war cry when he was unexpectedly interrupted. Something flew past Belek's head. He barely turned when a flash emerged, and he quickly averted his eyes. The rest of the troops weren't so lucky. He knew flashbangs when he saw it, and recognized, especially from the glow originating behind him, it was a powerful one. It took a powerful flashbang to take down an Asurian, let alone a whole troop. Perhaps too powerful.

The golden opportunity for a second strike appeared and Mariner and took it. remembering his baseball sessions in the holodeck, Jimmy remembered his inward pitch, and threw a speedball pitch, as if to knock a batter off plate. He kept his backup flashbang in reserve for now, in case the rabble got up after that first pitch.
"Steeeeri-yiiiiike TWOOOO!!!"

Somebody shouted. Belek tried to determine who said that. Was it some kind of war whoop? But then something struck Belek, something as hard as a handheld rock. He flinched; it got his attention.

Jimmy got a second hefting piece of debris that must've weighed as much as a small marble statue. Tempting as it was to settle this with a quick-draw to the hostile's face, these barbarians favored brute force. It was time to strike the visiting team captain out. And to shut him up.

"Steeeeri-yiiiiike Thuhreeeeeeeee!!! You're out!!!" the piece of fist-sized debris must have been made out of pure marble, based on how hard it met the Asurian's face. Jimmy was almost reminded of his ancestral neighbors, the Maori and some of their war chanting ways, in how tribal warfare was exchanged among feuding chiefs. The representative from his clan, Jimmy stepped forward in strides, picking the right place for his next move.

Belek's rage increased, and he finally saw the assailant. He was human, undoubtedly, and his weapon was huge. He was different from other humans, from other of the puny Starfleet types. He didn't even seem to come from the Cayuga. He must be from the Theurgy. Belek smiled. Finally, was an opponent worthy of his salt, and those were few. And he never expected such from Starfleet. Still, Starfleet or not, it had been far too long since Belek fought in a duel.

"You!" Belek shouted. "Come and face me if you have the courage! Man to man! IF you are man enough!"

"IF?!" The Australian sneered. "You talk a lot of shite for tomorrow's breakfast, you livestock." Jimmy answered back, his helmet amplifying his voice through the mechanical sounds of metallic churning and fires raging. Mariner began the duel by stepping forward like a bullfighter, exploiting his rival's injury, and timing his next step to keep the sword's tip facing the enemy's eyes. Anything else came secondary to keeping the brute off-balance and in fear of losing the initiative. Stepping up his game, Mariner stepped into the Asurian's guard attacked with unexpected (or at least uncommon) familiarity with Terran swordsmanship, and a fast-passed exchange of steel and bone ensued. At one point, Jimmy was able to throw an uppercut with his offhand that connected, staggering the Asurian, who spat out a tooth. Uh oh. So much for talking out of this.

Belek leapt at the man, toting a sort of sword, and landed some blows. Made some sweeping moves with his head, swinging his horns about, and shattered the sword after a few blows.

Before Jimmy could mourn the weapon's loss, a hairline crack on his visor began to widen and branch out. Then came a sharp, searing pain as the sentient livestock punched through it and connected with Jimmy's moustache. The blow connected with Jimmy's skull, and the Australian doubled back and recomposed himself as he tasted what he only knew was a tooth or two knocked out of his upper jaw. It made him mad more than anything. But it still limited his ability for glib remarks and crushing comebacks; -that- was painful.

Belek smiled as his opposition picked himself up, scowling at him.

"Any last words, human?" he chuckled, ready to give his final blow.

The human spit a tooth out at him and then let out a smug smile as he stood up and produced a pathetic human knife from his suit of armor.

Well, shit. If he didn't pull this off, he knew Meony was going to haunt him in the afterlife to no avail for dying so stupidly. Jimmy got up, seemingly backed into a corner in the engineering room, and noticed for a split second enough to find a way out of this fight, despite the pain singing in his head like the front row of a rock concert. "Olé."

Belek turned his head to the side in a puzzled expression.

"What kind of final words are those?" he said. Humans seem so strange. First the "Strikes" and now this.

"It mean-sh 'Shtand down' or 'Shh-howdown,' Cow boy." Mouth bleeding and speaking through an opera of pain, Jimmy seemed resigned to hold his ground till the bitter end, knowing full well he had the high ground in this fight. The human stood up, brave as he was in his beaten state, and made a gesture like he was beckoning Belek into saying it to his face. "Toro! Toro!" he shouted. That'ssh right, you stupid bull... Man to Freak."

"Enough! You're making me angry!" It was true. As far as he could tell, that gesture and those words sounded like an insult.

"I am Belek the Bloodthirsty! And I will have your head!" He charged at the human...

...only to wind up ramming his head, horns first, into a console and getting electrocuted. The electrical currents surged through him and he shouted amidst the pain. The last thing to go through his mind was that he couldn't believe he fell for something as stupid as this.

Unsatisfied the Asurian was still moving as sparks flew out of his fallen enemy (and mainly out of anger that he'd actually gotten hurt), Jimmy fired three pulses from his pistol at the twitching brute's carcass before asking the nearest engineer of the Cayuga, "Doesh zhiss zship haff a denn-tisht?"

[PO1 Lillee t’Jellaieu] (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Lillee_t%27Jellaieu) [ Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan, @@Arista, @@DocM, @Follow Tomorrow, @StarDuster, @Brutus, @Gadget, et al.

[Show/Hide]
The collision between the two Asurian saucers came as a complete shock to Lillee at the helm, but it was welcome nonetheless. The enemy threat had suddenly lessened, and by some miracle, the ailing Cayuga was still intact. The besieged Federation ships might just survive the Asurian attack after all.

"Polarisation complete!" said Yukimura, eyes snapping towards Lillee t'Jellaieu at the helm. "Petty Officer, turn us around! I need attack manoeuvres, now!"

“Yes sir,” Lillee acknowledged curtly, now with a tinge of ice resolve in her tone. She flung the Stallion around as if it were a racing yacht, the inertial dampeners barely compensating for the sharp maneuver, but it nevertheless meant that both the Stallion and aerowing could attack the damaged surviving saucer simultaneously. Lillee had no idea who was piloting the aerowing, her mind having been too focused on other things, but she had noticed that the aerowing was flying with remarkable aggression in a fight that it was supremely undergunned for. The crew of the small craft were showing true mnhei’sahe in how desperately they defended their beleagured mothership.

As the Stallion and aerowing advanced on the surviving saucer, however, preparing to zoom by the enemy craft on each side while firing, Lillee sucked in a hard intake of breath at a sudden realisation: the Asurians weren’t trying to evade, but instead were charging! With only a split second to see the danger and no time to ask Commander Stark or Lieutenant Masuda, Lillee instead rapidly tapped the comn controls.

“Theurgy CONN to aerowing,” Lillee said quickly as she eyed the tricky maneuver, “you’ve flown honourably so far, so don’t take this personally.”

And with that, Lillee pushed the immense Stallion a touch to starboard and accelerated, cutting across the saucer’s bow and hurtling past the saucer moments before the more fragile aerowing could get there. The broadsides of the two vessels blasted mercilessly at each other in the split-second high speed pass before the aerowing could have its turn. While the aerowing had been firing with minimal effect for most of the attack run, now its small phasers were able to savage the Asurian saucer at point-blank range without fear of reprisal, the Asurians too busy recovering from the awful exchange with the larger Stallion to retaliate against the Cayuga’s support craft.

[ William Robert O’Connell (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/219/f/7/oconnel_row_01_by_auctor_lucan-d7u6n2x.png) | Vector Three Battle Bridge | Deck 11 | USS Theurgy ] Atten: @Brutus, @FollowTomorrow, @StarDuster, @Triton.

Master Chief Petty Officer William Robert ‘Billy Bob’ O’Connell was using an earbud in order to communicate with his subordinates without having their voices distract the officers on the bridge.  Small and compact, it fit snugly in the ear and was invisible to the naked eye, unlike the earpieces Starfleet had used over a century before.  It was perfect for holding a private conversation.

That is, it would have been if O’Connell had engaged the sound dampening field around his workstation.  As is was, the officers on the bridge could hear only one half of his conversation. 

“Dagnabbit, Herber!  Reroute plasma feeds an’ increase power tuh forward shields n’ forward phasers pronto!  Structural integrity’ll keep ‘till we need tuh go tuh warp!  Where’s Manfredi?  Oh.  He’s in th’ Helmet.  Well in the meantime we need maximum power on the tactical systems!”

He glanced up from his station to see the Cayuga and the Asurian vessels dart onto the main viewscreen, despite the fact that injured ship was stationary.  The Stallion was turning to fight.

“Ah got yuh full phaser power an’ kin git th’ forward shields back up tuh 85 %! ” the master chief called out.

[CONN Officer Dumral (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Mektari_Dumral)|Bridge | Cayuga’s Aerowing Shuttle]

Mektari couldn’t believe it. Only moments ago she had been trying her hardest not to focus on the sheer impossibility of them winning this fight. And how quickly that thought was reaffirmed by the news that their captain was injured, only able to give a curt nod of understanding as she turned to keep their hull in the clear as they performed the dangerous maneuver of beaming her on board. Right when Mektari was ready to start veering the shuttle into position to drop torpedoes in their wake, the whole scene changed. Her body went stiff as she watched the two saucers collide, the logical part of her mind trying to understand why it had happened, the operational part of her mind already working to convert the current plan and take a new form of action.

The Stallion charged forward and Mektari was right on her starboard quarter, falling in line with the more heavily equipped ally as if the two pilots had coordinated the move from the very beginning. She gave a mental nod of respect to the unknown CONN officer she was following the lead of and in those precious seconds there was enough time for tactical to let loose a barrage of everything they had on the enemy saucer, but it was short lived.

At least until the voice of the unknown female contacted them and Mektari had to act fast as the Stallion veered into place, cutting out the enemy and filling the viewscreen with the impromptu ‘shield’ of the ship that guarded them from attack. She always knew she would face a moment such as this, but it didn’t stop her from dreading it. She had to make a decision and there was no time to consult anyone; it was up to her how the next critical moments played out.

The two seconds she took to analyze it all felt like an eternity. The Aerowing was small and sleek, not a lot of speed but the maneuverability was quite impressive. She could dip past the Stallion, veer off in any direction and expose the enemy again to fire on them even more, making their valiant effort of the Stallion moot. Or follow the new flow of direction, move with the Stallion and stay shielded by her. Some might have seen it as a cowardly choice, but instead all Mektari could do was run the numbers. The entire senior staff of the Cayuga was on the vessel she piloted that was severely outgunned by the enemy. To keep any sort of command structure in place for what few survived on their ship, she had to place their safety above all others, especially if the vessel saving them was part of a treacherous group on the run from Starfleet.

Though her unhappiness about the situation was easily heard as she snapped into a quick reaction. Some alien word blurted from her lips, the translator unable to handle the Cardassian phrase, but from the way she spat the sound it was obviously some form of cussing. They could all feel the weight of the move, the g-force pressing upon them for mere moments until the Aerowing could compensate. She fell in line again, turning in tandem with the Stallion and hiding behind the vessel as the enemy surged on.

[ CPO Ekon Okotie-Eboh | Bridge | Cayuga Aerowing Shuttle ]

Chief Eboh had prepped the transporter and gotten a lock on a pair of the photon torpedoes that had been beamed aboard before they launched from the Cayuga. He had the transporter ready to drop them in the areowing’s wake on Lt Jeen’s command, the intention being for them to either deter the Asurian’s pursuit, or damage the saucer should it decide be persistent. ”Transporter locked, sir. Torpedoes ready to be dropped on your mark.” Then the two saucers had collided and Mektari had brought them into an attack run alongside the Theurgy's vector.

Ekon heard Lt. Vanya’s suggestion about rerouting power and heard her tell the Acting Captain that her algorithm was ready. He turned his head away from the Ops console and looked over his right shoulder, seeing the back of the dark haired science officer’s head. ”I’ll try to shunt any power I can to the shields for you, ma’am.” Ekon said, glancing briefly at the Cardassian sitting next to him as he turned back to his station. If felt strange seeing a Cardassian at the helm, even if he knew Mektari. The last time he has been in combat in a small craft like this had been against the Cardassians.

How the times have changed… Ekon thought to himself as his fingers tapped at the console.

”Sir, do you still want to drop those torpedoes? I would suggest we take the transporter offline and divert the power to the shields as well.” Ekon called to Lt. Jeen. ”If the shields fail, we won’t have a chance to beam off the aerowing anyway, and it might just keep us in the fight.” Ekon said, his fingers getting to work diverting power from anything not essential to the fight and throwing it towards the aerowing’s shields.

”I am diverting everything else I can to bolster the shields.” Ekon called, ”It is not a lot, but it should give the shields a little more holding power.” Ekon said as he leeched power from the last of the non-essential systems, hoping it would be enough to keep them in one piece.

[ Chief Medical Officer T'Panu | Med Bay | Cayuga Aerowing Shuttle ]

T'Panu had drifted off in her chair. As she slowly began to wake, she realized she had been up for more hours straight than she cared to mention. Watching over the Captain was nerve-wracking, but someone had to do it. She wanted her to wake up from her coma soon so that she knew all her medical interventions had, indeed, made a difference.

Medically speaking, she was moving along quite nicely. Her shoulder was healing since it was put back into place. Her burns, thanks to the Dermaline Gel, had nearly vanished; except in parts where there were still first degree burns, she was happy with the recovery thus far. She would be able to take the c-collar off soon, but wanted another day or two to make sure it was set properly. She wanted to make sure it was plenty healed so there wouldn't be any lasting damages.

Every hour on the hour, T'Panu rechecked vital signs and alertness. Thus far, there had been no changes to either. She was in a very stable coma. Her vital signs stayed completely within normal range, and T'Panu was very happy about that. The fluids she replenished the Captain with helped maintain good cardiac function, and she was beginning to get some actual colour back into her. T'Panu ensured she had a steady supply of fluids and nutrients.

T'Panu continued with her treatment, 5cc's of Triptacederine every hour for the pain. The last thing she'd want is for the Captain to wake up with more pain than she should. She ran a dermal scan and repaired some more burnt tissue, almost returning her to good as new. She was wary how much she healed, as she didn't want the skin to lose its elasticity and leave her with any lasting scars. The Captain was tough, T'Panu admired that. She knew she wouldn't mind a few scars after the hell she went through, but T'Panu wanted to tell her she was good as new when she woke up and inform her they kicked those Asurian asses back to where they came from. She was hoping to give out no bad news.

T'Panu grabbed 3% Hydrocortilene for the headaches and applied it. She ran a final diagnostic with her Medical Tricorder, pulled out her PADD, and wrote her updated report. Her reports were all beginning to sound the same, but as long as they weren't sounding worse, she was content.

T'Panu noticed she had some extra time and made sure her med bay was prepared for more patients. She looked through all her equipment for what felt like the tenth time now, but wanted to ensure she was ready and prepared. The more she checked the supplies, the quicker she would be able to help her patients. If she could find her supplies simply by muscle memory, that could make a huge difference for anyone else that was under her care.

She wondered what was going to happen next, if they would beat these Asurian's soon, or if the fight for survival would drag on longer. She had the utmost respect and confidence in all of their crew, and was grateful for each and every one of them that put themselves in harms way to ensure everyone's safety. Despite the fight, T'Panu had a good feeling that they would find a way to defeat them and escape to safety. Only time would tell, but hope was a good start.

[ Acting XO Lieutenant Zelosa Ejek | Battle Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]

If her knuckles could go white, they would. She gripped her arm rests as if squeezing them would ease her anxiety. To no surprise at all, it did not. She was just...sitting there. There’s nothing she could do to make this situation any better. Worst of all, she couldn’t get away. To get up and just leave the bridge, that’d be like admitting defeat. Morale would plummet. She certainly couldn’t order the ship to turn around and high-tail it out of there as fast as the helm could take them. So she was stuck.

Stuck watching everything, everyone. Two Asurian ships crashed into one another, likely not an accident or an Asurian oversight. She was watching O’Connel’s half of a conversation, ordering people around. He needed someone else to help him do his job, clearly, but they were sorely lacking in staff. The Lieutenant Yukimura making orders, the petty officer piloting the ship sounding the way a bitter drink goes down the gullet.

She thought about Six, but tried not to for very long. Worry consumed her too much to let her mind linger. She wanted some assurance that she wasn’t putting her life in danger and she knew she would not get it. No point in worrying.

Jimmy...she didn’t even want to think about him. It was almost certain he was putting his life in danger. It physically sickened her to think about him. And yet…

Below her hand, she saw a text-only message

“JM-01 to Doc
Beam in "Shiney.”

And her mouth fell open, stunned. The...the sheer nerve of contacting her out of the blue, treating her like some sort of transporter operator. The gall of charging forward and just forgetting something, and sending her a little text message asking for her to get it for him. Does she look like some sort of maid? Is she a yeowoman? And on top of it all—just what does he think he’s going to do? Didn't she specifically forbid being big damn heroes!?

Here she was, sat with a choice, to either enable this little man-child’s heroism, or to potentially let him die because she could not be relied on. Her head sank into her other hand, massaging her temples. Her other hand typed in the command she was thinking of. The item of interest was on it's way...

Her next action was taking out of impulse. She felt her cheeks rise with the heat of her own anger, and she just had to know. What in the world is Jimmy doing that requires her to do this. So her hand went to the console, she leaned over, waited for the connection to his helmet-cam to be made--
"Huhaaah!!" She startled, not expecting that much...blood. She hoped it wasn't his, but it probably was, knowing Jimmy. "Ensign James Mariner!" She began, with a voice much like a furious mother, hoping to nonexistent gods that he wasn't dead already, "You have exactly thirty seconds before I have you beamed right onto a sickbay bed!"

She would have words with him later. Many words.

[ ENS James "Jimmy" Mariner | Main Engineering | USS Cayuga | Azure Nebula]
[Show/Hide]@Auctor Lucan @Doc M. @FollowTomorrow@Masorin @Gadget @lisavw @Veridian @Fife @Absinthe @Brutus

Jimmy sat down as Security Personnel appeared on the scene to stun, detain or otherwise secure the Asurian boarding parties to their fates to be hauled somewhere in a cargo bay, as the brig was almost certainly powerless. Mariner privately hoped they would be detained in a bay they damaged, at risk of decompression, those bastards.

They weren't going to be a problem for much longer, and he was sure his helmet cam captured as much of the engagement as he could. The danger had passed, but James Mariner was no warp core engineer. If the officer he'd given the padd to could patch his uplink to an undamaged computer terminal, the Stallion vector could access the Cayuga and remotely engage failsafes and essentially help put out the fires and possibly beam in engineering and medical teams.
 
It was the immediate lack of medical equipment on hand which was the reason the otherwise sturdy Ensign was hunched over at a seat, cradling his injury as a Vulcan medic with a green-blooded gash across his face tended to James' injury. Jimmy had a hairline fracture on his maximillia, and needed proper medical attention. The medic at best could diagnose him, unable to find a dermal regenerator for himself. Unwilling to talk, Jimmy simply made the Vulcan salute and waved him past as a mercifully welcome voice appeared through his headset.

"Ensign James Mariner!"

The Australian had never been so happy to hear the 'snake-charming dragon lady' before. It took monumental effort past the pain roaring in his head to mumble. "G'ahead." he winced as the Resolve counselor continued in that catchy furious tone of hers that made him jest idly about Cardassian seduction techniques.

"You have exactly thirty seconds before I have you beamed right onto a sickbay bed!"

"I love you too, Doc" Jimmy said without separating his jaw, tasting the coppery, sharp flavor of his own blood. One of his canine teeth was hanging on by a very tender thread, while his upper left molar teeth moved uncomfortably about. On that note, he added. "Make it three."

"I'll let your girlfriend know. Beaming to sickbay" came Ejek's response.

"I love her more." Jimmy tried to smirk, but as he cradled his destroyed yan sword's hilt and looked remorsefully at it. Bloody Ass-urine jackass. he thought to himself as he stood up and stood in position. The electric hum around him took ahold as he got one last look at the Cayuga on his way out. He'd saved a ship from complete destruction and made an example of the opposing force. The first round of medical treatment felt all that much better when he beamed in to sickbay and was helped into a bio bed and gestured at his injury with a red-toothed smile of accomplishment, praying he wouldn't get braces for this.

[Ensign Six | Lower Shuttle Bay/Impounded Asurian Ship | Deck 21 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Triton @Doc M.
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Six wasn’t bothered at all when the subspace links between Asurian ships were severed, cutting her off essentially from the ships. She did what she had intended to do. The rest was up to the Theurgy and the Cayuga aerowing. There was one more thing she planned to take care of, though.

She remembered how one of the saucers tore a path of destruction through the Cayuga. And it began to occur to her how the saucer she was inside got in. Perhaps it wasn’t impounded as she had assumed. Either way, she intended to be sure that this saucer would be used at all. There was a likelihood of a boarding party to come in, commandeer the saucer, and tear a path of destruction of its own until the “Stallion” shared what had been averted on the Cayuga.

Still liked to the systems, she sent a viral matrix throughout the saucer to permanently shut down the majority of its systems. Weapons, navigation, helm, propulsion, pretty much everything that would make the saucer roar back to life and carve a path of destruction. There were a handful of systems, however, that she left intact, like communications and their database. Six had came across a gold mine of knowledge that would prove essential in coming days. Hopefully, there would be a way to talk sense to these brutes. She had learned they were, for want of a better word, endangered; there was hardly any left.

The job was done, the saucer would no longer move at all. And Six had set up a viral matrix to prevent anybody but herself and whomever she permitted from accessing the impounded saucer’s systems. Otherwise, the booby trap in her viral matrix will set off an electric surge to incapacitate them. She made sure that it would be set so that she’d be notified when it went off, to arrest the intruders.

Six made her way back to the bridge. Her job was over, and soon, the battle with it. She figured on returning to the bridge to report her mission to Commander Stark and Lieutenant Ejek…and then she heard them again. The voices. The call of the Collective. But it was still so faint. Six brushed them aside. She was too busy to be concerned about the call for now.

---

OOC: Pardon if it's too soon for me to post, but then again, there's no point in Six hanging around longer now that the battle's almost done.

[Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark, Captain | Bridge | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ]Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Multificionado @Griff @FollowTomorrow @Triton @lisavw @Fife @Doc M. @Veridian @Masorin @Gadget  
[Show/Hide]
Natalie Stark now sat at the center of the storm, hands gripping the armrests of her chair. All around her, the men and women of the Theurgy gave their full, best measure, devoting themselves to the task at hand - namely, surviving the ambush with the four Asurian saucer's and trying to keep the Cayuga intact. There were far too many lives at stake for them to cut and run, despite the impressions that Natalie was getting from some of the crew. She would not abandon the other starship in its time of need. At first blush, it seemed as if both Ens. Mariner and Ens. Six had made good - at least somewhat - with their proposed efforts. She could tell - even not being a combat specialist - that the Asurian's were becoming more and more uncoordinated. Hopefully that was a result of the two security personnel.

They had spared her the hard decision of having to fire on the Cayuga to save the Cayuga.

"Keep her steady, helm," Natalie ordered on the heels of a suggestion from Lt. Masuda. The tactical officer knew his job, and knew it well. And in turn, Natalie knew she was, perhaps, relying too much on the man. But she would make use of the resources she had at hand. Her eyes caught Ejek's, glancing her way, and she tried for form a reassuring - if tight - smile on her lips. She had no idea if she succeeded. Quietly, she made a mental note to brush up on combat tactics. Provided they survived. Given the condition of the aft shields, the decks that had collapsed around the patched hole the Savi had left them with, and the deadly efficiency of the graviton beams being deployed - well, it was anyone's guess. But they still fared better than the poor Cayuga - that took another hit.

No she thought, worry gripping her heart. Cpt. Ziegler has been injured and - and recovered, it sounded like. They had an open tap on the comm traffic between the Cayuga and its Aerowing support craft. Useful, yes, very useful, but now, hearing that Anya had been hurt - unconscious. Natalie knew she had to put that out of her mind, just as she had to put out of her mind the familiar face of Rhys Williams - but at the same time the young woman refused to allow Ziegler to die before they had their talk. There was entirely too much left unsaid in such a short amount of time for it to end like this.

"Mariner to Stark: Enemy Contact. At least a dozen and counting; we can make a good stand for now; Warp Core is safe for the moment, but I can't guarantee it'll stay that way. Many casualties, systems... minimal. Orders?"

She was out of her chair in a moment, snapping her fingers, "Good job Ensign," she called out, focusing on what she could work with. "Hold that core. Do not, i repeat, do not let the Asurian's get to that engine room." Natalie was well aware that she could have just ordered James Mariner to his death. It was a possibility that all Stafleet officers faced, and very, very recently it was something that she had born witness to, courtesy of Carrigan Trent and his training program. But this was no program. This was real. She heard Mariner ordering up something else beamed over and piggy backed her own orders on top of that. "Whatever he asks for, get it to him. Keep the hole in the shield away from those saucers, helm. Coordinate with Ops."

Even as she spoke, her attention was drawn to the view-screen with a sharp call from Conway. There before her, one of the attacking vessels that had been in pursuit of the Stallion smashed into the back of the other. It was clear to everyone what had to have happened - an Asurian captain did not make a mistake like that without help. Natalie let out a savage "Yes!" And pumped her fist. Before she could issue any other orders however, the voice of Dr. Franklin called out.

"Ensign Six has done it again. Commander Stark, Lieutenant Ejek, I think you've just unleashed a monster," he said with an ever-widening smile. "But thank God she's our monster." In truth, Natalie had utterly forgotten that the doctor was on the bridge. She'd had very little interaction at all. There was a knee-jerk reaction to tell the doctor off but she wasn't going to deal with it now.  And on top of that, a hail from the Aerowing let them know that they calibrated a new phaser setting. Natalie pounced on it without a second thought, trusting in the other officers of their sister ship.

"Quite right, Doctor," she called to Franklin, and turned to face Tactical. "Masuda. Target the remaining ship." Her own vessel bucked for a moment, then stabilized as the shields began to regenerate. "Implement the variance protocol from the Aerowing and blow that vessel out of the sky." Orders given, she settled back into her chair once more. And sure enough, the lieutenant came through moments later, ordering the ship to change direction. She nervously tapped her fingers on her armrest, resisting the urge to comment aloud, as if her words could force the computer to attack faster. Even as the enemy tried to bring its own weapons to bear.

End this end this, we need to end this now. We have to end this now, she kept a running mantra in her head, followed sharply by an OH, Shit! moment. Lt. t'Jellaieu had surmised exactly what was about to happen and done precisely what Natalie would have ordered, had their been time. There had not. The Romulan woman whipped the ship around and drove it between the Asurian' saucer and the Aerowing shuttle.  Weapons fire was exchanged, a maelstrom of phaser and graviton fury, rocking both ships. Lights flickered all over the bridge and she heard more than one officer cry out in shock and pain. She barely kept her seat herself as the ship shook itself nearly apart at the seams, before coming out of the other side of the onslaught.

Thank God, she thought idly, That Billy Bob boosted the shields in time or we would have been hulled. As it was, the shields had to have taken a pounding, and the poor Engineering Chief was going to have his work cut out for him. "Helm, come about for another pass. Lieutenant Yukimura, let them have it again," she ordered,  not even taking the time to sweep her hair back, the mess having come loose from the tail she'd kept it in. Her face was flushed, eyes shinning bright. "Dr. Franklin, please see to the wounded," came the next order, followed by, "Lt. Ejek, confirm damage reports and coordinate with Ops for repair teams. Everyone,  we're not out of this yet, but if we hold it together just a bit longer, we will be. I want to see that saucer carved up into a field of debris."

Of course, that was when the XO let out her shocked outburst. Natalie turned and cocked an eyebrow up, the whole situation utterly at odds with the battle around them. Wisely, she kept her mouth shut until after Ejek and the Australian ensign finished their exchange and sighed.

"Dr. Franklin, you have have a patient waiting for you in sickbay. Yvette," she called to the woman at Ops. "I hate to implore upon your talents again so soon, but we need another window in the shields. Please do try and keep it on the side facing away from the enemy, if you please?"  She found herself leaning to the left, her elbow on the arm rest, her chin cradled between her thumb and forefinger.

"Transport initiated...." Conway called out, followed with, "Transport complete. Ens. Mariner is aboard." The relief in her voice was palpable, and it mirrored what Natalie felt in her heart. The man had just saved the Cayuga after all.

"Very good," she praised Conway. "Now that we've sorted Ens. Mariner, can we please destroy that saucer." A part of her felt remorse over the loss of life that was about to happen. Any life, even an enemies, was precious, at some level. But Natalie Stark had the crews of two Starfleet vessels, as well as the truth of infestation of Starfleet command to safeguard. And the knowledge that the Borg were active in the Azure Nebula, where they had absolutely no business being. Added to that, the stubbornness of the Asurian's, their prideful mannerisms and the fact that they were hell bent on killing her and her people....No. Natalie would regret that more could not be done.

But as she watched the Stalion's pulse phasers tear into the wounded Asurian ship, she knew she'd not lose a wink of sleep over the decision.

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Battle Bridge | The Stallion | USS Theurgy ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]When Captain Stark ordered another pass to be made, Masuda still kept the auto-fire command activated, awaiting the Petty Officer at the helm to turn the massive Stallion around. By leaving it on, he was draining power reserves for the pulse phaser emitters along the whole side of the ship, but at the same time, even at a distance, the counter-polarity energy bolts still homed in on the last saucer, smiting the shields from a distance.

In the meantime, the aerowing was left in a more vulnerable position since the Stallion had passed by already, but it seemed the Cayuga's officers were one step ahead, having done something strange to their shields. It was almost as if the graviton beams from the Asurians abated upon impact. Anitgraviton particles? Masuda thought, bewildered, or some kind of increased graviton emission? Either way, the aerowing was still there - blasting the saucer from her angle as well.

Yet as if that wasn't enough... when the viewscreen zoomed in on the development, it looked to Masuda that the aerowing suddenly ejected a full size photon torpedo through its airlock, and the next second, it armed - flaring up - and shot off towards the Asurian saucer. Wáng bā dàn!

[ Chief Marshal Akri Sitaio | Overseer-saucer K'thill - The Monarch | Azure Nebula ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]Her Asurian officers fought bravely, despite their incompetence, even when beset from two ships at once - one small and another immense and fast. Overriding the roar of leaking plasma and detonating consoles on the bridge, Akri Sitaio had ordered to concentrate fire on the aerowing. Only the Starfeet cravens proved crafty, since their onslaught of graviton beams didn't tear the shuttlecraft to pieces the way it should. Akri saw hull plating getting stripped away on the aerowing, baring the hidden layers behind it, and she saw it buckling under the stress of their sustained fire, but it still kept firing.

"That's it!" she called, the heatwave of another part of the bridge hitting her from behind - another plasma explosion flaring up. "Activate kinetic shielding and ram it!"

Then she saw it, the shuttle's airlock ejecting something. Akri narrowed her eyes.

"Chief Marshal, our shields... they are almost gone!"

No time, the fight must not end, she told herself, foreseeing the object's nature. She scrambled for the transporter controls, scanning for options. The was only one, non-shielded vessel. More explosions, more guttural cries behind her. She kept her footing. Quickly, she entered commands into the console, swearing under her breath while the consecutive phaser bolts from the Theurgy and the aerowing kept pounding them.

Then, the object flared up, and shot off towards the Monarch, the light from the armed torpedo bathing Akri's face through the viewscreen. She glared, looking up at it's rapid approach, and hit the activation command. Whilst the shimmering, aquamarine light engulfed her, she looked around, seeing that most of her officers were already dead.

By the time of impact... she was gone.

[ Chief Marshal Akri Sitaio | Abandoned Corridor | Deck 04 | USS Cayuga ] Attn: All
[Show/Hide]When she materialised, she stood in a dark corridor aboard the Cayuga, her Asurian attire scourged and her sindt still bloodied. She turned her horns and her eyes towards the viewport next to her, and out there, she saw the gravity well of her lost ship, the Monarch gone after a century of battles and forage. Her bridge officers had failed her, and she wouldn't mourn them, but the Monarch? It had been hers.

Snarling through her teeth, Akri Sitaio set off down the corridor with a murderous gait, flexing her fingers in wish to rend flesh and break bones. Death on the cravens, the Chief Marshal of the Asurians thought bitterly, knowing - however - that the Cayuga was an ideal hiding place; its sensors and power systems nigh depleted. She would hide, bide her time, and strike at the most opportune moment. Perhaps she might even free any Asurian prisoners, and carve her path through the ranks of the Starfleeters.

For those fallen at the starbase, and for this defeat, I swear... She pulled her large graviton pistol and checked its power setting without even breaking her pace. ...I will kill them all.

---

THREE HOURS LATER | DAY 04 | 1500 hrs.

---

“Tactical Log. Supplemental. It has been three hours since the Asurians found us, attacking the Stallion and Cayuga both. United against a common foe, and with feats of bravery on both sides, the initial distrust of the Theurgy crew seem to have abated. Long talks have been had between Stark, Ziegler, Ejek and West, all of them conducted on the Theurgy since Ziegler is still on the recovery, and the Cayuga's Sickbay was destroyed by the Asurians. All surviving medical officers on the Cayuga are now serving on the Theurgy, taking care of the wounded, and I am about to go there myself together with my counterpart on the Cayuga. For after Salem Martin and I spoke with Ensign Six about what she said on the bridge about the Borg, the need to speak with the Captains has become urgent.

Repairs of the Cayuga have begun anew, supervised by the senior officers in Engineering and Ops, and between them all, I have confidence that the Cayuga might - despite all that she has been through - make it out of the nebula at some point. I am not privy to the reports about the full extent of the damage, but between O'Connell, Jeen and Okotie-Eboh, the Cayuga is in good hands. Of course, should she prove irreparable, the Stallion can be a lifeboat for Ziegler's crew.

As for the surviving Asurian prisoners, three of them if I recall, they are currently held in the Cayuga's Brig, and there has yet been any decision made on what might become of them. Sufficed to say, they are not overjoyed by their captivity.”

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | Battle Sickbay | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Masorin @Arista @Multificionado @lisavw
[Show/Hide]When Masuda Yukimura, Salem Martin and Ensign Six stepped into the CMO Office - where Lieutenant T'Panu had temporarily moved in - Masuda was met with the sight of Captain Ziegler sitting in a chair, and both Stark and Ejek standing up in front of her. He did not know what they had been speaking of, but their arrival was acknowledged soon enough. Masuda spoke up when bidden.

"It would seem Ensign Six might be able to follow the... whspers of the Collective, and let us learn where the Borg are, perhaps even where they came from, since they have appeared on the 'wrong' side of the Alpha Quadrant," he said, cutting straight to the chase without preamble. "Already, we have launched new probes from the Cayuga towards Federation space to warn Starfleet - or at least the ones who are still themselves - about the Borg presence, but without knowing more, there is only so much we can tell them. Therefore, a plan for an away mission has been formed, where a small crew combined by people from both the Theurgy and the Cayuga are to set out in search for where they are."

Masuda expected the obvious reactions, but he continued, since if the mission was approved, there were a lot of preparations to be made. "It will be a mission of high risk, but great reward, and since the aerowing suffered damages when fighting the Asurians, the Allegiant would be ideal in its capacity as the fleet's most advanced scoutship. As for the crew complement," Masuda paused, the debate between him and Junior Lieutenant Martin having been inconclusive, "we have no firm recommendation. It might be a suicide mission, if we are unlucky, so one suggestion was that the crew would be volunteers in majority. Then again, some key roles might need to be filled, so some of the crew might have to be ordered to embark on this mission. And lastly... the mission also needs someone to lead it. If neither of you take on this role, then it would have to be either Mister Martin here, or me, that leads it. It all depends on who you deem ought to stay behind here."

Having told the present women about the mission, Masuda fell quiet, not glancing towards Six or Martin at his side.

---

OOC: There! So, now we have an opening for Supplemental threads in Chapter 03, spanning from 1200 hrs. on Day 04 (directly after the battle) to 0800 hrs. on Day 05, where the USS Allegiant will disembark on its mission to find the Borg. As you may have noticed, the scene in the Stallion's Battle Sickbay above takes place at 1500 hrs. on Day 04, so those with characters present there will have to keep that in mind when making new Supplemental threads for this Chapter. The time-slot of 1500 hrs. is - of course - available for all characters in this Chapter too, but if you'd rather write a scene at some other point in time, the naming convention for such threads that belonging to Chapter 03 is: Chapter 03: Supplemental [ Day XX | XXXX hrs. ] Insert Title.

As for the mission on the Allegiant itself, it will have its own thread posted where it is launched from the Stallion in the morning. Until that thread is posted, everyone needs to post in the Plot Discussion thread (https://uss-theurgy.com/forum/index.php/topic,2336.0.html), stating whether or not they want their character on A) this "suicide" mission on the Allegiant, or B) if they want to stay behind, and deal with both repairs and the surviving Asurians, who will break out eventually. So, depending on what you like to write (ship-based or exploratory), the OOC choice is free, whereas the IC choice could either be your character(s) volunteering, or being ordered to come along for some plausible reason. The full crew complement, which can be adjusted, is this: 10 officers, including the Commanding officer, a Helmsman, an Operations officer, a Tactical officer, a Communications officer, an Engineering officer, some kind of Mission specialist (Ensign Six, in this case), a Medical officer & 2 Security officers.

As soon as the brief scene in Sickbay is done with here, we move the hands of time forward to after the Allegiant has launched on Day 05... and Akri Sitaio makes her move.

[Ensign Six | Sickbay | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Masorin @Arista @lisavw @Doc M.
[Show/Hide]

Six hung onto every word Lieutenant Yukimura spoke, and the discussion between herself, the tactical officer and Salem Martin hung onto her, as with the increasing frequency of the call of the Collective. This time, she was more than willing to let them in, and in doing so, with the right concentration and meditation, she would be able to pinpoint where in the nebula the Borg would be, and the only reason she was willing to do so. Otherwise, she would’ve just turned down this assignment…but then again, this assignment didn’t exist if it wasn’t for her telling her ranking officers about the call within earshot of others.

She had analyzed the Allegiant en route the briefing through her ocular implant. The Delta Flyer it was not; in fact, she had a feeling Tom Paris would turn green with envy just by looking at it. He was fond of his beloved Delta Flyer, and Six would agree with him. There was only one Delta Flyer. Still, the Allegiant looked capable, if not more so, to kick some butt. Six felt it seemed to fall between the Delta Flyer and the average Defiant-class starship. In a nutshell: Tough little ship.

She took note of the ranking officers during Masuda’s proposal (calling him Lieutenant Yukimura was a mouthful). She knew Stark and Ejek well enough, but Captain Zeigler seemed to be a different case. She had a feeling this was a woman, let a lone a captain, you did not want to cross. She looked tough-as-nails enough to have difficulty convincing. And yet, Stark dropped everything to help her. Six had checked her records and found that Stark used to serve with Zeigler. There was a familiarity, but it didn’t necessarily mean they were friends, and Six could tell just by looking at Zeigler.

“The mission also needs someone to lead it. If neither of you take on this role, then it would have to be either Mister Martin here, or me, that leads it. It all depends on who you deem ought to stay behind here."

Now there was the most vital part of all. Six wondered who it would be. It all depended on who decides, despite the fact that all three were needed. Stark was placed in charge of the “Stallion.” Ejek had no experience in combat and strategy; she was more comfortable as a shrink than a strategist, as Six recalled when she first met her in therapy. And Captain Zeigler…well, it was self-explanatory. Nonetheless, it all depended on their decisions. Who decides who goes and who stays. Six kept herself silent; it wasn’t her place to voice her opinion: that was for the ranking officers, unless they asked her opinion.

---

OOC: This is strictly just Six's perspective on the briefing. I'm assuming it's okay since because she's a part of the briefing. That actual discussion between herself, Masuda and Martin would easily be in a supplemental and I await the thread with the Allegiant mission. Also, pardon the references to Voyager, but Six used to live on it, so it makes sense to relate to crew often.

[Captain Anya Ziegler & Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark | CMO's Office | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ] Joint post by @Brutus and Arista Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Multificionado @Griff @FollowTomorrow @Triton @lisavw @Fife @Doc M. @Veridian @Masorin @Gadget 
[Show/Hide][Show/Hide]
Anya sat, disgruntled, in the chair of the CMO’s office. There were times she hated sitting, and this was one of them. The Captain knew why she had been given the seat; she was still frail from the injury she had sustained in the battle and needed to rest, but still, it made her feel like she was some form of delicate flower. That just wouldn’t do.

She still ached in too many places and her head was throbbing. Ziegler had been offered more painkillers but declined. She needed to stay sharp. Especially as she was being brought up to speed on the event that had brought Theurgy here. It sounded fantastical, creatures controlling Starfleet officers for diabolical means. Then again, the changelings also seemed outlandish during the early stages of the Dominion war. At least, it certainly explained her overly intensive debriefing from Starfleet Command when Ives went ‘Rogue’. Anya had still yet to forgive him for that. It almost cost her captaincy before it even started. Now, she had to deal with the premise that, as she suspected, he wasn’t the traitor the news claimed him to be.

All in all, Stark seemed to be holding up well, or at least as well as could be, to the burdens of command. Her arms were crossed under her bust, pushing it up slightly as her tired eyes scanned the room. Nearby, a cup of coffee sat, half drank, on the edge of the desk in the CMO's office, much, she as sure, to the chagrin of the Doctors Franklin and T'Panu it was leaving a stain. Some of the coffee had sloshed over the edge at one point and rings now decorated the otherwise pristine surface.

“Evil plants, ancient gods, genetically engineered madmen, fire fights at a Starbase and now the Borg?” Anya questioned, pausing to move in her chair. It wasn’t comfortable to sit in one position for too long. “It certainly seems you have had quite the adventure since I left. Almost puts our nebula cataloguing mission to shame.”

Stopping to look from her former subordinate, Anya analysed her colleague. Cardassian, equally tired, blue collar. Most likely Science or Counselling as she had said little regarding Ziegler’s physical condition. These girls were dead on their feet. Quickly, Anya pondered if she looked as exhausted.

“I’m not going to pull rank on your ship, Captain.” Ziegler started, turning back to Stark. “But we need a plan. I can’t justify us drifting for any longer than absolutely necessary.”

Raising her eyebrows a bit, Nat shared a quick look with Ejek, then turned back to Anya. This was still very weird, even after the pair had had it out over what had been going on, and Natalie's initial deception. The...conversation still hung heavy in the brunette Lt. Commander's mind, and it was with that as the background that she carefully chose not to point out that, as her ship, she just might not have given a damn if Anya had try to pull rank.

"I agree that we cannot afford to waste much time. There's the Borg to deal with, and frankly, who knows what else lurking in this muck." She paused and picked up her coffee, sipping the cream filled brew. She'd been having too much of it. Soon, she knew, the headache would come, the one caused by an overload of caffeine. The jitters hadn't begun yet, by the grace of God.

"Our Tactical officers should be here shortly," she continued, "And I tasked Masuda with giving me options. He's got a good mind for it. If we live through this I can see him moving up quickly, easily fitting into the position of Second, or First officer." If we aren't all hung for treason, she added mirthlessly.

And as if summoned, so arrived Lt. Yukimura, accompanied by the Junior Grade Lieutenant Martin (who really did bear a resemblance to his sister, Nat mused) as well as Ens.'s Six, following in tow. Sure enough, the Stallion's Tactical Chief set right to the task at hand, laying down his thoughts on a plan for next steps, directly related to the issue of the Borg in the Azure Nebula, a place where they had no right to be.

Her blue eyes turned stormy in color as they darted about, watching the Ensigns carefully. Six gave no outward signs that she felt worried by the scrutiny - at least none that Nat could discern. Ejek, perhaps, as a counselor, might have better luck.

With another glance at Anya, Natalie took in the group, once Masuda finished his proposal.

"I think I speak for both of us when I say that Captain Ziegler and I appreciate the thoroughness of your work, Lieutenant's," She addressed both men. "I agree that this is a highly risky endeavor. However....I do feel it is worthwhile. It is something we must do. And i have some passing familiarity with the Allegiant," she understated, having commanded the ship on a search and rescue mission in the wake of the destruction of the Harbinger. "It’s a fast-little ship, tough as nails, and up for the task. I'm content to release it into your command, Masuda. With Mr. Martin acting as your second?" She asked, turning back to Captain Zielger, not wanting to order the woman's officers around.

“Lieutenant Martin is more than qualified to assist.” Anya nodded, before adding. “I’d also recommend Chief Eboh, Ensign Dumral, Lieutenant Izar and Dr T’Panu to accompany from Cayuga.” The group hit a large amount of needed resources for the away mission. Operations, Conn, Science and Medical. All critical when dealing with the Borg. “I’m going to leave Commander Stark to choose volunteers from Theurgy crew.”

The meeting was coming to a natural conclusion. With a short intake of breath, Ziegler puts her hands against the armrests of the chair and cautiously lifted herself into a standing position. The subdued ache turned sharp, but once she was upright it returned to its dull roar.

Looking over the assembled crew she spoke with authority. Nothing could keep her down. Not even blunt force trauma.

“We are in a unique position to accomplish something great today. Let us not waste it.” She nodded towards Stark. “Unless there is anything else, I’m happy to say good hunting.”

---

GM Note: Removed Mariner from this JP since he was not present to begin with, a mistake being made about the location of this scene. Triton has been sent his removed post for re-posting later on. :)

[Chief Medical Officer T'Panu | CMO's Office | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

As T'Panu stood, listening to all the plans, she couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next. She was eager for the away mission; to feel like she was able to help out in the battle made her feel much more useful. She couldn't stand sitting around watching everyone get injured anymore, sitting relatively safely in the aft compartment whilst everyone that was still aboard the Cayuga was in serious danger.

She worked on her next strategy while she listened to everyone talking. Perhaps they could use synaptic interfaces like Admiral Janeway did to shut down the Borg Collective and tip the scales in their favour. At this point she hoped they would run into them soon so they could blow them out of the sky. Perhaps they would be able to find their hub and destroy it? She settled for the idea of taking over the hive mind and forcing them to destroy themselves. Less casualties on their side, disastrous damage to the Borg. Maybe it would be enough of a warning for them to never mess with the Federation again and to return to the Delta quadrant where they belonged. Surely she would rather the Borg had never existed, but safety for their crew and everyone in the Alpha quadrant was something she could definitely settle for.

T'Panu had offered more painkillers to Captain Ziegler, but she had declined this round. She was doing much better; albeit sore, but that was to be expected. She was back up on her feet again, with only a few minor traces of cuts and bruises left. It made her look battle worn and ready for their next encounter, T'Panu thought. T'Panu had warned her to take it easy for a few days and try not to do too much. She had pain meds ready for if the Captain wished to take them. She recommended it, but also knew it would make her drowsy and was sure Captain Ziegler would be eager to get back to work.

T'Panu thought about the upcoming mission. Everyone was warned heavily ahead of time that if anything were to go wrong, this could be a one-way ticket. They all understood the risks; however, no one seemed to object to the mission even in the slightest.

T'Panu hoped the probes would make it in time to warn the Federation of the threats they had just encountered. Hopefully they would be in a place they could receive transmissions detailing any information they would need to take them down. T'Panu completely trusted their crew and knew if anyone could exterminate their threat, it was them.

For now, there was nothing to do but prepare and wait. The perks of being on the Theurgy were many. T'Panu was in awe of having real beds again! What felt like an endless stock of medical supplies was a dream compared to what she had gotten used to. Not having to work in such close quarters was another significant bonus. She felt more ready for the upcoming days than she had been in a while. The sooner they could take off and make a stand, the better. T'Panu had never been more prepared for anything in her life as she felt the fire inside of her growing with the promise of battle. She was starting to sound like a Klingon and chuckled to herself as she thought that wasn't very Vulcan of her. She would do whatever it took to bring the Federation to victory over the alien scum and succeed in battle for the safety of their crew and everyone back home.

[ Acting XO Lieutenant Zelosa Ejek | CMO's Office | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]


Ejek stood with her hands folded in front of her. She had her eyes scanning the people around her, watching their body language and taking the situation’s temperature. She had made her opinion clear to Stark long before they had met with Zeigler. After having it shot down, that was the last of it. When they met the Cayuga’s captain and  officers, it would be as a united front.

She put on a good face though. She could act as if it were only logical to take this course of action, but privately think this is the stupidest thing she’s agreed to. She wondered if Vulcans had this problem.

Zeigler sat, though she did not seem like the kind to sit for very long. Or take care of her health very well at all, for that matter. Thank goodness she wasn’t medical; this could be filed aware squarely in the cabinet marked “not my problem.”

Six...had the full brunt of her anger. She offered the former borg a single look, and did not allow her gaze to linger on her any longer for the rest of the meeting. Her words would be in private. Six had already informed everyone she could hear the borg. The counselor saw no reason to divulge any information from their session. It was already irrelevant now. Privately, Ejek thought the former borg a fool, a child even. No fear, even now...

Masuda was, perhaps, the officer that held Ejek’s favor the most. She did not particularly like the Lieutenant, but he did his work promptly, without any silliness. He was also intelligent, organized, and diligent. The posterboy of Starfleet, or he should be.

T’Panu...was a Vulcan. She held certain thoughts about Vulcans, but would put them aside to see what the CMO would bring. The same could be said about Salem Martin, who bore a striking resemblance to his sister. She could see it in his face, but did he share his sister’s brilliance?

She had nothing more to say. She would not be on this mission. It was obvious to everyone on this ship that she was not cut out for adventure. She did not volunteer anyone herself either. She saw the tension between Stark and Zeigler. She could almost feel it herself when her and Natalie’s eyes met. She did not announce anyone. Stark needed to be in charge here, and Ejek was willing to let her keep up her image.

A sense of forboding had fallen over her and would not leave though. It almost felt like everyone here was far too confident in their abilities. This wasn’t some backwater hillbilly planet, worshiping a portal in the sky and tending to their farms in peace. This was the borg. Sure, others had miraculously found ways to combat them in the past, but they were exceptional individuals, of strength far beyond what they possessed. On top of that; the borg adapt. What worked once in some irresponsible Captain’s ship logs isn’t going to work here, now.

She tried not to betray the grimness of the situation on her face, and hoped that those who were here understood the gravity of the situation.

[ Lt JG, Salem Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Salem_Martin)  | CMO's Office | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy  ]
[Show/Hide]
So they were planning to take an away mission to follow the Borg, that seemed like an idea to be sure. It didn't seem like a good idea. The Cayuga had barely survived the first encounter with them, and hunting them with a former drone at the head of the operation was pretty much a way to get assimilated.

So everyone knew that this could very easily be a one way trip. There had been a few missions where he had been on one way trips in his life, and he had always gotten back to them.

He went over things in his head, when it came to the Borg. If he was going to be honest approaching a cube in a shuttle was pretty low risk. The borg focused on technology first, and if the Aerowing didn't have anything of value aboard it than they would get scanned, and then passed over.

He nodded as he was selected as a second officer for the mission. His main concern then would be the members of the Theurgy crew. it felt odd working with people who were noted criminals.

We worked with the Mauis we can work with these people.

"I will have a list of recommended weapon load outs for you before we head off. I do want to ask for one thing in particular up front. The Cayuga has one Tri-cobalt laced torpedo which I oversaw the installation of, I'd like to request it's transfer to the Aerowing. If nothing else it would provide a big enough boom to maybe slow down the cube as we make a run." He had no illusion that even his largest torpedo would do little to stop the collective or destroy the cube. The things were self repairing, but according to information from both the Voyager, and the Enterprise D the cubes slowed down significantly when they were forced into a state of self repair. It could then give them a speed advantage when it was needed most.

[Lt. Cmdr. Natalie Stark, Captain | Sickbay| Vector 03 | USS Theurgy 01 ]Attn: @lisavw @Arista @Auctor Lucan @Griff @Masorin @Triton @Multificionado 
[Show/Hide]
As she was prone to do when in command (in so far as she had experience, which still seemed to be a smattering of days that could likely be counted on one hand) she listened to those around her, intently, before speaking up herself. For the most part, that was allowing Cpt. Ziegler to issue orders to her crew in the regards to the disbursement of personnel to be assigned to the scouting mission that Lt. Masuda had laid out in conjunction with Junior Lt. Martin. Mentally the Ops Chief and current CO of the Stallion reviewed what she knew of the names Anya had listed off, not to contradict the only captain by rank on the ship at the moment, but to work her way through her own crew, as to who should be assigned.

Satisfied, she looked around the room, and managed a wry smile. 'As noted, Masuda Yukimura from the Theurgy will be in command of the mission. Additionally," she looked over at the Brunali former Borg that seemed to be bounding with barely restrained energy, to the ire of her own XO, "Ensign Six is our most logical choice for assignment on this mission.

"I think - and this isn't meant as a slight to your pilot, Captain," Natalie continued with the caveat. "I think having a second flight controller on hand will be worthwhile. This mission could take days, and I want people to rest up as able. As such I'll be assigning PO3 Lillee t'Jellaieu to the mission as well." She saw a nod of approval from a few faces in the room, and made a note to inform the blonde Romulan woman of her new assignment. She hoped the blonde would volunteer when given the prospect of the mission but Natalie was well aware she may have to issue the order all the same.

"I'm also assigning Ens. James Mariner," she glanced out of the room, to where Dr. Franklin puttered about the medical bay. "He's been cleared for duty again and given his more recent performance against the Asurain's, I'd like him accompanying you all." She stood up a bit straighter and clasped her hands behind her back, pausing to meet everyone's gaze, building upon the weight and sense of responsibility Cpt. Ziegler had lain on the shoulders of those gathered here.

"Snap to it, ladies and gentlemen. Time is of the essence. Every moment we linger here, your target gets further away. Good luck and Godspeed."

---

OOC: if anyone has questions for Nat, please feel free to linger back after the dismissal and ask.
@Griff @Triton assume Natalie Reached out to Lillee and Jimmy off screen
 

[Ensign Six | Sickbay | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan @Brutus @FollowTomorrow @Triton @Triage @Masorin
[Show/Hide]

Six couldn’t help but smile at Commander Stark. She felt a rush of gratitude. Then again, she felt she was likely assigned to the mission anyway. And she felt the cold stare from Lieutenant Ejek. She understood why she made that stare, the ominous declaration the she could hear the call of the Collective for plenty of people to hear. She never mentioned the nightmares; that was between her and Ejek.

As her fellow officers departed, Six approached Stark.

“Commander Stark…I hope I haven’t put people off, let along creeped them out, for saying I can hear the Collective,” she said. “Especially if it’s you and Lieutenant Ejek. If that’s the case, I apologize. It’s just that Lieutenant Ejek and I…We had…words, but what we discussed was between us. It’s only up to her to bring up what has transpired.

“I also apologize for my absence up until now,” she continued. “I presumed I wasn’t needed for the time being; I had been busy setting up my forensics lab.”

She chose her words carefully about her counseling session with Lieutenant Ejek. She wasn’t about to give away everything, out of respect to the Cardassian, especially in light of her recent body language; she hides her feelings well in her face, but from Ejek’s body language, she can detect the grimness of the situation. She can see the gravity of the situation; in this case, the gravity was as heavy as a gas giant’s.

Not only that, she felt the need to explain her absence.

“I trust your judgement, Commander, as my current superior. And I also applaud your endeavor to help your old superior as well,” she added, making a nod of respect at Captain Zeigler.

“What can I possibly do to not put people off? Especially with the people I have to guide on the mission, the people I’m working with on the Allegiant?”

It may have been a question for Ejek, but Six felt the need to address this to Commander Stark. Despite being an adult, Six was still young, and can still feel the tendencies and insecurities of youth, her skills notwithstanding. She felt these insecurities herself when people were irked by just being a former drone. However, Seven of Nine always relied on Kathryn Janeway, so Six will rely on her current superior officer, and she had a feeling Commander Stark was not as critical and sharp as Lieutenant Ejek, but a strong and firm commander.

[ Acting XO Lieutenant Zelosa Ejek | CMO's Office | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] @CanadianVet @Multificionado

To hear Jimmy’s name again, being assigned to this mission...It filled her with dread. Specifically, a feeling of ‘oh god, not again, please.’ She’d already done everything she could to knock sense into the man, and it didn’t work. If anything, it forced them into a division. The best she could do is get away from this problem. Focus on the now. But Jimmy…

No, but Six. Six was apparently still very eager. Like a child, she thought for the second time. This was all a game to her. All she worried about right now was what other people thought of her. Not the fact that she would likely lose her life, or worse, rejoin the borg. She’d thought that as a former Borg herself, she would understand the seriousness of the situation. Apparently not.

This was a question for Stark. Though she had the knowledge to answer this question appropriately, the entire game right now was all about offering Stark as much support as she could. She offered her a side glance, to see whether or not she would answer Six or if the counselor would do this.

Natalie nodded her to go on. Likely, she saw that Ejek had something to say on the matter.

“I will say this; you cannot continue to think of this like a child on a grand adventure. You, more than your peers, face great danger here. Despite the great advances made in Federation medicine to reverse Borg assimilation, it is still exceedingly easy for the Borg to overwhelm your own natural defenses. They do not even have to be present on the ship to turn you.

Take your position seriously. Take your team and your mission seriously. You cannot force them to change their minds, but they will find it easier to trust you if you do not willingly run head-first where angels fear to tread.”

Her voice was stern, her eyes were sharp and accusative. She was acutely aware that Six’s attitude could cost everyone on the mission their lives, and she dearly hoped she would understand.

[ Lieutenant Masuda Yukimura (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Masuda_Yukimura) | CMO's Office | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]Stoically, Yukimura listened to the higher ranking officers in the CMO office as they made their decision regarding his and Martin's proposal, with Six as their reference when they formulated the plan. Bold as it was, the great necessity of getting one step ahead of the Borg was far more important than the minimal aid they could provide in the repairs of the Cayuga and Stallion both. All in all, as little as he knew about some of the officers added to the endeavour, Yukimura was confident they would have adequate manpower for the scouting mission.

"Thank you for the faith in this proposal. If you excuse Mister Martin and I, we will brief the chosen officers and make preparations. Given the need to finish the last repairs of the Allegiant, the launch will be scheduled for 0800 hrs." Yukimura inclined his head to the present officers. "By your leave, Captain Stark."

He did not know Ziegler, but he did know that she was not his Commanding Officer, regardless which Sickbay she happened to sit in. Turning around, he spared a glance towards Lieutenant T'Panu, who would be joining them on the mission, inclining his head to her in parting, but having every intention to speak with her once she was finished with her current tasks in the Stallion's sickbay.

After they made to leave, Yukimura waited his turn to file out the door, Martin leaving ahead of him, but before the sliding doors closed, he overheard how Six expressed a personal concern, which his current First Officer answered with great candour. Yukimura approved, for he had personal history with the Borg, and as much as Six was an asset for the mission, his past losses made him somewhat biased towards the forensic officer from Starbase 84. Lieutenant Ejek did bring forth an aspect of the mission parameters that had yet to be addressed, and that was the reliability of Ensign Six if they were to have direct contact with the Borg, or if the Collective managed to usurp the mind of the Brunali ex-Drone.

Ensign Six has been made perfectly aware that the crew on the Allegiant would have to take every precaution to prevent her from undermining the mission in such a scenario, and she would know - perhaps better than any of us - how we might have to use extreme or lethal measures to do so. That was what he'd written in his personal log, and it was a long-winded way of saying that if she showed any sign of returning to the Collective...

...they would have to kill her.

- FIN